Bark Air flight services officially started from Thursday, May 23 with its inaugural flight from New York to Los Angeles.
What is Bark Air?
Matt Meeker, the co-founder of Bark has come up with a one of a kind initiative to offer a flying experience to dogs. Bark partnered with a US based jet charter company Talon Air located on Long Island outside New York city to turn its dream into reality. Bark Air is a public charter operator and not a direct air carrier with no personally owned aircraft.
Unveiling the motivation behind this one of a kind enterprise, the company’s site read,“We are launching BARK Air because, despite incredible demand from dog people, there is simply no good or convenient solution to traveling long distances with your dog. We recognize and believe that life is better – for you and for your dog – when you are together. We have spent years talking to airlines about how to make flying with your dog more accessible, and because of their resistance, we decided to build the solution ourselves.”
How to book a Bark air flight ?
Bark air flights are easy to book. On its website Bark air, one can book its flight using the book flight option. First enter the arrival and departure destinations, select month, input the number of tickets and click find to check whether any flight is available in the selected month.
Once a flight is booked, the pet owners will be contacted by a BARK Air concierge to collect information about their dog and their travel plans in order to give them the best overall travel experience possible.
Currently, Bark Air provides only one and round trip flights between New York and LA as well as New York and London. More routes will be added soon. The company has received over 15,000 recommendations of including routes.
Flight accommodations
Each flight is designed to fit at max 15 dogs and its owner pairs but it never sells more than 10 tickets for each flight. The company prioritizes space essential for free movement for dogs.
Additional tickets for dog owners are available but they should be at least 18 years old. Kids are forbidden on these exclusive dog flights.
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Onboard luxuries
Committed to “deliver a white paw experience,” Bark Air has meticulously built a flight experience that serves the dogs first, from the ground up. After an efficient seamless check in process an hour before the flight takes off, a highly skilled BARK Air concierge will welcome all pups and help them settle in to their experience through socialization at the gate and dog-centric cabin preparation.
The cabin will be prepped with calming aids such as: pheromone, music, warm lavender scented refreshment towels, and other comforts to help each dog feel settled. Their concierge will also have a ‘just in case’ bag filled with calming treats, leashes, poop bags, and more will be provided at the gate. Once onboard, dogs will be served their beverage of choice (water, bone broth, doggie champagne), during ascent and descent to ensure they do not experience any ear discomfort commonly caused by the change in cabin pressure. In addition, a variety of BARK-branded treats, snacks, and surprises will be served throughout the flight experience.
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Bark Air experience
An onboard passenger with a terrier mix shared his experience of his first dog flight. He revealed the high happiness index of every dog and the extra pampering given to all dogs onboard. The passenger said that co-founder and CEO of Bark, Matt Meeker, said after they boarded the plane, “What we say is first class for the dog, business class for the human. What we’ve seen is if our primary focus is making the dog happy, then the human will be very happy.”
Is it pocket friendly ?
Hell no. While it seems like a fun idea to fly with your dogs, you might need to save some extra dollars each month to fulfill this wish of yours. Pet owners can expect to pay $8,000 for a one-way international flight and $6,000 one way for a domestic flight that covers both them and their dog. For round trips, one needs to spend $12,000 – $16,000 per flight.
