United waives pet fees for military families

DETROIT – Military families who were facing hundreds of dollars in extra fees to ship their pets back home have gotten a break from United Airlines, according to USA Today.

Pets that can't ride in the cabin will still be sent as cargo.  It's part of the new policy that United adopted during its merger with Continental Airlines. But pet owners who are moving because of military orders will not have to pay a third-party cargo handling fee to take their pets with them.

"We realized the impact it had on our military families," United spokeswoman Mary Ryan told USA Today. "We value our relationship with the military very much and just wanted to see what we could do to help alleviate that burden."

Military families launched petitions and took their complaints to Facebook when they learned of the policy change, that was set to start March 3 when United switches to Continental's "PetSafe" program.