Air Transat: Flights with Cats.
 

Hi there.
So not content on moving to the other side of the world, we have chosen to complicate matters further by flying with two overweight moggies on the same flight, and leave in just over a week... we are having the last minute 'have we done this right' panics... :fingerscrossed:

We have booked our flights and confirmed with A.T's Canada centre the cats are booked on as cargo, they havce their IATA approved crates, and they have recieved their rabies vacinations, but we still have a couple of questions please?

1. Do Air Transat provide the 'live animal' sticker and the 'up' arrows?
2. Do we need a ""fit to fly"" letter/certificate from the vet
3. Do we need a health certificate from Defra or becasue we have the rabbies vac's is this not needed (see link below on CIC website): Our take on this is that because they have the rabbies vac we dont need any other paperwork other than this certificate from the Vet which has no format other than what is listed on the web link below.

http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/.../felin1e.shtml

Any help or experience dealing with this would be appreciated.
For reference we are flying from Glasgow to Vancouver direct.

Re: Air Transat: Flights with Cats.
 

Hope this helps Pet Travel immigration/Canada & aircanada travel info pets-in-baggage

Re: Air Transat: Flights with Cats.
 

I flew AT with my 3 dogs and cat in June and it was great.
1. The stickers should have come with the crates. If not just write live animals and this way up on masking tape and stick on the crate. Its petty obvious though so don't worry too much/

2. Yes you need a fit to fly cert. Ours was £20/each animal but depends on your vet.

3. You need to bring proof of rabies vacc. We got the pet passport which had their rabies details in it

4. Don't worry! It all went super well for us and our animals arrived happy and relaxed!

Re: Air Transat: Flights with Cats.
 

we flew transaat with out dog, it was 4hrs + after landing before we could get our paperwork signed and stamped and get him out for a wee. double check if you need the paperwork signed at the terminal or if you can do it next to the blue cafe ( which you will pass to get to 4800 millar, the cargo terminal)
we were told the terminal and they sent us back to millar road which wasted even more of our time. and we were really tired at that point!.
im glad we dont have to do that all again! ( i really hope!)

Re: Air Transat: Flights with Cats.
 

Glad I read this thread - we have a dog and a cat to bring. Am tempted to send the kids cargo too :-)
Love the title of the post - Flights with Cats - the sequel to Snakes on a Plane LOL

Re: Air Transat: Flights with Cats.
 

We did this from Glasgow in January. Same as you, I had rabies shot but didn't bother with pet passport coming this way. It was fine.

You do need fit to fly certificate. I think its meant to be done within a day or two of leaving. It was really just a note from vet on headed paper after he does a quick check of the animal.

Make sure the guy at cargo at Glasgow takes your paperwork and copies all of the right stuff - they didn't copy my rabies shots paperwork and it was a 5 hour delay at this end while I ran between places showing paperwork and waiting on govt vet coming back to approve it.

They did provide the stickers.

Basically we showed up at cargo (Servisair I think). Guy in office gives you stickers to put on and takes paperwork to copy it. Once he's done you take the cats farther down the building and into the warehouse where they will xray them. Then that's it til you pick them up at Swissport at this end (at least thats who it was in Toronto). This was our experience anyway. Just make sure they take copies of all the relevant paperwork!

Re: Air Transat: Flights with Cats.
 

Hi, we brought our cat with us in June as excess cargo. He was fine, he was collected at check in, crate was labled with live animal signs etc. We actually paid a couple of hundred pounds for Defra papers which was a complete waste of money!! The only paper needed at Vancouver was the vets appointment slip!!! we have passports for them (dog too) but no-one even looked at them!! :thumbsup:

Re: Air Transat: Flights with Cats.
 

We are flying two cats out to Vancouver next summer so I have only just started looking into this after a brief look five years ago. It seems slighlty different now. Is it correct, then, that all I need is:

1. Rabies vacc cert (is there an optimum time before departure that this should be done and is there a second test for this to make sure it has been effective?)

2. Fit to fly cert from usual vet, following an examination, not a form, just a letter in vet's own words?

3. Cats do not now need to be microchipped?

4 What vet's appointment slip was needed at Vancouver airport? Was this a follow-up appointment in Canada?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Re: Air Transat: Flights with Cats.
 

hi

Technically you don't need the rabies shot. As the UK is deemed rabies free you could get a certificate from the govt stating this. I opted for the rabies shot as likely easier than dealing with the govt! :rofl:. No second test was needed. I can't remember if it had to be done a certain time before but I don't think so. The paperwork from the vet does have to show date given and expiry date.

Yes - fit to fly is just a letter from vet. No prescribed format or form. Although usually the airline asks that this is within about 48 hours of flying.

Not sure, mine already was so I didn't really look into it. I don't believe they need it though, but obviously something to check.

Not sure of process in Vancouver. In Toronto, the customs/government vet comes to check your paperwork (Rabies or pet passport or whatever you have). He then gave us some paperwork that we had to take over to a customs office and get it stamped, pay a fee.

hope this helps a bit. sounds like you are on the right track. it is actually relatively straight forward.

Re: Air Transat: Flights with Cats.
 

I also brought my cat over with Air Transat, no issues at all (other than a rather grumpy kitty at the other end!).

Not sure where your flying from, but we came from Manchester so when I checked her in, then had to take her over to a special bit and they x ray the box (you take the kitty out). That was the only nerve wracking bit, as had images of her making a break for it! :D Though this was 6 years ago, so they could've changed how they do it by now.