There’s a brand-new airline taking to the skies, and it comes with the amenities of dreams: beds for relaxing, lavender-scented refreshment towels, complimentary champagne, and treats. The catch? It’s an airline for dogs.
Bark Air, from the company behind the monthly subscription service BarkBox, bills itself as a “100% totally real,” dog-centric flight service (although human companions fly with their furry friends). Dave Stangle, Bark’s VP of brand marketing, says this has been a dream of the company’s since it launched back in 2011. But it was only recently that Bark realized that it could become a reality with the surging interest in dog-friendly travel.
Bark partnered with the creative agency Tombras on the airline’s launch campaign, and on the interior design of the planes themselves. Jeff Benjamin, chief creative officer at Tombras, says the lack of existing dog-friendly travel was an “obvious and urgent” problem. At best, dogs might get to fly in a duffel bag under a seat. At worst, they’re put in a cage in the cargo hold. “It was high time someone stepped in and did something,” he wrote in an email to Fast Company.
Ready for takeoff
When the airline makes its first flight in May, Bark Air’s initial routes will serve the New York City metro area via White Plains, Los Angeles via Van Nuys, and London via Stansted Airport. Private jet charter company Talon Air is partnering with Bark to make the dream a reality. As Talon handles takeoffs and landings, Bark will handle safety precautions among the passengers before, during, and after flights. A dedicated concierge team will be responsible for making sure that each trip is (figuratively) turbulence-free.
“They reach out to each passenger individually to get to know their dogs,” Stangle explained in an email. “Are they social and playful? Would they rather be left alone? Do they have any health issues we should be aware of? Each and every flight is planned with this information in mind. We also have all of our dogs meet in our lounges before the flight so they can get to know one another, sniff any butts they’d like to sniff, and get comfortable before boarding. We arrange the seats to best suit the group so all dogs have a first-class experience, and each flight has a Bark-trained attendant to help with any issues that may arise.”
Route options and timing are currently limited, but Stangle hopes to add more destinations based on customer feedback. A portal is available online for prospective ticket buyers to weigh in on future plans.
Dog-friendly amenities
A short film from Tombras heralding the airline’s launch shows distinguished passengers watching in-flight squirrel movies, drinking canine champagne, and receiving complimentary shoes to chew.
“All the amenities in the film are here now or in the works,” Benjamin wrote, listing everything from custom doggy flat-beds and “turbulence treats” to dog-calming scented cabins, a shoe menu, and the “world’s first on-board dog park,” not to mention a belly-rub button at every seat. Human companions will have their own menu, but pup passengers are guaranteed “five-star gourmet dining,” according to Benjamin, who noted “this is just the start.”
While there’s been plenty of logistical groundwork to bring all of these bells and whistles together, Benjamin pointed out another main challenge behind Bark Air: convincing people that it’s real.
“This isn’t a joke or satire,” Benjamin says. “It’s not some elaborate prank. Or a PR stunt for some new dog toy. Bark Air is a totally real airline, built for real dogs and the real owners who love them. Because of this tension we thought all we needed to do is behave the same way any airline would—but do it for dogs. So we took the airline tropes and marketing plans and made them our own.”
Bark Air’s mission seems to be noble, but all the promises of luxury perks won’t come cheap. To start, one-way flights for one dog and one human companion between New York and Los Angeles will cost $6,000 (want to bring another human along? That’s another $6,000 ticket); flights between New York and the U.K. will be $8,000.
“While these are premium prices for a premium experience, our goal is to invest more into this program over time to enable us to bring prices down and be more accessible to more dog people,” Stangle says. “We did not feel that a cost-prohibitive price tag at launch was a good enough reason to not do this. The travel industry needs innovation, and innovation will eventually drive investment and competition that will help us bring in a new era of dog-friendly travel. Today is step one in that journey.”
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