Advice re dog Manchester - toronto please?
Mar 31st 2010, 6:59 pm
#16
Forum Regular
Joined: Feb 2010
Location: Edmonton
Posts: 176
Re: Advice re dog Manchester - toronto please?
I've looked into this and as I detest CA i will be driving from Manchester to Heathrow (as CA/TC are the only operator from Man) and flying AC when it's time to take the dog to AB, I couldn't possibly go on a different flight to her, the stress would be too much for me, but im a softie with her.
Oh and remenber re CA the seat pitch has now been reduced to 32 inches so if your tall it will be an uncomfoprtable journey!
There are a number of threads about AC Cargo, some chap called steve deals with pets and they will deal direct with the public unlike CA.
Oh and remenber re CA the seat pitch has now been reduced to 32 inches so if your tall it will be an uncomfoprtable journey!
There are a number of threads about AC Cargo, some chap called steve deals with pets and they will deal direct with the public unlike CA.
Mar 31st 2010, 8:05 pm
#17
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 1,533
Re: Advice re dog Manchester - toronto please?
Hi
We have looked into this and Canadian Affair fly Air Transat flights ex Heathrow....at a similar time to Air Canada. We are going to put the dog on AC and then jump on the CA flight leaving at broadly the same time...then we should all land at the same time....fingers crossed
lol
Stef
We have looked into this and Canadian Affair fly Air Transat flights ex Heathrow....at a similar time to Air Canada. We are going to put the dog on AC and then jump on the CA flight leaving at broadly the same time...then we should all land at the same time....fingers crossed
lol
Stef
I've looked into this and as I detest CA i will be driving from Manchester to Heathrow (as CA/TC are the only operator from Man) and flying AC when it's time to take the dog to AB, I couldn't possibly go on a different flight to her, the stress would be too much for me, but im a softie with her.
Oh and remenber re CA the seat pitch has now been reduced to 32 inches so if your tall it will be an uncomfoprtable journey!
There are a number of threads about AC Cargo, some chap called steve deals with pets and they will deal direct with the public unlike CA.
Oh and remenber re CA the seat pitch has now been reduced to 32 inches so if your tall it will be an uncomfoprtable journey!
There are a number of threads about AC Cargo, some chap called steve deals with pets and they will deal direct with the public unlike CA.
Apr 1st 2010, 4:09 am
#18
half a century
Joined: Mar 2008
Location: Sarf Lundun to East Van :)
Posts: 10,222
Re: Advice re dog Manchester - toronto please?
I have the AT/TC cargo info - will look it up for you - we brought 2 dogs in Dec 08 to Vancouver
Me and friend took the dogs to LGW cargo - other friends took kids and my parents to main check in
Hubby met us in Van with a big truck he rented to put us and dogs in !
Me and friend took the dogs to LGW cargo - other friends took kids and my parents to main check in
Hubby met us in Van with a big truck he rented to put us and dogs in !
Apr 1st 2010, 4:15 am
#19
half a century
Joined: Mar 2008
Location: Sarf Lundun to East Van :)
Posts: 10,222
Re: Advice re dog Manchester - toronto please?
dogs -well
they both had a rabies shot (well 2 as our vets view is that 1 should work but just in case it doesn't its best to have the 2nd a few weeks later to ensure they are covered - also charge you 2 x as much)
each shot was 25 squid per dog. . .
cages / travel crate thing - one I got off ebay, the other via a pet place again on line.
You put them together . . .v simple - I could do it alone!
One of the ebay sellers, plus also BA i think have bits on their web sites that shows you how big the cage needs to be - basically it needs to be taller than them standing up nad they need to be aboe to turn round - scoobs ended up with a "Giant" one.
Air Transat were the cheapest by far and it was all v simple.
I got the dogs checked by our vet on the Tuesday before we flew on the wed and got a "fit to fly" letter for both - again more money - 30 squid each.
