windsong

I am planning to return home, hopefully by the end of May but I am curious if anyone knows if ALL airlines stop flying dogs during the summer months and also the beginning and end dates of this no-fly policy. I will be flying nonstop from US to the UK. I don't want a connecting flight so as to make it easier on the dogs.

rebeccajo

Maybe I've got this wrong but I thought it was only certain breeds that most airlines won't fly in the summer.......

windsong

I hope you are correct.

lgabriel73

Not all airlines have heat embargoes and its not from all cities. I know that Virgin has an embargo for Miami in the summer months but thats the only city they mention on their website. You should check with your airline to see if they have a specific heat embargo for where you are flying from. Some don't have set time period embargoes however if the temperature reaches a certain level then they will not allow the pets on the flight. Not sure where you are flying from but you should go for an overnight flight when it is cooler.

As for the breed thing, that has nothing really to do with the summer, many airlines no longer fly snub nosed breeds at all.

Vadio

It's usually the domestic connections that are the problem. The airline will normally have their rules posted on the website, so check there first.

We flew a cat from ATL to MAN in mid-June 2011; had to drive to ATL as no airline would take the cat on the domestic leg.

windsong

Thank you, everyone. It certainly seems that Tuesday flights help to keep the cost down. It's amazing to see that you can actually save $200-400 simply by changing the day of the week.

As for flying pets, I plan to fly nonstop just because of them. It's easier on them - and BA seems to do overnight flights which makes it cooler anyway.

Cardienscarf

I think it depends on the airport you're flying from. I flew BA from Denver and they wouldn't take the dog from June 1st until September 30th. They load the animals onto the plane first and then put the luggage around them which is why you have to have a crate with air vents on all sides because they don't know which side will be open to the air and which will have baggage stacked around it. The air doesn't get turned on until the pilot switches it on and so it can be quite a while for the animal to be in the hold. It must get pretty hot in there so it really is for the welfare of the animals.

lgabriel73

According to everything I have read and been told by airlines the animals are the last to be loaded on the plane. The luggage goes in first and is not in the same area as the animals. the planes have a separate compartment specifically for animals. Everyone I have spoken to assures me this is how it is done. If BA does it the way you say then I would anyone wishing to fly their dogs shouldnt use BA however when I spoke to BA when I was checking out flights this is not the way they described the process. Also as soon as the captain knows the animals are on board they switch on the air. This is why they recommend that you speak to stewardess as soon as you get on board and check that the captain is aware they have your precious cargo on board.

Cardienscarf

There you have it - conflicting accounts of how it's done. Maybe it's other pet crates or heat sensitive cargo that may block the vents on one side of the pet's crate.

If the animals are loaded last, they could potentially be sitting on the tarmac in their crates for quite some time. Neither option is good if it's hot.

I wasn't on the same flight as my dog so couldn't ask the flight attendant to check that the captain had pets on board. However, I was reassured that he would know and would turn on the air. Nothing is fail safe but BA certainly seemed to have their act together and I felt that I left my dog in as good hands as I possibly could.

lgabriel73

The good airlines have air conditioned vans that bring the animals to the plane. The animals stay inside the van until the luggage is loaded and the animals can then be loaded. There have been horror stories of animals being left on the tarmac for too long but not with BA and this is in part why there are the heat embargos. Some airlines hand the animals over to the cargo people however airlines like BA and Virgin who have special pet programs only allow the pets to be transported by the specialized animal handlers. Even when they arrive at the other end I know Virgin transports the animals themselves to the ARC.