Airline breed restrictions are not the same list as Australia's

Last verified: 2026-08-25

The answer

Two lists, two authorities, no overlap in how they are decided.

Australia’s prohibited list — customs and environmental law, administered by the Department of Home Affairs and DCCEEW, not by the biosecurity department that issues your permit:

• Dogs: dogo Argentino, fila Brasileiro, Japanese tosa, American pit bull terrier (or pit bull terrier), Perro de Presa Canario. Plus four wolfdog hybrids: Czechoslovakian wolfdog, Saarloos wolfdog, Lupo Italiano, Kunming wolfdog.
• Cats: non-domestic hybrids — Savannah, Safari, Chausie, Bengal and their crossbred offspring, on a list the department says is not exhaustive.
• Mixed-breed dogs are allowed if every other condition is met.

The airline’s list is its own commercial and welfare decision. One published example, authoritative for that carrier only: Delta does not permit brachycephalic dogs, cats or their mixes.

The four combinations

The second row is the one that surprises people, and it is why the government work and the carrier work have to run in parallel rather than in sequence.

Where they differ in character

• Australia’s list is closed and named. You can read it and know where you stand — except at the edges, where a mixed-breed dog’s appearance can invite a determination.
• The carrier’s list is open and moving. It can change without notice, differ by route and aircraft, tighten seasonally, and be applied by a handler looking at the animal.

Neither list respects your own country’s classifications. A dog legal to own where you live can be inadmissible to Australia; a dog Australia admits can be unbookable on every carrier you can reach.

What to do

1. Settle the Australian question first if your dog resembles a prohibited type — with Home Affairs, before spending anything.
2. Then ask carriers, on your actual route, naming the breed and asking how mixes are assessed.
3. Get it in writing and re-confirm before booking. A verbal acceptance months earlier is not a booking.
4. Have a second carrier in mind. Breed refusals are the most common reason a planned routing has to be rebuilt.

What this page does not tell you

• Any carrier’s current breed list other than the single Delta statement above.
• How a carrier decides a mixed breed.
• Whether Australia’s published lists are exhaustive — for cats the department says they are not.