Air T charged 695 for BOTH dogs - had to get to cargo - they told me where . 4 hrs before flight - had to write the air freight number etc on the crates, towels and newspaper inside etc. . .
went to cargo, signed and paid and left them . . .
at other end. . . got the paper work stamped by customs etc and some other bits and paid them$30 ish. Then drove to cargo and collected the dogs who were v v v pleased to see us - paid then $60 and that was it . . .
chap was Dave Swift at Air T cargo - TS Clipper I think is there company name
oh yes what i did was look what flight we were interested in then rang cargo and made sure I could book them on that flight . . then booked the flights for us and then rang cargo back to confirm we were all on . . . .
David:
[email protected]
01784 431831
they both had a rabies shot (well 2 as our vets view is that 1 should work but just in case it doesn't its best to have the 2nd a few weeks later to ensure they are covered - also charge you 2 x as much)
each shot was 25 squid per dog. . .
cages / travel crate thing - one I got off ebay, the other via a pet place again on line.
You put them together . . .v simple - I could do it alone!
One of the ebay sellers, plus also BA i think have bits on their web sites that shows you how big the cage needs to be - basically it needs to be taller than them standing up nad they need to be aboe to turn round - scoobs ended up with a "Giant" one.
Air Transat were the cheapest by far and it was all v simple.
I got the dogs checked by our vet on the Tuesday before we flew on the wed and got a "fit to fly" letter for both - again more money - 30 squid each.
Air T charged 695 for BOTH dogs - had to get to cargo - they told me where . 4 hrs before flight - had to write the air freight number etc on the crates, towels and newspaper inside etc. . .
went to cargo, signed and paid and left them . . .
at other end. . . got the paper work stamped by customs etc and some other bits and paid them$30 ish. Then drove to cargo and collected the dogs who were v v v pleased to see us - paid then $60 and that was it . . .
chap was Dave Swift at Air T cargo - TS Clipper I think is there company name
oh yes what i did was look what flight we were interested in then rang cargo and made sure I could book them on that flight . . then booked the flights for us and then rang cargo back to confirm we were all on . . . .
David:
[email protected]
01784 431831
Apr 1st 2010, 5:48 pm
#20
Just Joined
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 16
Re: Advice re dog Manchester - toronto please?
HI everyone
I know info has probably been posted before but i was looking for up to date info really. Hubby and i (and 2 kids) are landing in toronto hopefully june. We have a much loved family dog (collie x) and need advice/recommendations for transporting him. In an ideal world we need him picking up fom home (45 mins from manchester) and taking to the airport etc while we sort ourselves out with the kids. Then at toronto we would ideally like him to be picked up and delivered to cambridge - about 45 mins away - the humans are planning on taking a taxi as neither me nor hubby want to risk the lives of all of us by driving an unfamiliar automatic on the wrong side of the road and in busy traffic after a long flight! BUT the ideal world never happens! What experiences has anyone had of taking pets and how did they do it - can anyone recommend a co that would do this or give any advice? I did think that maybe we could pick him up from cargo at toronto but then what happens with the taxi situation - do they take dogs? So many questions sorry!
If anyone can come up with some useful advice etc i would certainly appreciate it - just thinking about sorting this is giving me more of a headache than the rest of the move put together!
thanks in advance
Lyn
I know info has probably been posted before but i was looking for up to date info really. Hubby and i (and 2 kids) are landing in toronto hopefully june. We have a much loved family dog (collie x) and need advice/recommendations for transporting him. In an ideal world we need him picking up fom home (45 mins from manchester) and taking to the airport etc while we sort ourselves out with the kids. Then at toronto we would ideally like him to be picked up and delivered to cambridge - about 45 mins away - the humans are planning on taking a taxi as neither me nor hubby want to risk the lives of all of us by driving an unfamiliar automatic on the wrong side of the road and in busy traffic after a long flight! BUT the ideal world never happens! What experiences has anyone had of taking pets and how did they do it - can anyone recommend a co that would do this or give any advice? I did think that maybe we could pick him up from cargo at toronto but then what happens with the taxi situation - do they take dogs? So many questions sorry!
If anyone can come up with some useful advice etc i would certainly appreciate it - just thinking about sorting this is giving me more of a headache than the rest of the move put together!
thanks in advance
Lyn
Hi Lyn
We did this with our beloved border collie, Ruff, in November last year. We flew him on the same flight as us from Manchester to Toronto with Air Transat and we used Dave at Petsaway to make the arrangements for Ruff.
