The pet embargo is purely for the safety of your animals.

No, that's the purpose of the pet embargo when there actually is winter weather. In my case, it's for the safety of somebody else's animals flying much later in the day after the storm arrived and there was potential for delays.

I had no connections on this nonstop 737 flight. Nothing was backed up when I was supposed to fly. My would-be flight took off, on schedule, into clear blue skies, several hours before the storm arrived.

It sucks for sure, but this is all to ensure your furry family member isn't literally freezing somewhere in the network without a plane ride.

Literally freezing? He has a coat like a husky. It was 40 degrees and he was basking in the sun in the yard while my last hope of having any kind of Christmas was sailing over the Cascades.

It's crystal clear that this wasn't for the safety of my dog. It was because the airline can't be bothered to put in place a process that intelligently considers safety on a flight-by-flight or hourly basis, let alone for individual passengers given their connections or type of pet. I guess it wouldn't be profitable to have somebody with a working brain saying "no pets after 3 pm on date X" instead of "no pets on date X." Because it's easier for some middle manager to set policy by one-size-fits-all calendar date, I missed seeing my family this year. Don't condescend and pretend that has anything to do with safety.