Dog Food for Train and Flight Travel in India: What Airlines and Railways Allow (2026 Guide)

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Every festive season and summer vacation, the same question fills pet parent groups on Reddit and Instagram: 

 “is their any dog food for train and flight travel? 

“Which airline actually lets dogs fly in India?”

The honest answer is that Indian Railways and India’s domestic airlines each have their own, often confusing – pet rules, and they change often enough that a blog post from 2023 is no longer reliable in 2026. What almost nobody talks about is the second half of the problem: even after you’ve sorted out the ticket, tracking, and travel crate, you still have to figure out what your dog eats for the 8, 14, or 30 hours you’re in transit, with no fridge, no stove, and often no idea when your next stop will be.

 covers both halves properly, the current railway and airline pet rules, and the food logistics that most guides skip entirely.

Option 1: AC First Class or First Class – Full Coupe Booking

You can travel with your dog in the same cabin as you, but only if you book the 

 (the 2-berth coupe or 4-berth cabin) for your own exclusive use. A single confirmed berth in a shared First Class compartment does not qualify, Railways requires the whole space to be booked so other passengers aren’t sharing it with an animal.

Option 2: The Dog Box in the SLR (Brake Van)

If a full coupe isn’t available or affordable, dogs can travel in a 

 located in the SLR — the Second Class Luggage-cum-Brake Van, sometimes just called the guard’s van. These are ventilated, latch-secured spaces meant specifically for animal transport, separate from where you sit.

For the full official framework, Indian Railways’ zonal circulars (such as the one published by 

) spell out the coupe and dog-box provisions in d

Air India runs the most structured domestic pet program among Indian carriers, branded Paws on Board, and reports having flown over 7,000 pets in 2024 alone.

Akasa has quietly become one of the more pet-friendly options on domestic routes since launching its program in November 2022.

Whether it’s a train coupe or a flight cabin, the paperwork is broadly similar:

Keep physical copies, not just phone photos — several pet parents have been delayed at check-in over exactly this.

This is precisely the situation Kukky’s retort-packed meals were built around. Each pouch is cooked, vacuum-sealed, and heat-processed the same way long-shelf-life food is preserved without refrigeration, so a pouch that’s been sitting in your bag through a train journey or a flight delay is exactly as safe to serve as one you opened at home.

If you’re flying, sealed retort pouches also tend to raise fewer questions at airport security than a home-packed tiffin, since they’re commercially packaged and clearly labelled.

, and if you’re unsure how many pouches to carry for a specific trip length, the 

 gives a personalized recommendation based on your dog’s weight in under 30 seconds.

Plan for one pouch per meal, and always carry one or two extra beyond what the trip strictly needs, delays are common on both Indian Railways and domestic flights, and an extra sealed pouch weighs almost nothing compared to the stress of a hungry dog at hour twelve of a delayed journey.

If your dog hasn’t tried Kukky before, don’t make travel day the first time, introduce a pouch at home a few days ahead so the flavour is already familiar when routines get disrupted. (Our guide on 

how much to feed your dog while travelling

 go deeper into portioning and format choices if you’re still deciding.)

For road-trip legs before or after the train/flight portion, our guide on 

keeping your dog calm and healthy on road trips

Getting your dog from one Indian city to another isn’t complicated once you know where pets are actually allowed — a first-class coupe or SLR dog box on the train, and Air India or Akasa Air’s cabin programs in the air. The part that trips up most pet parents isn’t the rulebook; it’s what to feed their dog for the hours in between, with no fridge, no kitchen, and no guarantee the journey runs on time.

That’s the exact gap Kukky’s sealed, shelf-stable meals were built to close — pack a few pouches, and mealtime stops being one more thing to plan around. 

 before your next trip, or read more about 

 if you’d like the full story behind the brand.

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