United is the simplest of the three large US carriers to summarize and the hardest to work around. If your cat or dog fits under the seat in front of you, United will fly it for $150 each way. If it does not, United has no option at any price, unless you are moving between Guam and Honolulu on military or State Department orders. There is no middle tier and no amount of money buys one.
That single fact settles most United pet moves before any other detail matters, so this guide starts there. Everything after it is the detail that decides the date: carrier dimensions that change with the aircraft, seats you are not permitted to sit in, a rabies rule stricter than most governments impose, and one booking step that cannot be done in the app. Figures verified from United’s own published pages, checked September 2026.
What It Costs to Fly a Pet on United
A pet ticket on United is $150 each way. It covers a cat or a dog, it does not change with distance, and it is charged per direction, so a round trip is $300 before anything else.
You may bring up to two pets per person on most flights, but the second one is not simply a second fee. United requires you to buy a second seat, and it has to be next to your assigned seat so you can care for both carriers. On several aircraft you cannot do this at all: United allows only one pet per person on the A319, A320, A321neo, the 737-800 and 737-8 (MAX 8), and the 737-900 and 737-9 (MAX 9), because those types have limited space under the middle seat.
United also caps how many animals travel in each cabin on any one flight, and the cap varies by aircraft, from two in the premium cabins on some types up to six in Economy on the widebodies. Those places are inventory rather than a service you buy on the day. Once they are gone on the flight you want, they are gone, which is the practical reason to add the pet at the moment you book yourself rather than afterwards.
Your Carrier Has to Fit, and the Aircraft Decides
United publishes two maximum carrier sizes. A hard-sided carrier can be up to 9 by 17.5 by 12 inches (22 by 44 by 30 cm). A soft-sided carrier can be up to 11 by 18 by 11 inches (27 by 45 by 27 cm). The soft-sided allowance is two inches taller, and height is usually the dimension that decides whether a particular dog travels at all.
Then there is the exception worth knowing before you buy anything. On a Boeing 737 MAX the carrier can be no more than 10 inches tall, an inch less than the soft-sided maximum United publishes everywhere else. A carrier bought to the published limit does not fit that aircraft, and the MAX is common across United’s domestic network. Check the aircraft type on your itinerary, not the general rule.
United sets no weight limit and no breed limit for a pet in the cabin. The limit is the box and the space under the seat. So the honest test is not what your dog weighs but whether it can stand, turn around and lie down inside a carrier of those dimensions. Measure the animal, then buy the carrier, and do both before booking rather than after.
Where You Can Sit, and Where You Cannot
Traveling with a pet removes seats from your options, and United is specific about which. You cannot sit with a pet in an emergency exit row, in a United Premium Plus seat, or in the front row of any cabin. On a Boeing 757-200 in Economy you must be in a window seat for the carrier to fit under the seat in front. On a 757-300ER, a Bombardier CRJ or an EMB 145 in Economy you must be in a window or an aisle seat.
One limit is easy to miss. These rules cover United’s own flights. United Express flights are operated by regional partners, and United directs pet questions on those to its own reservations line rather than publishing a single set of rules. If any leg of your itinerary is United Express, confirm that leg before you book the whole thing.
PetSafe Is Closed, and What That Means for a Large Dog
United’s PetSafe cargo program is not open to general bookings and has not been for years. The airline’s current wording is direct: pets can only fly in cargo when traveling with certain active-duty military or State Department employees.
For a large dog this is the end of the conversation with United rather than the start of a negotiation. There is no premium service, no approved shipper route and no exception for a calm animal or a short flight. A dog that does not fit under the seat does not fly United.
The consequence is that your dog’s size chooses the airline before anything else does. Carriers that still accept animals in the hold as manifest cargo exist, and the route decides which of them serve it. If your dog is above cabin size, the useful question is not how to get an exception from United but which carrier flies your route with a live animal program. On the US majors that is American, whose cargo hold is still open to the public. Our Delta pet policy guide and JetBlue pet policy guide cover two carriers in a similar position, and our guide to what it costs to ship a dog explains how cargo is priced once you are in that market.
The Military and State Department Exception, Guam to Honolulu
The exception is real and it is narrow. United carries pets in cargo for active-duty US military personnel, State Department Foreign Service Personnel and their spouses, on current orders or reassignment, traveling between Guam and Honolulu. That is the whole program. Not military families in general, not any other route, and not without orders.
Inside it the rules are specific. You may travel with up to four pets from Guam to Honolulu and up to two from Honolulu to Guam. Each pet and its crate together must weigh less than 99.9 pounds (45.31 kg). Every animal travels in its own crate, and the crate must meet USDA and IATA requirements, is inspected at check-in, and cannot be a 700 series or anything taller than 34 inches (86.4 cm).
Booking is by email rather than through reservations. United asks for the request 5 to 10 days before the trip, with the itinerary, active PCS orders, a pet health certificate dated within 10 days of travel, and a signed acknowledgement form. The owner’s name has to match across all of them, one pet move is allowed per PCS order, and only your own animals qualify. United states that carrying someone else’s pet results in every animal being refused at tender.
Two things are worth knowing well before the day. Breed restrictions apply on this route, and United refuses purebred and mixed breed animals whose health certificate names a restricted dominant breed. And on arrival in Honolulu, United takes the animals to Hawaii’s animal quarantine and does not collect them afterwards, so the Hawaii process is yours to manage from that point. Our Hawaii pet quarantine guide sets out what that involves and how far ahead it starts.