I found Dave very helpful and had my mind put at ease by him when I had lots of questions. He was great for the UK side of things and dropping Ruff off at Manchester went without a hitch. However some of Dave's advice as to what would happen at Toronto was incorrect (maybe he's just out of date), but we had a hard job finding out what to do when we arrived and this added to the stress of arriving in a new country - we were landing as temporary residents, so had to go through immigration for ourselves, and we have three kids, two of which were under 5, and we also had to go to customs to sort out our goods to follow being delivered the next day, so to find that Ruff wasn't where we expected him to be wasn't good news.
Dave had told us to collect Ruff at the airport, in the same place as our baggage - he even made the joke about him going round on the carousel, but in fact we had to get in our hire car and drive a mile or so to get him from the Air Transat cargo warehouse. The lady in the airport wrote down the wrong address so our sat nav had us going round in circles trying to find the place. After an hour of driving up and down the same road, we found the right building. The Air Transat cargo people didn't speak a lot of English and kept asking for more cash from us for various charges that we weren't expecting. We had no option other than to pay them, and then once it was sorted out they stamped all the documents and gave them all back to us but didn't mention Ruff. We then had to ask them what to do next, and it turned out we had to drive back to the customs place that we'd just come from to declare that we'd bought the dog with us. Once we'd done that we went back to Air Transat and presented our documents and they led us through to the warehouse where Ruff was unceremoniously brought over on a forklift truck, falling over in his crate with every turn. He was soaking wet and scared but perked up when he saw us. Air Transat told us to take the crate with us, but we had no means of even lifting it, so we ignored their shouts and just got out quick.
It sounds like a nightmare, I know, but please don't be put off by it - a lot of the stress of it wouldn't have happened if we'd known in advance where to go, what to do and what order to do it in. I'm not sure Ruff enjoyed his flight very much, but there's not much you can do about that, and he arrived in one piece and within 24 hours was back to normal.
In terms of taxis I'm not sure any would take him, but you could phone round a few and ask. On the UK side we hired a car and didn't tell them Ruff was coming with us and took him to Manchester with us, dropping him off (and wiping up his sick!) before we dropped off the hire car. In Toronto I drove the hire car and found it surprisingly easy even on unfamiliar roads. With your passenger helping out with directions then it does become familiar quite quickly, and to be honest, coming out of Toronto Pearson, you're straight onto motorways and can tootle along quite slowly for a while until you're used to it.
If you need any more advice, please let me know. I can be more specific about directions and other things to do, and costs etc, if you're interested.
Cheers
Jo
Apr 7th 2010, 9:41 pm
#21
Just Joined
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 10
Re: Advice re dog Manchester - toronto please?
Hi, We used www.petsaway.co.uk. Dave was very helpful. Our cat and hamster (in seperate boxes!) landed in calgary in Feb '10. Both flew from Manchester on our thomas cook flights. Both animal cargo areas went smoothly. Paid 580 pounds. Gained two well made boxes. Happly settled in Calgary. 
Apr 8th 2010, 11:00 am
#22
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2008
Location: Accrington UK Ontario soon!
Posts: 34
Re: Advice re dog Manchester - toronto please?
Hi Lyn
We did this with our beloved border collie, Ruff, in November last year. We flew him on the same flight as us from Manchester to Toronto with Air Transat and we used Dave at Petsaway to make the arrangements for Ruff.
I found Dave very helpful and had my mind put at ease by him when I had lots of questions. He was great for the UK side of things and dropping Ruff off at Manchester went without a hitch. However some of Dave's advice as to what would happen at Toronto was incorrect (maybe he's just out of date), but we had a hard job finding out what to do when we arrived and this added to the stress of arriving in a new country - we were landing as temporary residents, so had to go through immigration for ourselves, and we have three kids, two of which were under 5, and we also had to go to customs to sort out our goods to follow being delivered the next day, so to find that Ruff wasn't where we expected him to be wasn't good news.
