Kinship Survey Reveals Over Half of Americans Will Travel With Pets This Holiday Season

The holidays are approaching, which means it’s time to pull up our budgeting apps, call up the pet sitter, count our Delta points, and do the tricky work of finalizing our travel plans. For those traveling long distances to spend time with family and friends — or just taking a Christmas with the Kranks-style vacation away from the snow — there are a lot of factors to consider… especially when it comes to our pets.

Emotionally and financially, our dogs and cats — as perfect as they may be — add a lot to our plate during the holiday season. From researching pet-friendly transportation modes to managing guilt during times of separation, people deal with the added stress in different ways. A new survey by Kinship discovered some surprising pet parent holiday travel trends.

Who’s traveling with their pets?

Despite the challenges it poses, the majority of pet parents (54%) plan to bring their pets along on their travels. That said, very few are willing to brave air travel; 51% are traveling by car, while only 3% are taking planes.

Millennials are most likely to travel with their pets; 56% of respondents plan to. Gen Z are next most likely (51%), followed by Gen X (49%). Only 40% of Boomers plan to bring their pet along.

The trends vary greatly across geographic locations. A whopping 92% of pet parents in Wisconsin plan to travel with their pets; on the other hand, only 18% of those in Montana will do the same.

Who’s paying the most for pet travel?

On average, Americans are planning to spend $242 to travel with their pet over the holidays — and some are shelling out more than others. Of all generations, Gen X-ers are the biggest spenders; Gen X plans to spend $281, while Millennials plan to spend $277, Boomers plan to spend $257, and Gen Z-ers plans to spend $248.

There are differences across genders, too. Men with pets are budgeting a slightly higher cost of $277 for pet travel, while women plan to spend $271.

Just as pet travel plans vary by state, so do pet travel budgets. In Maryland, people are willing to spend an average of $396 to travel with their dogs and cats. In Pennsylvania, pet parents budget just $165.

What are pet parents’ biggest travel concerns?

The survey found five common concerns that people have when traveling with their pets. The top concern was pet anxiety and stress, which 23% of respondents worry over. Next on the list were finding pet friendly accommodations (17%), pet safety during travel (15%), and pet behavior around strangers (12%). Tied for the least common concern were maintaining a consistent routine (10%) and access to vet in case of an emergency (10%).

Whatever your concern, emotions can run high. The top emotion pet parents feel when separated from their pets is guilt (30%). Anxiety (23%), sadness (17%), and stress (12%) are also common.

Millennials feel more guilt than any other generation — one third (33%) report the emotion. Boomers report feeling more sadness (26%) than any other generation when separated from pets.

How stressed are pet parents?

Needless to say, all the price tags and emotions can add up to a fair bit of anxiety throughout the holidays. One in six (15%) pet parents report feeling “extremely stressed” while planning travel, and over a third (36%) report feeling “moderately stressed.”

Millennials and Gen X-ers are the most high-strung of all the generations — 16% of people in these generations report feeling “very stressed” about traveling with pets. Gender plays a role here, too. Women reported feeling more stressed out than men; 18% of female respondents are “very stressed,” while just 12% of male respondents say the same.

Methodology

To explore holiday travel with pets, we surveyed 1,000 pet owners. This sample size provides a 95% confidence level with a margin of error of 3%. Because this exploratory research relied on self-reported data, respondents may have biases, and discrepancies may exist between their answers and their actual experiences.

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We invite you to explore and share our findings! All we ask is that you link back to this study to ensure proper attribution to our researchers.