JetBlue is the clearest of the major US carriers about what it will not do. Small dogs and cats travel in the cabin for $150 each way. Nothing travels in the hold. JetBlue states it in plain words on its own page: no dogs or cats are carried in cargo, and no large dogs are accommodated at all.

That makes JetBlue a simple airline to plan around and an impossible one to negotiate with. The decision is made by a tape measure, and the measurement that matters is height, because JetBlue allows the shortest carrier of the three big cabin-pet carriers. Figures verified from JetBlue’s own published pages, checked September 2026.

What JetBlue Will and Will Not Carry

JetBlue accepts small dogs and cats in the cabin only. There is no checked baggage option, no cargo option and no military exception of the kind United and Delta still operate on narrow routes. If your dog does not fit under the seat in front of you, JetBlue is not an airline you can use for that animal at any price.

Your pet and its carrier together count as one personal item, not as an extra piece of baggage, which is worth knowing if you were planning to bring a bag as well. Only one animal may travel in each carrier, and JetBlue asks that the animal be able to turn around comfortably inside it with the carrier closed.

The animal stays in a zipped carrier for the whole time it is with you, at the airport and on the aircraft. You may unzip it to feed or assist the animal and then it goes back. Unaccompanied minors cannot travel with a pet at all.

What It Costs, and the One Way to Pay Less

The pet fee is $150 each way, so $300 for a round trip. You add it in the Extras section while booking, or afterwards in Manage Trips on the website or My Trips in the app.

JetBlue is the only one of the three that lets you pay the pet fee with loyalty points. TrueBlue points can cover it any time before check-in. That does not make the animal cheaper to move, but it is a real option if you are sitting on a balance and it is not something Delta or United offer.

If you bring a second animal you pay a second fee and buy a second seat, so two pets on one trip is two fees plus a fare rather than a discounted pair.

The Carrier Limit Is the Tightest of the Majors

JetBlue publishes one maximum carrier size: 17 inches long by 12.5 inches wide by 8.5 inches high (43.18 by 31.75 by 21.59 cm), and it must be an FAA-approved carrier.

The height is the number to look at. JetBlue allows 8.5 inches. United allows 11 inches for a soft-sided carrier and Delta allows 11 inches as well, which means a carrier bought for either of those airlines is two and a half inches too tall for JetBlue. A dog that flies comfortably on one of those carriers may not have a legal carrier on this one, and the difference is not marginal.

If you do not already own something that fits, JetBlue sells carriers online and at the JFK Terminal 5 ticket counter, subject to availability and by credit card only. Buying at the airport is a fallback rather than a plan, because a carrier your animal has never been inside is the wrong thing to introduce on a travel day.

Two Pets, Two Seats, and Six Per Flight

A traveler may bring up to two pets, each in its own carrier, and the second one requires both a second seat and a second pet fee. The seat is not a courtesy, it is where the second carrier goes.

JetBlue also caps the whole aircraft at six pets per flight. That number is lower than it sounds once you consider how many people are trying to move an animal on a popular route in summer, and there is no waiting list. The practical advice JetBlue gives is to book early, and it is the correct advice: the place is inventory and it does not come back.

Buying an extra seat does not mean the animal rides in it. During taxi, takeoff and landing the carrier goes under the seat in front of you like any other. For the rest of the flight you may hold the carrier on your lap or set it on the seat you bought. The animal itself is not permitted to sit on a seat at any point.

Where You Can Sit, and Where You Cannot

Pets are not permitted in Mint, JetBlue’s premium cabin, so booking Mint and adding an animal afterwards does not work. Animals travel in Main.

Within Main, JetBlue will not assign you an exit row, a bulkhead seat, or any seat where the space under the seat in front is restricted. It recommends a window or aisle seat, which in practice is where the usable floor space is. Choose the seat when you book rather than at check-in, because the pet booking and the seat map interact and the good options go first.

The Codeshare Rule That Voids the Whole Plan

This is the rule most likely to ruin an itinerary that looked fine when it was booked. JetBlue does not accept pets on interline or codeshare bookings, regardless of where or how the booking was made.

So a JetBlue flight number on a ticket is not enough. If the itinerary includes a partner-operated leg, or was issued as a single interline ticket across two airlines, the animal cannot travel on it even though every individual flight appears to allow pets. Check how the ticket is issued, not just which aircraft you are on, and book the JetBlue portion directly with JetBlue when an animal is involved.

Flying Internationally on JetBlue

JetBlue does not publish a country-by-country rule set, and it is direct about why: requirements for dogs and cats vary by origin, destination, date of booking and date of travel, and they change. It puts the responsibility for checking on the traveler, and it warns that failing to meet US entry requirements can end in refused entry rather than a fine.

That is honest and it is also the gap where a move goes wrong. The airline will carry the animal and will not tell you the destination will not accept it. The document work is a separate job from the booking, and on a US departure it runs through USDA APHIS endorsement. Our APHIS pet travel guide covers that side, and our cat cost guide covers what the document work adds to an international move.

