Traveling with dogs
 

Hello, I am looking to relocate from the UK to Canada in the next couple of years with my three dachshunds but the plane journey really worries me. I know that you can fly out from Heathrow with dogs in cabin with certain airlines.

Those of you that have flown with their dogs in cabin, did they settle ok? What preparation did you do beforehand?

What happens if they don't settle and bark/whine the entire flight?!

Any tips/reassurance/alternative options would be greatly appreciated 🙂

Re: Traveling with dogs
 

welcome to BE

Exciting for you.

I've never flown with dogs ............. but I understand from previous posts that it might well be 1 dog to 1 passenger.

Many people have flown with dogs in the cargo hold or even on a separate plane .......... and the dogs have been fine, much better than their owners!

Re: Traveling with dogs
 

Airlines usually have limits on cabin pets, you may not be able to bring 3 dogs with you in the cabin and will almost certainly have to put them below in the cargo area, best to see what airlines are an option and check directly with them for their policy.

Re: Traveling with dogs
 

Send them as a cargo. Dogs couldn't care less. Direct flight is only few hours long.
they will need crates big enough but pet travel companies will guide you. Costs much more than a cabin trip though.

Re: Traveling with dogs
 

Pets can be taken as accompanying baggage from the UK, on Air Transat / Air Canada - no agent/pet travel company required :)

Re: Traveling with dogs
 

Not sure about all 3 of them at the same time though

Re: Traveling with dogs
 

Good point! From Air Canada - you can book 2 in the same cage... but more than 2 and you need to contact their cargo dept.

Presumably if you made 2 separate bookings you could take 2 in one crate - then 1 in a crate (or in the cabin)... e.g. John Smith books a seat, books 2 dogs as accompanying baggage then Jane Smith makes a separate booking for 1 seat then books 1 dog in the cabin / accompanying baggage or registers it as an Emotional Support Dog.. :)

Re: Traveling with dogs
 

Can confirm dogs can quite easily travel as cargo in the hold. Ours did a couple years back, he just needed a day or so to decompress/sleep once he got to our condo and he was fine

Re: Traveling with dogs
 

At the moment there are very limited options when flying pets to Canada.

As of right now, cargo is the only option and through an agent due to Covid and cargo demands. One dog will cost well over £2000 but here's to hoping that when the pandemic is under control and flights return to normal levels that the price will go down and more airlines will return to offer pet transport.

Who knows when that will be. Be very careful reviewing old posts from those who have travelled prior to Covid.

​​​Unfortunately this may have changed the airline industry long term and who knows when we will go back to the way it used to be. Heres to hoping!

Re: Traveling with dogs
 

Apparently from April airtrans supposed to start their summer schedule from UK so cargo availability should improve too. So I hope.

Re: Traveling with dogs
 

There are June flights online but I wouldn't trust any flight schedule right now as often the flights get rolled back and back. I certainly wouldn't trust any life move on it.

Re: Traveling with dogs
 

Air Transat and Air Canada both allow dogs in the cabin (if small enough) or as accompanying baggage; the only requirement for using an Agent appears to be if the pet is travelling by cargo to Canada -
Have you direct experience of this, recently? You appear to be posting on various threads on the subject.. so your personal experience would be helpful to know.

:)

Re: Traveling with dogs
 

We booked our flights with Air Transit and no issues. We rang them directly and they were fab. The person we spoke to was pet friendly and wanted to know all about our fur baby. When we got to Gatwick they made a huge fuss over her and there was no problems. When we picked her up in Toronto we were a mess as we were so worried about her but when she came out of her kennel she was really happy. Thought we would have problems getting her back into crate for second flight but she was fine. The staff seemed hapoy to accommodate her and we picked up a very hsppy pup in Saskatchewan. Recommend this airline for transporting pets. We looked into pet carriers, etc but wanted her to teavel with us and very happy we did this.