Dave had told us to collect Ruff at the airport, in the same place as our baggage - he even made the joke about him going round on the carousel, but in fact we had to get in our hire car and drive a mile or so to get him from the Air Transat cargo warehouse. The lady in the airport wrote down the wrong address so our sat nav had us going round in circles trying to find the place. After an hour of driving up and down the same road, we found the right building. The Air Transat cargo people didn't speak a lot of English and kept asking for more cash from us for various charges that we weren't expecting. We had no option other than to pay them, and then once it was sorted out they stamped all the documents and gave them all back to us but didn't mention Ruff. We then had to ask them what to do next, and it turned out we had to drive back to the customs place that we'd just come from to declare that we'd bought the dog with us. Once we'd done that we went back to Air Transat and presented our documents and they led us through to the warehouse where Ruff was unceremoniously brought over on a forklift truck, falling over in his crate with every turn. He was soaking wet and scared but perked up when he saw us. Air Transat told us to take the crate with us, but we had no means of even lifting it, so we ignored their shouts and just got out quick.
It sounds like a nightmare, I know, but please don't be put off by it - a lot of the stress of it wouldn't have happened if we'd known in advance where to go, what to do and what order to do it in. I'm not sure Ruff enjoyed his flight very much, but there's not much you can do about that, and he arrived in one piece and within 24 hours was back to normal.
In terms of taxis I'm not sure any would take him, but you could phone round a few and ask. On the UK side we hired a car and didn't tell them Ruff was coming with us and took him to Manchester with us, dropping him off (and wiping up his sick!) before we dropped off the hire car. In Toronto I drove the hire car and found it surprisingly easy even on unfamiliar roads. With your passenger helping out with directions then it does become familiar quite quickly, and to be honest, coming out of Toronto Pearson, you're straight onto motorways and can tootle along quite slowly for a while until you're used to it.
If you need any more advice, please let me know. I can be more specific about directions and other things to do, and costs etc, if you're interested.
Cheers
Jo
We did this with our beloved border collie, Ruff, in November last year. We flew him on the same flight as us from Manchester to Toronto with Air Transat and we used Dave at Petsaway to make the arrangements for Ruff.
I found Dave very helpful and had my mind put at ease by him when I had lots of questions. He was great for the UK side of things and dropping Ruff off at Manchester went without a hitch. However some of Dave's advice as to what would happen at Toronto was incorrect (maybe he's just out of date), but we had a hard job finding out what to do when we arrived and this added to the stress of arriving in a new country - we were landing as temporary residents, so had to go through immigration for ourselves, and we have three kids, two of which were under 5, and we also had to go to customs to sort out our goods to follow being delivered the next day, so to find that Ruff wasn't where we expected him to be wasn't good news.
Dave had told us to collect Ruff at the airport, in the same place as our baggage - he even made the joke about him going round on the carousel, but in fact we had to get in our hire car and drive a mile or so to get him from the Air Transat cargo warehouse. The lady in the airport wrote down the wrong address so our sat nav had us going round in circles trying to find the place. After an hour of driving up and down the same road, we found the right building. The Air Transat cargo people didn't speak a lot of English and kept asking for more cash from us for various charges that we weren't expecting. We had no option other than to pay them, and then once it was sorted out they stamped all the documents and gave them all back to us but didn't mention Ruff. We then had to ask them what to do next, and it turned out we had to drive back to the customs place that we'd just come from to declare that we'd bought the dog with us. Once we'd done that we went back to Air Transat and presented our documents and they led us through to the warehouse where Ruff was unceremoniously brought over on a forklift truck, falling over in his crate with every turn. He was soaking wet and scared but perked up when he saw us. Air Transat told us to take the crate with us, but we had no means of even lifting it, so we ignored their shouts and just got out quick.
It sounds like a nightmare, I know, but please don't be put off by it - a lot of the stress of it wouldn't have happened if we'd known in advance where to go, what to do and what order to do it in. I'm not sure Ruff enjoyed his flight very much, but there's not much you can do about that, and he arrived in one piece and within 24 hours was back to normal.
