Is it easier to travel with cats than with dogs?

A colleague recently asked me if it’s easier to travel with cats than with dogs.
It got me thinking, but my honest answer was… 🥁🥁🥁
It depends.

It’s very frustrating to experience firsthand that “Pet Friendly” is still very far from “pets” in general. Most pet travel policies (transport, accommodation, restaurants, places) are built around dogs as the default category.

😺 Most pet fees I’ve encountered charge for dogs, while cats go free.

🐶 A luxury hotel in Germany advertised as pet friendly on Booking, but once at check-in, the receptionist wasn’t sure if cats were actually allowed in the room.

🐶 Our ferry had a pet welcome kit (only from Finland to Germany) with a towel and dog snacks. Nothing at all for families travelling with cats.

😺 Spanair once let me take my cat out of the carrier to walk a bit around the galley on a 4h trip from Spain to Finland. On KLM, I wasn’t allowed to even pet my dog even though he was inside the bag all the time.

By European law, and across Europe, you are allowed to travel privately with up to five pets (Travelling with pets and other animals in the EU), however most pet policies still have the ridiculous rule of 1/2 pets max per person or per room making it still difficult to travel with more than one pet.

Neither species has it easier for travelling.
Dogs get welcomed more often.
Cats get charged less often.

The fine print rarely covers both the same way, and travelling with other pets like birds, ferrets, or bunnies is still far more restricted.

But as demand for pet travel continues to grow, I have no doubt that things will change for the better 🧡