cleo13

Has any one recently moved back from orlando with a dog, i tried the cruise line but all booked up,we shall be moveing next may, and have been quoted 4,000 dollars by british airways, any help please

Posidrive

Good grief, what size dog to you have? We brought our German Shepherd back from Calgary for of the order of $2000. Distance wise there can't be that much difference so the cost seems rather extreme.

I presume that the $4000 was for the dog only, or does that include extortionate one way fares for you as well?

J.J

Virgin also fly pets out of Orlando, both also dept Miami, might be worth the drive, or even going up to Atlanta.
Thomson, Thomas Cook out of Sandford ??

Can't comment on dogs, we brought a cat back with Virgin from Washington Dulles, their price was comparable to BA same route.
Attached is the DEFRA gateways/ /airlines list.
Attached also a Virgin flyer, 2009 indicating they will not transport pets June - Sept, (because of heat on airport tarmac while waiting) maybe you on the price cusp of that period, just a thought.

BackandForth

Wow, dont o anything at that price. I flew a small (12lbs) dog with Continental from Newark to Heathrow. for tehflight it was less than $1,000. I had to pay customs celarers in UK who delivered her to final destination. I'll post later some more accurate pricing.

Have you worked out how to avoid quarantine yet also? It can be done but takes 6 months at least to sort out. Post back, if not I can tell you how. Its a lot of work but worth it. Our dog was home with us same day we landed.

hayleyatfla

I am looking now to book the QM2 I onl have a little one and once the rabies titer and everything is taken care of we will be able to leave June - August.. is that the boat you tired, i know the kennels are limited and i have one dog my mom has 2.. good luck!

cleo13

yep it was qe2 and they were all booked up to october2011

cleo13

no it was just for the dog ,$ 1,418,for cargo,500 pet travel,fuel $80pr kg,and our dog is75 lb, black lab do they go by cargo or some one told me they travel by excess baggage

cleo13

we have started her quarentine, here,how did you do the process at the airport , did you just book a ticket for your dog ,did you book it as cargo?

hayleyatfla

My sister did the "QM2" not the "QE2' did u try that one?

BackandForth

Ok, so I am looking at the airwaybill for the shipment, Gross Weight was 12.2kg and we paid $659 for the 'freight' she went cargo but it has to be in a special climate controlled part of cargo and not all flights have this and/or capacity so plenty of forward planning is needed. We also paid $488 in other charges, these I am not sure exactly what they were, they are not listed out. So total we paid to Continental was $1,147.

We also paid UK side, I dont have record of how much though, to great company called PBS www.pbs-int.co.uk These guys did the UK side, customs, quarantine checks and pass through etc. They were really helpful with advice etc on all stages. get a contact there and stick with them if possible, if you fly in on weekend make sure you get a direct line or cell of the person who is there that day and will be processing. Saves time when nobody is on switchboard.

One tip, when you board your flight in US, have them call down from the desk where they check your boarding pass to ensure the dog is on the plane. We did and it was comforting, not too sure what we would have done if she wasn't though!

Not all airlines form all airports to all UK airports have the capacity to carry animals so check out and book as far in advance as possible. If dog ends up having to go on a different flight to you going into different airport PBS can arrange courier to drive them to you wherever you are.

Hope this helps.

You say you are ok with quarantine, just make sure you are fully on top of this and the APHIS form etc.

Jerseygirl

Nope can't have been the QE2...it's not sailed since 2008.

cleo13

sorry oops yep it was QM2 would love to have cruised but booked up

J.J

Phone Virgin and have a chat. They have a special Pet processing Department, will tell you all the rules, they handle pets all the time. Once we booked we were allocated a person available for advice through the process. They supplied packet of info with all paperwork.
Or just look at this publication. http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/tridi...cm5-663181.pdf

That charge structure seems odd, but just like any cargo, price is formula of weight and size of container. our cat 13 lbs cat cost one price for the flight US$600 plus the processing fee paid at Defra Heathrow.

Did they quote you similar for your cats ?

By the way, Defra at Heathrow was good, they exercise the pet once they are received in the building. After getting through airport ourselves, picking up car and arriving at Defra we had minimum wait before pet was released to us. Our cat was a bit jumpy from being around unknown people, normal for him, but otherwise in the best of health.
There were a couple sad cases at Heathrow Defra, people in tears having not got their paperwork fully in line with requirements, it is essential to follow the rules to the letter, it's not difficult but it must be in complete order.

john5655

when airlines calculate weight for a dog and the crate, they use volumetric weight, not the actual weight

volumetric weight is calculated using the dimension of the cage and a magic formula used by the airlines

so, when you have a big crate, you have a much heavier volumetric weight to pay for

the best way to demonstrate this is using my experience

my golden retriever weighs 28 kg, the crate we used (PetMate Vari Kennel largest crate available) weighed 20 kg-ish, total weight 48 kg right?

volumetric weight for this size of cage is 145 kg

all pets must fly cargo into UK, not (un)accompanied baggage which is the norm for US and Canada for example

john5655

sorry, JJ's comments came in whilst I was typing

I fully agree with JJ's comments

to add, we used BA, also very good with information being made available, especially on the website under BA Cargo

BA told me they only allow one owner's pets to travel on any one flight, so that hold only held our dog and two cats

yes, book well ahead, get the cargo slot pre-booked then book your own flights if you want to be on same flight

we got to the Heathrow Animal Reception Centre very quickly after landing and had to wait four hours, within their stated timescale for processing pets

feel free to PM me on any questions you may have