Recently, a three-year-old whippet known as Champion Bohem C'est La Vie, or "Vivi," escaped her kennel while being loaded on a plane for a flight from JFK airport to LA. Pet lovers around the country reacted with indignation. Our Savvy Traveler, Rudy Maxa, says the entire relationship between pets and the airlines is a changing and complicated one.

They almost caught Vivi. Airport workers pursued her in three cars across the airport's tarmac at speeds of 25 miles per hour. A police officer from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey says he was only four feet away from her before she disappeared into a nearby marsh. He said he couldn't call to her because he didn't know her name. Not that "Bohem C'est La Vie" rolls easily off the tongue.

I had no idea the nerve this international story touched until I got a call a few days ago from a very well spoken woman I didn't know. She said she was outraged that Delta Air Lines and the airport were doing nothing to find Vivi. It was Delta, struggling to emerge from bankruptcy, that had the bad luck to lose a dog who'd just won a ribbon at the famous Westminster Kennel Club dog show.

But it turns out Vivi isn't alone. Dozens of dogs and cats are lost and found at Kennedy airport each year. Hey, it's a big place--5,000 acres. In fact, there's an animal rescue shelter at the airport that has about 25 dogs in its care right now.

Just last spring, airlines began providing the Department of Transportation with the number of pets who die in cargo holds--usually between one and three a month. The publicity may have encouraged airlines to be more careful with pets. Most airlines won't fly them in the summer if temperatures anywhere on the itinerary will be above 85 degrees--75 for snub-nosed dogs and cats. The list of rules for traveling with pets has grown quite complicated. You can find them on any airline's web site.

I clicked on American Airlines' list of rules. Only dogs, cats and household birds can fly with a passenger or in a cargo hold. The airline allows up to seven pets to travel in the passenger cabin--two in first class, five in business or coach as long as they're at least eight weeks old. Your pet must be in a carrier of specified dimensions and fit under the seat in front of you. That means your pet has to be small. In cargo or under that seat, the fare is about $80 or so. Seeing-eye dogs or celebrity cats and dogs--Lassie, for example--are exceptions. Then you may to buy an additional seat with the permission of the airline. Reservations required in all cases.

I always recommend never putting valuables in checked luggage. Vivi was one valuable dog, about $20,000 worth. She may yet turn up--many do at JFK. I'm not sure if beyond offering a reward, which Vivi's owner has already done, that Delta or JFK can do much to aid her return. My guess is that should there be a next time, its owner will drive across the country rather than fly. Or, if you'll paradon me, maybe it would be symbolically more appropriate to take . . . Greyhound.

From Saint Paul, I'm Rudy Maxa for Marketplace.

February 22, 2006