Business week recently did an article about how transporting animals is a pretty lucrative freight business for some major airlines such as Lufthansa, Emirates, and Air France / KLM. Lufthansa alone transported over 110 million creatures last year though the number is a bit deceiving when you take into account the tons of worms and tropical fish included in that number.

Lufthansa even has an animal lounge spawning 3750 square meters that includes the latest in comforts for your animals such as slip proof flooring and a roof to keep the animals dry. No word on if there is unlimited alfalfa or upscale birdseed included with your stay. I assume Animal Planet would be playing on the overhead monitors.

Sample cost of flying a horse from Frankfurt to New York runs about $6,000 and you probably don’t even earn any Miles and More miles for the horse. Lufthansa also cautions, “Please also ensure that you arrive at the airport with your animal in plenty of time before departure. In Frankfurt you should be at check-in at least one hour before departure.” I wonder if you’re allowed to ride your horse to the terminal or perhaps walk alongside your pancake tortoise to check in.

They don’t only specialize in horses, but other animals such as rhinos, hippos, penguins, dogs and pigs.

The next time you’re enjoying yourself at a lounge in Frankfurt, just remember that there are some furry friends that are having an equally enjoyable time at the animal lounge and some parakeets are probably enjoying priority boarding.

Thanks to reader Sice for the tip

If this or any other voting ends in a tie, a random number generator will be used to determine the winner.

Vote for your favorite airline between these two. The winner will advance to the next round of the final 4. The poll will remain open for 48 hours.

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The downloadable bracket of all the match ups can be found here.

The eight airlines left are:

Emirates

Cathay Pacific

American Airlines

Lufthansa

Swiss

Singapore Airlines

All Nippon Airways

Korean Air

Vote for your favorite airline between these two. The winner will advance to the next round of the final 8. The poll will remain open for 48 hours.

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The downloadable bracket of all the match ups can be found here.

Vote for your favorite airline between these two. The winner will advance to the next round. The poll will remain open for 48 hours.

 Loading ...

The downloadable bracket of all the match ups can be found here.

By using your American Express card, you can save 10% off any First, Business, or Economy Class airfare. You must travel by March 31, 2011. You have to book the tickets directly from the Emirates website and use promo code USAMX10.

The Economist magazine did a recent article about the emergence of Middle East carriers. It talks about how Dubai’s Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad are all ramping up capacity and expanding their airports to accommodate millions of passengers.

All of this means good news for passengers as they are expanding capacity and pushing the limit in customer service and airplane offerings. It also means lower prices for consumers with the increased competition.

There are grumblings from the European and US airlines that these three airlines could do for long haul what discount airliners did for short haul. They also complain about the unfair advantage these airlines have with the government’s financial backing – a little bit ironic given the previous bailouts.

I have not had the pleasure yet to fly any of these airlines but I look forward to having the chance someday and also welcome the increased competition.

I’ve subscribed to the Economist for the past 4 years using 3200 Delta Skymiles each year through Magazines for Miles. They have other subscriptions available as well including the Wall Street Journal for 1800 miles.

It’s not limited to Delta Skymiles program either as all of the major carriers participate as well. It is a great way to use up orphan miles.