Hi all,
a few months ago now there was a big dicussion about taking pets abroad, and someone did mention that if we book our dog on the same flight as us direct with an airline they can go as cargo and it is alot cheaper than with a pet travel company. Does anyone know which airline will do this.

Hi - I believe you can do this on both Air Canada and British Airways. The details are on their respective web sites.

Check out Air Transat....brought my Collie with me from manchester airport in August...reasonable too...British Airways, BMI etc wanted a mint. Air Transat was $150.00 for my dog!! My oneway fare was pretty good too.


Cheers

British Airways quoted me £150 per dog last year, this may have changed now??

Where can you get any info about this, did you book through Globespan or direct with Air Transat.

Thanks

Sonia

How much paper work was involved and were there any problems doing it yourself? I've been quoted £2,500 by a company specialising in transportation of pets for my 3 German Shepherds

I am expecting to pay around £1,500 to take my two dogs. I think the price depends on whether they are flying on the same plane or have to go via cargo on a different flight. I also believe that the size of your dog (the bigger the dog the bigger the crate) and weight also has an impact on price. I have a 8.5 stone Akita and a 9.5 stone Malamute (don't ask me to convert I wouldn't have a clue). I will probably be using a company that can also kennel them for an indefinate period while finding a suitable place to live.

Hi,
i was quoted about £800 to take my lab with petairlines, if we take dog then we will fly from manchester, with Thomas cook airlines, so need to find out if they will take dog on same flight or another, no other airline from manchester to halifax, if that doesn't work then AirCanada at heathrow will be our other choice.

Had to do it via Air Transat in Canada as Globespan (UK) stated that they could not arrange this. Simplest way to do this was to arrange fligts for both me and my dog via Thomas Cook IN CANADA...in my case Toronto...long way for a short cut...but saved me a fortune....
Hope this helps....
Go to the Ait Transat web site and it provides info re cage etc for you dog and their requirements

Slightly off topic here, but could you please give me a bit of info Macadian: How did you affix the food and water to your kennel? What container did you put the water in? And why do they have them on the outside of the kennels? My old dog will not be happy with someone else putting food or water into her kennel and this is concerning me somewhat. Surely they don't open your kennels? What if the dog bit them or escaped?

I think the sky kennels come with their own special water containers which I understand can be filled/attached from the outside without having to open the kennel. This would be for the safety of the staff and so that the dog doesn't escape. I don't think the airline staff would undo a kennel unless it was an emergency (and not without padded gloves if they've got any sense). As for food, I don't think they'd put any food in the containers as you're advised not to feed them before the flight anyway. The dog will be able to cope without food for the duration of flight/check in etc, but would be uncomfortable without water. Hope this helps.

Thank you for that. The sky kennels came with food and water bowls, but no closable water container......oh I am confused now. How do they get the water into the kennel? Even if it is in a container how would they get it in without opening the door?

Hi. I'm not one hundred percent sure myself. My guess is that you'd attach the water carrier yourself and if they need to fill it up, they'd pour the water through the mesh holes in the front of the crate (assuming that's where the bowl is attached) and into the bowl. Just a guess - bearing in mind i'm yet to buy our sky kennel so I've just looked at pics on the Internet. My worry is that the dog'll chew up anything sticky outy and made of anything softer than metal, i.e the bowl.

i thought id just add my experience here with per travel,
i recently had our cat flown over from heathrow, to cairo egypt as we were staying there for a while,
at first it seemed very complicated, but after some investigation we found out that each airline has a department that deals withs animals etc,

we dealt with BA and the service was very good,
we sent out £800 persian cat on a seperate flight to us as we couldnt sort out the needed paper work in time,

you will need to get vet certificates, and something from a government department cant remember what exactly it was ill look through the papers and post it on here later,
these are very important so that your animal doesnt have to go into a one year quarintine when it arrive in its destination,
a good person to ask about animal travel is your VET,

with regards to containers, you will need a big one with plenty of holes in, if the airline feel that there are not enough holes for breathing they will refuse to take the animal onboard a plane, if they are helpful they sometimes carry a drill with them and they make some extra holes in the container,
the best are metal ones that are made from the metal material you will find your oven travel made of.

with regards to food and water, remember that the animal will be travelling for a long journey and will probably be very uncomfortable, there is alot of noise in the cargo hold, water may fall out before the cat is even put into the cargo hold, the airline staff do check this, but during take off if uve ever looked out the window, you do climb off quite steep, so water will probably fall out, a little bit of food will be helpful, but remember they will need to poop or something, so be prepared to give you pet a good wash once they arrive, you will need something to lock the container so that it doesnt open, i used a small piece of string that i wrapped around the door and the container itself,

i guess anything to keep they comfy a blanket or toy or something would be good,

once your pet arrive depending where it arrive, you may need to spend a few hrs in the airport, they need to check the documentation and certificates etc, and getting it from the cargo area to you could take a while,

having the pet on the same flight as you may be easier, but you will have to wait also i guess,

remember the flight is long, we dont like it, and im sure the animal dont either,

i paid about £80 to send out cat to egypt on BA, it was in a container about 50cm by 75cm by 50cm, and weighed 7kg if i can remember correctly


HaMa

there is this link i had, you could give them a call to find out what the process is as they are a little more helpful then our airlines

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/pet/public/en_gb

HaMa