What JetBlue Does Not Publish

Three absences are worth naming, because each one is a question people arrive with and JetBlue’s pet page does not answer.

It publishes no minimum age. It publishes no weight limit for the animal. And it publishes no breed restriction for a cabin pet. The carrier dimensions are the only stated test, which means a heavy but short cat and a light but tall puppy are treated differently by the only rule that exists.

Do not read those absences as permission. A destination sets its own minimum age and the CDC sets one for dogs entering the United States, so an animal JetBlue would carry may still be too young to land where it is going. When the airline is silent, the government rarely is.

One more absence worth recording. JetBlue’s pet program used to be branded JetPaws, and a great deal of the advice online still describes it that way. The name does not appear anywhere on JetBlue’s current pet pages; it survives in company press releases from 2008 to 2011. If a guide is built around JetPaws, it has not been checked in a long time, and that is a reasonable test to apply to the rest of what it says.

What We Do When a Move Goes on JetBlue

On a JetBlue route the work is mostly front-loaded, because the airline gives you few levers once the booking exists. We measure the animal against the 8.5 inch height before anything is booked, since that single number decides whether JetBlue is possible at all. We check how the ticket is issued rather than which aircraft is flying, because the codeshare rule voids the plan silently. And we count backwards from the destination’s document deadlines rather than from the flight, since JetBlue carries the animal without checking whether it can land.

Where the animal is too tall for the carrier limit, we say so early and look at the carriers that still run a live animal program on the route rather than trying to make JetBlue work.

We are licensed and insured, and our team holds IATA Live Animals Regulations certification. Documentation for departures from the United States follows USDA APHIS requirements.

How JetBlue Compares With Delta and United

The three have converged on the same shape and differ in the details that decide a booking. The shape is a small animal in the cabin for a flat fee each way, and nothing in the hold for the general public. Delta and United each keep a narrow military and State Department exception on specific routes. JetBlue keeps none at all, which makes it the easiest of the three to rule in or out.

The carrier limit is where they genuinely differ. JetBlue’s 8.5 inch height is the lowest of the three, while United and Delta both allow 11 inches for a soft-sided carrier. For a dog near the line that is the whole decision, and it points the other way from what people expect, since the airline with the simplest policy is also the strictest on size.

The caps differ too. JetBlue holds the whole aircraft to six animals. United’s cap moves with the aircraft and the cabin, from two up to six. And JetBlue’s interline and codeshare exclusion has no exact equivalent at the other two, although United handles United Express separately for much the same practical reason.

On price there is little to choose between them on a domestic route, so let the carrier limit and the route decide rather than the fee. Our Delta pet policy guide and United pet policy guide carry each airline’s current fees and the conditions attached to them.

Frequently asked questions

Does JetBlue fly large dogs?

No. JetBlue states that no large dogs are accommodated and that no dogs or cats are carried in cargo. The only route onto a JetBlue aircraft is a carrier that fits under the seat in front of you, so for a larger dog the answer is a different airline rather than a different fare.

How much does JetBlue charge for a pet?

$150 each way, which is $300 for a round trip. It can be added during booking or later in Manage Trips, and JetBlue is the one major US carrier that lets you pay the pet fee with loyalty points.

What size carrier does JetBlue allow?

No larger than 17 inches long by 12.5 inches wide by 8.5 inches high, and it must be FAA-approved. The 8.5 inch height is lower than United and Delta allow, so a carrier bought for either of those airlines will not meet JetBlue’s limit.

Can I bring two pets on JetBlue?

Yes, up to two per traveler, each in its own carrier. You pay a second pet fee and buy a second seat for the second carrier. The aircraft is capped at six pets in total, so the constraint is usually the flight rather than your booking.

Does JetBlue have breed or weight restrictions?

JetBlue’s pet page publishes neither. It states only that the animal must be a small dog or cat and must fit in a carrier within the published dimensions. Note that a destination may impose its own breed and age rules even where the airline does not.

Can my pet travel on a codeshare flight?

No. JetBlue does not accept pets on interline or codeshare bookings, regardless of where or how the booking was made. Confirm how the ticket is issued before you buy it, because an itinerary can carry a JetBlue flight number and still fall under this rule.

Where These Numbers Come From

Every figure here comes from JetBlue’s own traveling with pets page and its pet FAQs: the $150 each way fee, the 17 by 12.5 by 8.5 inch carrier limit, the two pets per traveler and six per flight caps, the Mint and seating exclusions, the interline and codeshare rule, and the statement that no dogs or cats are carried in cargo. Checked September 2026. Airline pet policy changes more often than almost anything else in this field, so confirm the fee and the carrier limit with JetBlue before booking, and treat any summary of an airline policy, this one included, as a starting point rather than the last word.

Last updated 8 September 2026