Flying with a Westie: What We Learned from 20+ Flights with Sami

I never planned to become “the guy who flies with his dog.” It just kind of happened.

Sami — our West Highland White Terrier — took his first flight when he was about 7 months old. A short hop within Europe, nothing dramatic. We were nervous, he was calm. And that was it. We were hooked.

Since then, we’ve taken him on over 20 flights. Across Europe, across the Atlantic, through airports big and small. We’ve flown to Greece, Spain, Germany, and all the way to New York City — a transatlantic trip that included a 12-hour delay, two legs, and one very patient Westie.

Here’s everything we’ve learned.

Westies and the Weight Limit: A Constant Battle

This is the thing nobody tells you about flying with a Westie: they’re right at the edge of most airline weight limits.

Sami weighs about 7.7 kg on a good day. Most European airlines set the cabin pet limit at 8 kg — and that includes the carrier bag. So when you add a bag that weighs 1-1.5 kg, we’re either right at the limit or slightly over.

This means we have a whole routine we go through before every flight. A mild diet starting two weeks out, cutting treats, sometimes skipping a meal the morning of the flight. I go into all the specifics in our article on tips for flying with a dog who’s over the weight limit, but the short version is: it works. We’ve never been denied boarding because of weight.

It also means the carrier bag choice is critical. Every gram the bag weighs is a gram Sami can’t weigh. We switched to a lighter carrier after our first few flights and it made a huge difference. If you’re in the same boat, our guide to choosing the right airline carrier covers what to look for.

If you want to understand the full picture of how dog weight limits work across different airlines, we’ve written about that too — because it’s not as straightforward as you’d think.

The Carrier Bag Situation

Westies are stocky dogs. They’re not tall, but they’re solid, and they’re wider than you’d expect for their weight. Standard airline carrier bags — the ones that are 23-24 cm tall — are just too short for a Westie to stand in.

Sami is about 29 cm from paw to shoulder. If you measure to the top of his head when he’s alert, it’s closer to 40 cm. So in a 23 cm tall bag, he can lie down and turn around, but he can’t stand. And some airlines require that your dog be able to stand in the carrier.

We learned this the hard way when we were almost rejected at check-in on one of our early flights. The agent said Sami didn’t look comfortable in the bag and wanted to send him to cargo. We refused — I will never put him in cargo — and after some back-and-forth, a supervisor let us through. But it was close.

After that, we bought a carrier that’s 28-30 cm tall. Yes, it’s technically over the airline’s stated maximum height. No, nobody has ever measured it. What they care about is: does the bag fit under the seat? It does. And does the dog look comfortable? He does. Problem solved.

The Near-Rejection: Our Greece Story

I should tell you the full near-rejection story, because it taught us more than any other flight.

We were flying back from Greece. Sami was maybe 7-8 months old, still a puppy, and we hadn’t groomed him in a while. He was fluffy. Imagine a cotton ball with legs and a face — that was Sami that day. And the carrier bag we had was our first one, the tiny expandable one.

The woman at check-in looked at Sami in the bag, shook her head, and said he was too big. She said he couldn’t fly in the cabin and would need to go in cargo. We said absolutely not. She said those are the rules. We asked to speak to a supervisor.

Our luck was that we were on a connecting flight — our luggage was already in the cargo area from the first leg. To take our bags off the plane, they’d have to unload other passengers’ bags too, which would delay the whole flight. The supervisor looked at the situation, looked at Sami (who was sitting calmly in his bag, being adorable), and let us through.

That day we learned three things: always groom your Westie before a flight (a trimmed terrier looks significantly smaller than a fluffy one), invest in a properly sized carrier, and the agent you get at check-in matters more than almost anything else. We’ve written a whole piece on the best airlines for terrier breeds partly because of experiences like this.

Training Sami for Flights

Before our first flight, we spent about two weeks getting Sami used to his carrier bag. We left it open on the floor with a blanket inside, tossed treats in there, let him explore it at his own pace. Then we started zipping it up for short periods — a few minutes, then ten minutes, then longer.

By the time flight day came, Sami walked into the bag on his own. He associated it with treats and comfort, not confinement. And honestly, I think that early training is a big part of why he’s such a good flyer today.

The terrier stubbornness is real though. Sami has opinions about things. If he decides he doesn’t want to do something, he’ll let you know. So carrier training needs patience. You can’t rush a Westie into anything — they need to think it’s their idea.

What Sami Is Like on a Plane

People always ask me: is he calm? Does he bark? Does he freak out?

Honestly, Sami is a dream on flights. He sleeps through most of them. We schedule flights during his usual nap times — either early morning or early afternoon — and he just curls up in his carrier and passes out. Takeoff, landing, turbulence — none of it bothers him.

We’ve never given him any sedatives or anti-anxiety medication. He’s just naturally calm. We got lucky with that, I think, although the early training probably helped. A lot of terrier owners I’ve talked to say similar things — terriers adapt well to travel, probably because they adapt well to everything. They’re hardy dogs.

During the flight, the carrier bag stays under the seat in front of us. During takeoff and landing, it needs to be fully pushed under the seat (same rule as your backpack). During cruising, I slide it out a little so it’s between my feet. Sometimes I unzip the top a bit so Sami can poke his head out. Nobody has ever said anything about this, and I think the flight attendants appreciate a visible, calm dog more than a zipped-up mystery.

The New York Trip: Our Biggest Adventure

The flight we’re most proud of — and the one people always ask about — is our trip from Lisbon to New York.

We flew Delta, with a layover in… well, it was supposed to be a quick connection. Instead, we had a 12-hour delay. Twelve hours. In an airport. With a dog.

Finding a pet relief area was a challenge (JFK doesn’t make it easy, let me tell you). Immigration with a dog is its own adventure — they check the dog’s documents, health certificates, the CDC form, all of it. The pet fee was $200 each way. And the flight itself was about 8 hours.

Sami handled it all like a champ. Through the delay, through immigration, through the flight. He slept, he ate when we fed him, and he charmed approximately every person we encountered.

That trip taught us that if your dog can handle a short flight, they can probably handle a long one too. The preparation is the same — it just matters more because there’s less room for error.

The Documents You Need

Quick summary of what we bring on every flight with Sami:

For European flights: EU pet passport (with microchip number and up-to-date rabies vaccination), the airline booking confirmation showing the pet reservation, and the carrier bag. That’s it. Europe makes it relatively simple if your passport is current.

For US flights: everything above, plus the CDC dog import form, a health certificate from the vet (issued within a specific timeframe before travel), and extra patience for immigration. The US paperwork is more involved, but it’s manageable if you start early.

Before every flight, I call the airline to confirm exactly which documents they need. Their websites usually list everything, but I like to hear it from a real person. Better to call and confirm than to show up and find out you’re missing something.

Would I Recommend Flying with a Westie?

Absolutely. It takes preparation — more than I expected before our first flight — but once you’ve done it a few times, it becomes routine. The weight limit thing is the biggest challenge with Westies specifically, but it’s solvable.

Sami has seen more of the world than most dogs, and I think that’s made his life richer. He’s comfortable in airports, relaxed on planes, and excited every time he sees the carrier bag come out of the closet. Not bad for a dog from Caldas da Rainha.

If you’re thinking about it, start with a short flight. Get the preparation right, see how your dog handles it, and go from there. And if you want a head start, our free email course walks you through the whole process in 8 days.