gloveman

It will be several hours between turning up at the airport and actually taking off. What happens to pets that are travelling with you. Do they have to stay crated or can you keep them with you and if so are they actually allowed in the airport terminal. thanks

SAW 04

Not 100% sure but I doubt very much that they will be allowed in the airport terminal. They will probably remain crated with perhaps an opportunity for a brief run around and pee. I expect it will depend if the departing airport has animal control people and the facilities to allow this.

SAW 04

Cookie

When we checked in at Aberdeen, our cat's pet carrier box was given an airline 'luggage' label to identify her and then she was taken away.

At Heathrow I had to collect our cat from outsized luggage desk and then after we checked in for our Canadian flight I was asked to accompany our cat into a special area behind the scenes til they ran a 'paddle' over her pet carrier box to check for any illegal drugs.

The staff were very good with our pet at both Aberdeen and Heathrow.

burton bunch

Have you never watch "Airport" on ITV - they really take care of the animals and if your carrier is too small will advise you to get a bigger one. If there are any delays they would make sure that the cat wasn't crated for too long and stuff - think the show is based at Heathrow

Gaynor

x

Cookie

I enquired about the animal centre at Heathrow and was told it would cost over 300 GBP for our cat to stay there for any amount of time up to 1 day

Needless to say this came as a shock and she stayed with us in her box til we checked in. The guy at Heathrow airport was very good with her though.

third time lucky

When we brought our two little dogs and a cat with us we flew Air Canada
from Heathrow. We checked in with luggage and pets and then they set the cages aside and we were allowed to take the dogs out and walk them around
until the last minute. We had no problem inside the terminal but we tried to stay outside as much as we could. We then returned to check-in where a very nice man took the crates off to the place they had to be. All at AC were great, and the pets were fine at St. Johns and Halifax. We made sure we had a water bowl and bottled water with us for a quick drink.

SAW 04

As one of the largest and busiest airports in the world Heathrow has the facilities. Our pets were flown from Gatwick to Halifax and arrived with no water, covered in their urine and in a very sorry state.

gloveman

Yes I have but first hand experience of the people on this site is much more valuable than a TV programme.

gloveman

Thank you - at least it seems we can stay with them for a while anyway. Both our dogs are getting on and they will have had a long journey just to get to the airport and then have to cope with a 9 hour flight so if they can have a bit of a wander in between it will be good for them and us. Unfortunately the water is a no no at the moment but hopefully someone on the airline will take care of that for us.

sand grownun

My daughter brought our dog over with Air Transat from Manchester and she said they let the dog stay with her in the terminal until about an hour before boarding, which we were suprised about, although the flight was delayed maybe this had something to do with it. Our dog was 6 years old and didn't seem any the worse for wear once he arrived in Calgary, I am sure your dogs will be fine, ours was very excited when he eventually landed and didn't seem to be suffering at all, must have slept all the way, can't say the same for the daughter!

gloveman

Thanks - we are flying Air Transat but from London - hopefully we can keep them with us if not they are going to be in their crates for such a very, very long time.

Cookie

Re the water and food for your pet. The pet carrier box we used (Cabrio pet carrier) has two dishes attached to the front window of the cage which can be easily removed from the outside. http://www.petplanet.co.uk/product.a...327&pf_id=5536

My cat mainly eats dried food so I also attached a small bag to the handle of the cage and I also kept another bag in my pocket. We carried bottled water with us and topped her water dish up. Your pet won't be needing much food anyway - this is recommended by the vet and Defra.

gloveman

Thank you Yes-Can-Do. We are taking two dogs and don't plan on feeding them much at all that day. We have been advised to tape a couple packets of food to the cage in case of delays but am not sure if this will cause problems as you can't take meat into the country. Maybe once the plane lands the staff at the other end can remove it so we aren't actually taking it in as such. As for water it will be a case of bying a bottle as soon as we land for them because we can't take it on the plane with us. We have been told to leave no water in the crate for them.

singingringingtree

While you can't take a bottle of water on the plane, I think you can buy a bottle of water on the plane from the drinks trolley. Perhaps keep some of the packing from the in-flight meal to use as a make-shift bowl, just to give a quick drink before you can get sorted?

gloveman

Thanks for all the advice/help - I know dogs get shipped around the world everyday but these are our little dogs and we do worry about them - but I am sure as fellow pet owners you know the feeling.