Flying With a Pet in Canada: Air Canada and WestJet Pet Fees and Rules

The surprise is usually the second direction, the carrier that does not fit the seat, or a spot that was never booked. This page uses Air Canada’s pets page and WestJet’s pets page and service-fees page, all opened 27 Sep 2026. Cargo prices were not on those pages. Nothing here is a fare quote. Confirm the amount before you pay. There is no affiliate offer on this page.

In-cabin vs checked vs cargo: what each airline allows

Air Canada’s cabin is a cat or a small dog in a soft-sided carrier under the seat, one animal per passenger. The animal must be able to stand, turn around, and lie down, and no part of the animal may stick out. You cannot take that carrier into the cabin if you are an unaccompanied minor, if you sit in an exit or bulkhead row, if a medical device has to go under the seat, or if you are in Premium Economy, because that cabin’s layout does not allow the carrier to be stowed. From 1 June 2025 the cabin carrier has to be soft-sided. Carriers with a rigid window that are worn on the back are not permitted. Pet strollers and car seats are checked baggage, not a second cabin item.

For fares other than Economy Basic, Air Canada says the pet in its carrier is in addition to one personal item and one carry-on bag. On certain Economy Basic itineraries the pet plus one personal item is what you may bring. The pet still has to go under the seat. Checked cats and dogs travel in the baggage compartment on Air Canada or Air Canada Rouge, and on Air Canada Express operated by Jazz. A flight marketed by Air Canada and operated by a codeshare partner does not allow the pet. Pet carriers are not permitted on Air Canada Jetz. In the hold, the kennel is hard-sided, not collapsible and not wire, leak-proof, and large enough for the animal to stand, turn, and lie down. Two fully weaned puppies or kittens from 12 weeks to 6 months, same species, may share a kennel, and the fee is charged twice. More than two pets means contacting Air Canada Cargo between 14 and 7 days before travel.

WestJet’s cabin accepts birds, cats, and dogs, one per guest and one per kennel. The kennel is soft-sided, leak-proof, secure, and ventilated, and it is not a duffle. The animal’s head may not stick out. The kennel counts in the carry-on allowance. On routes where UltraBasic guests may not bring a carry-on bag, WestJet still allows an empty kennel or a pet in a kennel in addition to the personal item. Pets are not accepted in Business cabin on the 787. Checked species on the page include birds, cats, chinchillas, dogs, guinea pigs, hedgehogs, and rabbits. Kennel counts in the hold are three on a 737 including the MAX, two on a 787, and one on a Dash 8. Pets accepted per guest on those aircraft are six, four, and two. Two animals of the same species, up to 14 kg each, may share a kennel. Pets are not accepted on itineraries that include flights operated by codeshare or interline partners. An animal travelling alone is cargo. WestJet says manifested cargo is mandatory for pets destined for London Heathrow, and it prints a cargo phone number, 1-866-952-2746, without a price.

Air Canada Cargo is the path when the pet travels alone or the kennel exceeds 45 kg or 292 cm linear. The pets page tells you to contact Air Canada Cargo. It does not print an AC Animals rate. Do not copy the checked-baggage fee into a cargo quote.

Fees and carrier size/weight rules (from airline pages, dated)

Air Canada labels the cabin and checked amounts as a charge for one-way travel. A return with the pet on both flights is two of those charges. At the ends of the cabin range inside Canada that is $50 plus $50, or $60 plus $60. The range exists because the page is covering more than one tax outcome, not because this site averaged fares. The checked table’s own footnote says fees are inclusive of a minimum 0 percent to a maximum 18 percent tax depending on the itinerary. A sentence above that table says 0 percent to 20 percent. Both sentences were on the page. Use the figure the airline shows before you pay.

WestJet’s fees page says fees are charged in Canadian or U.S. dollars depending on where the trip starts, that GST applies to itineraries that start in Canada, and that pet fees apply to both directions. The pet lines are printed as ranges: $50 to $59 and $100 to $118 in the cabin, $100 to $118 and $200 to $236 checked. This page does not relabel those ranges as a single currency the fees page did not put on the pet lines. Two directions at the Canada and United States cabin ends are $100 and $118 if you double the printed ends. That is arithmetic, not a new quote.

Cabin dimensions are not one suitcase size. On Air Canada, the common narrow-body and wide-body economy limit in the chart is 40 cm wide, 43 cm long, and 20 cm high. The Dash 8-400, Embraer E175, CRJ900, and Landline line is 40 cm by 55 cm by 27 cm. Business class on the A330-300 and on the 777 and 787 is 21 cm wide, 41 cm long, and 28 cm high. WestJet’s under-seat line is 41 cm long, 21.5 cm high, and 25.4 cm wide, with a note that you may have to sit in a window seat and that under-seat space varies. Checked, Air Canada allows up to 292 cm length plus width plus height, and up to 45 kg pet and kennel combined. WestJet’s checked section prints 45 kg combined and a kennel line of 101 cm by 68 cm by 81 cm, wheels removed, hard-sided, with food and water containers on the door. A kennel that fails the stand-and-turn test can be refused on either airline.