Breed and Age Rules
For a cabin pet, United publishes no breed restriction and no weight limit. That is worth stating plainly, because a snub-nosed dog refused in the hold by other carriers is not refused on breed grounds in United’s cabin. The restriction that does exist applies to the Guam to Honolulu cargo program described above.
Age is where United is stricter than the fee page suggests. On domestic flights a puppy or kitten must be at least two months old. On international flights a dog must be at least six months old, which follows the CDC rule for dogs entering the United States, and a kitten must be at least four months old to satisfy vaccination requirements.
The six month rule is the one that reshapes plans. A family moving abroad with a young dog cannot simply bring it along on the date they chose, and the age is counted at travel rather than at booking.
Flying Internationally on United
United requires a health and vaccination certificate for dogs and cats on every international flight, and it names Canada and Mexico specifically rather than treating them as an extension of the domestic network.
Its rabies rule is stricter than several governments impose. United requires the rabies vaccination to be completed at least 28 days before travel, for both dogs and cats, on any flight leaving the United States for an international destination. A vaccination given inside that window can satisfy the destination and still fail the airline, which makes United rather than the destination the thing that sets your earliest possible travel date.
Mexico adds a step of its own. A dog entering Mexico needs a New World Screwworm inspection certificate, and it applies to service dogs and cabin pets alike. The certificate must be signed by a USDA-accredited veterinarian and issued no more than five days before travel, and the dog must be free of wounds and of internal and external parasites. A dog originally from Mexico is exempt but needs a Mexican health certificate and vaccination record instead, and a dog merely transiting the United States from a third country does not need one at all.
Dogs arriving into the United States face the CDC’s current import rules, and from some regions a USDA screwworm certificate as well. Our APHIS pet travel guide covers the endorsement side of that.
How to Add a Pet to a United Booking
The mechanics are simple and there is one trap. You add a pet by selecting Travel with a pet as a traveler while booking on united.com, or afterwards through My Trips. You cannot add a pet in the United app, and the app is the one place the option does not appear.
At the airport, check in for a domestic flight at a kiosk rather than online. The kiosk prints the tag that goes on the carrier, and you need your confirmation number to get it.
Two rules apply at the counter. A pet stroller has to be checked in the lobby and counts against your checked bag allowance. And therapy and emotional support cats and dogs travel as pets under this policy rather than as service animals, which means the same fee, the same carrier and the same seat restrictions as any other animal.
In the air the rule is one line. The carrier stays under the seat in front of you, with the door closed, for the whole flight.
What We Do When a Move Goes on United
Most of our work on a United route is deciding whether United is the right carrier at all, and that decision is usually made with a tape measure. We measure the animal, check it against the carrier limit for the specific aircraft on the itinerary rather than the general published limit, and say plainly when the answer is that United cannot carry this dog. That answer arrives faster and costs less than discovering it at a kiosk.
Where United does work, the coordination is about sequencing rather than volume of paperwork. The 28 day rabies window sets the earliest possible travel date, the destination’s own rules often set a later one, and the cabin place has to be taken on the day the ticket is bought. We hold those three against each other and work backwards from the arrival date rather than forwards from today.
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.
Frequently asked questions
Can my large dog fly on United?
No, unless you are moving between Guam and Honolulu on military or State Department orders. United carries pets in the cabin only for the general public, so the animal has to fit in a carrier under the seat in front of you. There is no paid alternative for a larger dog on United, and the practical next step is to look at carriers that still run a live animal cargo program on your route.
How much does United charge for a pet?
$150 each way, for a cat or a dog, regardless of distance. A round trip is $300. If you bring a second pet you also buy a second seat, so the cost of two animals is the two pet fees plus a fare.
Can I bring two pets on one United flight?
On most aircraft yes, but you must buy two seats and they have to be next to each other. On the A319, A320, A321neo, 737-800, 737-8 (MAX 8), 737-900 and 737-9 (MAX 9), United allows only one pet per person because of the space under the middle seat.
Does United have breed restrictions?
Not for pets in the cabin. United publishes no breed limit and no weight limit for a cabin animal; the carrier dimensions are the only test. Breed restrictions do apply to the Guam to Honolulu military cargo program, where an animal whose health certificate names a restricted dominant breed is refused, purebred or mixed.
How old does my puppy have to be to fly internationally?
Six months, for a dog leaving the United States on an international flight, which follows the CDC rule for dogs entering the country. A kitten needs to be four months old. On domestic flights the minimum is two months for both. The age is measured at travel, not at booking.
Can I add a pet to my United booking in the app?
No. You add a pet on united.com during booking by selecting Travel with a pet as a traveler, or afterwards through My Trips. The United app does not offer the option, which is worth knowing before you spend time looking for it.
Where These Numbers Come From
Every figure on this page comes from United’s own published pages: its traveling with pets policy, including the carrier dimensions, seating limits, fees, age minimums and rabies timing, and its military pet program page for the Guam to Honolulu route, the crate rules and the booking process. Checked September 2026. Airline pet policy changes more often than almost anything else in this field, so confirm the fee and the carrier limit against United before you book, and treat any summary of an airline policy, including this one, as a starting point rather than the last word.
Last updated 7 September 2026