In terms of taxis I'm not sure any would take him, but you could phone round a few and ask. On the UK side we hired a car and didn't tell them Ruff was coming with us and took him to Manchester with us, dropping him off (and wiping up his sick!) before we dropped off the hire car. In Toronto I drove the hire car and found it surprisingly easy even on unfamiliar roads. With your passenger helping out with directions then it does become familiar quite quickly, and to be honest, coming out of Toronto Pearson, you're straight onto motorways and can tootle along quite slowly for a while until you're used to it.
If you need any more advice, please let me know. I can be more specific about directions and other things to do, and costs etc, if you're interested.
Cheers
Jo
Apr 8th 2010, 11:51 am
#23
Just Joined
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 16
Re: Advice re dog Manchester - toronto please?
HI - thanks for that! I would be interested to know how you went about getting a hire car at toronto - i was planning on having the dog picked up etc but you said it wasnt bad driving from the airport? We will be going to cambridge and we both have full uk driving licenses - and today im going out in my mother in laws car to learn to drive an automatic - thought it was sensible!
Hello
I booked the Toronto hire car online from the UK and printed the booking form out and carried it with me in my hand luggage. I chose a firm that was international, think it was Avis, and arranged to collect the car from the airport and use it for a few days, then drop it back to an office local to where we were living. I think it cost a bit more to arrange a different drop off, but I didn't want to have to drive back to the airport when we were living half an hour away. It was very easy to do, we paid by credit card and the rental car place is a short walk from baggage claim at the airport.
We organised our sat nav from the UK too in advance and bought additional up to date maps for Canada. From the airport you do generally come straight out onto motorways, unless you're staying in and around the airport perimeter road, (which you may have to do depending on where you collect the dog from) but you could always work out in advance which roads you're heading for and have them in your sat nav.
The day we landed was my first time driving an automatic, but as long as you can get over the fact of not using your left foot then I think you'll find it easier than a manual car. I was given the advice to tuck my left foot behind my right ankle the first few times which stops you inadvertantly moving it - not sure how safe this is, but it worked for me!
Good luck with it all
Jo
Apr 8th 2010, 11:59 am
#24
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2008
Location: Accrington UK Ontario soon!
Posts: 34
Re: Advice re dog Manchester - toronto please?
Hello
I booked the Toronto hire car online from the UK and printed the booking form out and carried it with me in my hand luggage. I chose a firm that was international, think it was Avis, and arranged to collect the car from the airport and use it for a few days, then drop it back to an office local to where we were living. I think it cost a bit more to arrange a different drop off, but I didn't want to have to drive back to the airport when we were living half an hour away. It was very easy to do, we paid by credit card and the rental car place is a short walk from baggage claim at the airport.
We organised our sat nav from the UK too in advance and bought additional up to date maps for Canada. From the airport you do generally come straight out onto motorways, unless you're staying in and around the airport perimeter road, (which you may have to do depending on where you collect the dog from) but you could always work out in advance which roads you're heading for and have them in your sat nav.
The day we landed was my first time driving an automatic, but as long as you can get over the fact of not using your left foot then I think you'll find it easier than a manual car. I was given the advice to tuck my left foot behind my right ankle the first few times which stops you inadvertantly moving it - not sure how safe this is, but it worked for me!
Good luck with it all
Jo
I booked the Toronto hire car online from the UK and printed the booking form out and carried it with me in my hand luggage. I chose a firm that was international, think it was Avis, and arranged to collect the car from the airport and use it for a few days, then drop it back to an office local to where we were living. I think it cost a bit more to arrange a different drop off, but I didn't want to have to drive back to the airport when we were living half an hour away. It was very easy to do, we paid by credit card and the rental car place is a short walk from baggage claim at the airport.
We organised our sat nav from the UK too in advance and bought additional up to date maps for Canada. From the airport you do generally come straight out onto motorways, unless you're staying in and around the airport perimeter road, (which you may have to do depending on where you collect the dog from) but you could always work out in advance which roads you're heading for and have them in your sat nav.
