Adorable pug who's been on 250 flights is becoming world's best travelled dog
A tiny flat faced dog is living the high life by exploring the world with his owner - and he's racked up 250 flights already.
Kuma the pug has earned himself a huge following online thanks to his extravagant life whizzing from country to country with his owner. The miniature pup is the latest travel influencer on the scene, attracting nearly 100,000 followers on his Instagram @pugkuma and 77,000 on TikTok.
Owner Sid Henderson travels frequently for his job in warehouse automation and brings Kuma along with him as much as possible, having started when the black mutt was just five-months-old. The 38-year-old New Yorker most often whisks the pooch away on Delta Air Lines flights from LaGuardia, Newark and JFK to destinations across the US as well as Montreal in Canada and Seoul in South Korea.
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Kuma has been on 250 flights (@pugkuma/Instagram)
The pooch is a fairly relaxed traveller (@pugkuma/Instagram)The sophisticated duo have even gone continental, with Sid and Kuma jetting across the pond for breaks in Paris, Porto and Lisbon. The comparatively relaxed rules about bringing dogs on commercial planes in the US makes travelling with a four legged friend quite simple for Sid, who says that Kuma is rarely any trouble when they fly together.
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Usually the seven-year-old pup sits in a small bag beneath Sid's legs for most of the flight and sleeps. "At the end of the flight, I'll take him out, and usually people are like 'I didn't know there was a pug on the plane'," the owner told MailOnline.
The pair never take flights that are longer than seven hours as Sid is concerned that Kuma may become restless. He also makes sure to arrive at the airport early in case having a dog in tow leads to security related delays. While Kuma may be better travelled than the vast majority of the world's human population - around 90% of whom have never been on a plane, according to one estimate - the dog isn't particularly bothered about where he is.
In the UK, while guide dogs and dogs that help people with disabilities are allowed on flights, emotional support animals aren't legally recognised.
If you want to travel via plane with your dog, then you may have to go via chartered jet. K9 JETS is a luxury firm which allows owners and their pets to clamber aboard a Gulfstream jet that seats no more than ten passengers with their pets and takes off on routes between the East Coast of the US, London, Paris and Lisbon.
Tickets start at £7,100, which includes space for one human and their pet, as well as private terminal fees, luggage and all taxes. While the service will mostly cater for the cats and dogs market, creatures including parrots and rabbits are welcomed, so long as all of their paperwork is in order.
K9 JETS was founded by Birmingham based executive assistant Kirsty and pilot Adam Golder, who currently run more traditional private jet firm G6 AVIATION which generally caters for "high net worth families, music moguls, footballers, and royal families".
They spotted a gap in the market in 2022 amid a surge in demand from pet owners relocating from the UK to the US and vice versa, who were terrified of condemning their mutts and moggies to commercial aircraft.
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