Booking: limited pet spots per flight

Air Canada tells you to book your own flight first, then contact reservations to register the pet on that flight. You will be asked for carrier dimensions and the pet’s weight and breed. The page strongly recommends registering within 24 hours of booking so that, if the pet cannot be accommodated, the ticket is refunded without charge. After 24 hours, changes follow the fare’s change and cancellation fees. Pets that were not registered are not accepted at the airport. You cannot check in online or at a kiosk. Arrive a full 30 minutes before the recommended check-in time and see an agent. If you change the booking, the pet’s reservation has to change too.

WestJet says space can be reserved online or by phone, and that kennel fees are paid through the contact centre by credit card or Travel Bank. It limits the number of pets on each flight and says that if you do not request space 48 hours before departure, space may be gone and you may not be allowed to travel with the pet. Pre-booking is the only way the page offers to hold the spot. For a checked kennel, the recommended check-in is 120 minutes before a domestic departure and 150 minutes before an international one, and a pet may be denied if you check in less than 90 minutes before departure. The same page says agents may not take the pet more than 60 minutes before an international departure or 120 minutes before a flight to or from the United States. Those clocks are all printed. Read them against your airport, not as one number. At the gate, arrive at least 40 minutes before departure. Less than 10 minutes and you are denied boarding, pet or not.

Breed and seasonal restrictions

Air Canada does not put short-nosed dogs in the baggage compartment, because of heat stroke and breathing risk. The breed names on that part of the page did not render in the copy opened on 27 Sep 2026. The page also says breeds it classifies as strong need a reinforced crate that is not plastic, with a metal, wire, or wood door. Those names did not render either. Use the lists on the airline page rather than a list from memory. In heat, pets may not be accepted in baggage when summer temperatures exceed 29.5°C, and the page prints destination blackouts, including some that run all year. In cold, from 1 November to 31 March, and any time the temperature is 0°C or below, cats and dogs under 4.5 kg are not accepted in baggage. The Embraer 175 does not take pets in baggage in that cold rule. The 737 MAX 8 does not take cats and dogs in baggage from 1 November to 31 March. From 18 December to 4 January, no pets are accepted as checked baggage or cargo. Separate Mexico-flight limits run from 14 September to 14 January. Cargo can still be discussed with Air Canada Cargo in winter. The page says so, without a price.

WestJet’s brachycephalic rule, for bookings after 4 July 2023, bars these cats from the baggage compartment: British Shorthair, Burmese, Exotic Shorthair, Himalayan, Persian, Selkirk Rex, and Scottish Fold. The dog list on that page is Affenpinscher, Brasileiro, Brussels Griffon, Boston Terrier, Boxer, all bulldogs, Bullmastiff, Cane Corso, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, apple-headed Chihuahua, Chow Chow, Dogue de Bordeaux, English Toy Spaniel, Japanese Chin, Lhasa Apso, Neapolitan Mastiff, Pekingese, all pugs including the Chinese Pug, Shar-Pei, Shih Tzu, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, and Tibetan Spaniel. Mixes of those breeds are included. They must be booked as WestJet Cargo. Strong breeds, also for bookings after 4 July 2023, are not accepted as checked animals and need a CR82 crate via cargo: American Bulldog, American Staffordshire Terrier, Anatolian Shepherd (the page spells it “Shepard”), Bandog, Cane Corso, Caucasian Shepherd, Doberman, Dogo Argentino, Fila Brasileiro, all mastiffs, all pit bulls, Presa Canario, Rottweiler, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, and wolf-dog hybrids, including crosses. WestJet also says these breeds are restricted for travel into or through Ontario: Pit Bull Terrier, American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, and Staffordshire Bull Terrier. That is the airline’s sentence. This page did not open Ontario’s dog-owner statute, so it does not restate provincial law.

WestJet’s pets page has a holiday-restrictions heading for checked pets. The dates under that heading did not render on 27 Sep 2026, so no WestJet blackout calendar is printed here. Heat is discussed as a reason a pet may be refused. A temperature number for WestJet heat was not on the sections that rendered. Do not copy Air Canada’s 29.5°C onto WestJet.

Documents for domestic vs international flights

Inside Canada, you are not importing the animal. You are still bound by the airline’s registration, carrier, age, and breed rules, and WestJet tells you to confirm entrance rules before you cross a provincial border. The Ontario breed lines above are one example of a rule that is not a federal import form. A health certificate for a domestic hop was not given a form number on the airline pages opened here. Ask the airline what it will look at for that city pair.

Landing in Canada from another country is a CFIA question: age, whether the animal is a personal pet or a commercial import, and the rabies status of the country you left. That checklist is the import guide. Air Canada says government veterinary officials may inspect the pet on arrival and that inspection fees may exist. It points to IATA for destination rules and tells you a clinic certificate may not be enough for the country you are entering. For a dog going to the United States, Air Canada cites CDC requirements effective 1 August 2024 and sends you to the CDC. This page does not copy those rules. They are the snowbird dog guide. The cost of owning the dog the rest of the year, and the vet bill if travel goes badly, are separate: annual dog costs and vet bills. Service dogs are a different product on both airlines. Use the airline’s accessibility page, not the pet-fee table.

Checklist

Write the direction, the airline, and the aircraft before you buy a carrier. Then work down the list. If a line is a cargo booking, stop and get a cargo price. This page does not have one.