Traveling pets: Is Southwest Airlines barking up the wrong tree?

Southwest Airlines recently announced that as of June 17th, they'll now allow small pets to travel inside the cabin.  I say, "good for you Southwest"!  I've always liked this very friendly airline and now relish the fact that are not only people friendly but also pet friendly. 

This said, it's my understanding they are taking real heat from some passengers about this new customer benefit.  What I don't understand is why?  While I do appreciate the fact that some people suffer from pet-related allergies, there are certainly ways that all passenger can be adequately accommodated.  Simple things like moving the afflicted passenger to another part of the plane.  Novel idea isn't it? 

The bigger question for me is why are these people picking on Southwest when most of the major airlines have been accommodating traveling pets for years now.  So what's the fuss?  Are we expected to believe these people only fly Southwest because prior to this time they had a "no pet" rule?  I'm not buying that. 

Then, putting the allergic group aside, there are others who are complaining about the noise the pets might make.  This is really where I draw the line.  I can count the times in my life I've been on a plane with a pet (and there have been many) on one finger that I've seen any disruption caused by the animal. Most of the time they are the most well-behaved passengers on the plane. To the contrary, I cannot count the number of times I've been disturbed consistently by a crying baby, a screaming toddler or worse yet, a drunken business traveler.  Why is that okay and it's not okay to ask that people on the plane have a little compassion for these animals who are likely very disoriented and scared?

Pets have rights too you know.  And for many people, most that I know, their pets are like their children so why shouldn't they be granted the luxury of traveling in the cabin with their pet parents?  Let's be frank here . . . if I had my way, we'd leave all the people on the ground where they belong and we'd let the dogs, cats and other animals fly freely through the skies.  If this were the case, I can almost guarantee that flying the skies would indeed be friendly. 

So all you folks who are so quick to criticize Southwest Airlines, or any other airline for that matter, for trying to accommodate the needs of pet owners and their pets, think about offering the same compassion to pets that I'm sure you do to families traveling with small children.  As for the drunken business travelers, no compassion required.