March 2, 2020. Madison, Mississippi. First Times.

I had never flown on the day of Leap Year. I had never flown sitting beside a person who had a dog in a carrier under the seat in front of him. It was interesting in that nothing happened of interest. Everything was totally normal. The lady kindly allowed me to walk to my gate before anyone was let through the door. United has a system with multiple gated leave through the one door. I wanted a bit of a walk so the United official let me through early which I appreciated. I arrived early so watched as all the other passengers walked down the corridor. One young man had a small dog on a leash. It looked to me to be a small Whippet. It turned out to be an Italian Greyhound. I boarded first and was sitting in the 2nd row in the isle seat. The young man with the dog sat beside me and put his soft sided carrier under the seat. I could not really know that a dog was under the seat. All was quiet. I finally asked the kind of dog and was told politely but it was clear the young man, who seemed to be about 25, did not want to talk to me so I shut my mouth. But I had a dozen questions. The young man did say that the dog travelled everywhere with him and is no trouble. The dog lies down and goes to sleep. No sound at all could be heard from the dog even when the case was lifted up to de plane. The dog owner was kind enough to remove my case from the over head bin which I appreciated. I can to it myself, but not easily. Now I know how dogs can be carried on the plane with the owner with no problems or noise. Interesting. It was a first for me.