After showing them their own policies, they were still relentless and said “oh well if the dog is bigger the carrier can be bigger” wtf? That makes NO sense! I’ve flown with my dog both as a service animal and pet prior to him obtaining his credentials more than 10 times with a handful of other airlines and had NEVER had an issue. They then tried to get me to go to a nearby Walmart to buy a bigger carrier, saying that the maximum height limit is 13 inches, which is NOT what their website stated. This is ridiculous because their height requirement is 11inch max, which means my cat can’t even stand inside the carrier. He’s small so I decided to just fly him as a pet - like others, we were denied at check in because he cannot stand inside his carrier. My dog is a registered service dog but we booked a flight last minute so we did not have time to submit the paperwork prior. We are very disappointed as we have always flown with United very happily. Finally, we will never fly United again when we have our puppy (which is most of the time) - and maybe never, as this experience, despite the supervisor’s help and kindness, has left us feeling mistreated and disrespected. The agent was rude, condescending, and outright unprofessional even though we were very nice to her.

United needs to train its agents, not just about what 'turning around in the carrier' means (it’s not the height of you the puppy with the head lifted looking up!!!!) but also about how to interact with customers. She said that we should just take her to Alaska Airlines and she would refund us the pet fee (but all five of us in the family could not get a refund!) We had to call a supervisor who fortunately was kind, allowed us to show him how the dog could stand and turn inside the carrier, and agreed that she could travel. I tried to demonstrate to her how the dog was small enough to stand up and turn around inside the carrier when it was closed, but the agent refused to look. She wouldn’t let us fly with our 10-pound dog (who has flown several times with United) because the dog was above the carrier when she lifted her head to look up. But zero for the check-in agent in Seattle who was incredibly rude and unreasonable. Ridiculous 'stand-in carrier' requirement - denied check-in

Pet weight limit for airlines