The day we landed was my first time driving an automatic, but as long as you can get over the fact of not using your left foot then I think you'll find it easier than a manual car. I was given the advice to tuck my left foot behind my right ankle the first few times which stops you inadvertantly moving it - not sure how safe this is, but it worked for me!
Good luck with it all
Jo
Apr 8th 2010, 8:27 pm
#25
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2008
Location: Accrington UK Ontario soon!
Posts: 34
Re: Advice re dog Manchester - toronto please?
Hi, We used www.petsaway.co.uk. Dave was very helpful. Our cat and hamster (in seperate boxes!) landed in calgary in Feb '10. Both flew from Manchester on our thomas cook flights. Both animal cargo areas went smoothly. Paid 580 pounds. Gained two well made boxes. Happly settled in Calgary.
Apr 8th 2010, 8:34 pm
#26
Seasoned Maritimer
Joined: Jun 2005
Location: Fredericton, New Brunswick CA
Posts: 8,309
Re: Advice re dog Manchester - toronto please?
Wow things have gone up. We used a company 2 1/2 years ago based at Manchester airport to transport a springer spaniel from Man to Toronto and onward to Halifax NS and that cost £975 including crate.
Apr 9th 2010, 3:49 pm
#27
Forum Regular
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 51
Re: Advice re dog Manchester - toronto please?
hi - maybe i should send hubby cargo and let hte dog have his seat 
- just to clarify in case anyone else reads this - actually canadian affair/thomas cook DO fly pets from manchester - at all times of year according to the men in cargo (cant remember the telephone number - found it on here once)
- just to clarify in case anyone else reads this - actually canadian affair/thomas cook DO fly pets from manchester - at all times of year according to the men in cargo (cant remember the telephone number - found it on here once)
Apr 9th 2010, 3:54 pm
#28
half a century
Joined: Mar 2008
Location: Sarf Lundun to East Van :)
Posts: 10,222
Re: Advice re dog Manchester - toronto please?
Yes they do fly pets, but they will only take bookings from companies who specialise in flying pets, I know because we had the problem, we have landed in Toronto at the moment but returning to U.K. 18 April then returning for good 22 July with our Yorkshire terrier. Booked through Animal Airlines, cost 450.00 GBP, we have to take her to airport & collect her at Toronto, but on the same flight.
Apr 10th 2010, 9:19 pm
#29
Forum Regular
Joined: Jan 2009
Location: Vancouver Island, BC
Posts: 251
Re: Advice re dog Manchester - toronto please?
Yes you can call Thomas Cook Airlines cargo team on 0161 498 4731. You will need to find out your type of aircraft before you call them....CA should be able to tell you that.
They are cool and should be able to help you as it is Thomas Cook Airlines that CA mostly use!
They are cool and should be able to help you as it is Thomas Cook Airlines that CA mostly use!
Apr 11th 2010, 1:56 am
#30
Forum Regular
Joined: Apr 2008
Location: Waterloo, Ontario
Posts: 199
Re: Advice re dog Manchester - toronto please?
We moved last year from Chester UK to Kitchener-Waterloo, close to Cambridge. We were lucky in that the company paid for our dog's relocation. It may have been on the pricier side, but wanted to let you know that I dealt with a woman called Andrea of Best Boarding Kennels in Derry Rd, Missisauga, close by the airport. She organised everything including customs paperwork and Ladyhaye pick-up in the UK.
Ella flew out direct Man-Toronto with Thomas Cook June 17th. All good. And only a seven hour flight. Only Transat or TC fly direct from Manchester.
Ella was collected by Best Boarding Kennels from the airport and delivered to my hubby in Waterloo. She could have stayed in kennels there for a time if there was a need.
Just wanted to let you know the contact this end should you need it.
Best of luck with the move.
Lynsey
PS LOVE it here
Ella flew out direct Man-Toronto with Thomas Cook June 17th. All good. And only a seven hour flight. Only Transat or TC fly direct from Manchester.
Ella was collected by Best Boarding Kennels from the airport and delivered to my hubby in Waterloo. She could have stayed in kennels there for a time if there was a need.
Just wanted to let you know the contact this end should you need it.
Best of luck with the move.
Lynsey
PS LOVE it here
