Taking dogs as excess baggage
 

Hi, first thanks to everyone for all the info on taking dogs.

I think I worded it wrong, we are taking our dog as excess baggage on Icelandair Manchester to Toronto and wanted to know if anyone else had done this.

We have been led to believe that we will just pick up our dog 'in terminal' rather than having to go to the cargo area.

Has anyone else taken a dog via excess baggage to Toronto if so we would love to hear your experience it seems to differ greatly than dogs that travel as cargo.

Thanks again, 100 days and counting:D

Re: Taking dogs as excess baggage
 

Hiya, we brought our cat and dog as excess baggage to Vancouver Island this year, they came off the flight at the same time as our luggage (not on the carousel!) staff left them at a stand and we collected them from there, they were fine, just happy to see us! hth? Glyn

Re: Taking dogs as excess baggage
 

I'm pretty sure that flight stops in Iceland... if so, it's a long time for your dog to be left alone/unattended...

Re: Taking dogs as excess baggage
 

You are correct - there is a 2 hour stop over. Poor dog, stuck on the plane in minus temperatures.. or do they disembark the dog too (no pun intended) and keep them in the terminal when they change planes?

Manchester to Toronto
Flight 1 Friday, March 08, 2013

Departure: 12:25PM Manchester, United Kingdom - Manchester International, terminal 1
Arrival: 3:00PM Reykjavik, Iceland - Keflavik International
Airline: Icelandair FI441 e
Aircraft: Boeing 757-200

Change of plane required.
Time between flights : 2:00.

Flight 2 Friday, March 08, 2013

Departure: 5:00PM Reykjavik, Iceland - Keflavik International
Arrival: 5:55PM Toronto, Canada - Pearson International, terminal 3
Airline: Icelandair FI603 e
Aircraft: Boeing 757-200

Re: Taking dogs as excess baggage
 

If a change of plane is required as stated above it is to be hoped that they do take the dog off the first plane and put it on the second one, otherwise a two hour wait is going to be the least of its problems.

Re: Taking dogs as excess baggage
 

What I meant was, do they just transfer the dog from one plane to the other immediately (meaning the dog waits on the plane until take off) or do they place it in the terminal prior to the 2nd plane being loaded.

If the dog is waiting in an unheated plane for 2 hours (plus being potentially sitting on the tarmac waiting to be loaded) it will not be a happy experience.

Personally, I would not consider putting a dog on a flight that wasn't direct, at that time of year. If you add up the flight times (3.20 + 2 hrs stop over + 5.30 = 10.50) plus the wait time prior to take off in Manchester and processing time in Toronto, that is going to make for a very unhappy and potentially very cold pet.

Re: Taking dogs as excess baggage
 

The aircraft will not be unheated, the APU will be running to keep all services operational, unheated and the dunny would freeze up, not pleasant! The hold is kept heated, but at a lower temp than the cabin, nowhere near zero.

At 36000 feet the temp is around -55c, this would make Iceland seem almost balmy.