Hi everyone.
I was wondering if anyone knows of the most cost effective way of fling 2 dogs back to England from Orlando.
So far i have contacted BA and Continental who both are talking in the $3000 range.
Crazy when i think we paid 800 quid for both from England to the US.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Geoff.

Unfortunately there isn't a lot of difference between airlines from what I have read on here.

Be careful to ask if they include the paperwork at the far end in the shipping price (Virgin don't; BA does, for example). So when comparing BA and Virgin, you'd compare BA's "all-inclusive" price to Virgin's shipping price plus the price of the processing at the UK end.

geoff, not sure viable option for you but another one is to ship them over. there is thread on here and somebody took like Queen Mary 2 from US to England. The dogs have their own kennels and somebody specifically employed who feeds, walks dogs. you can go visit them any time you want. If I decide to move back to England even for trail period of a year and my brothe comes this is the option we are going to choose..I think "Calle" has done this and said for whole family and her pet(s) it was far cheaper than them all flying back to UK and they enjoyed it..

I think from recent quotes that the QMII now books up very quickly (I think someone said their kennels are full for this season already).

We are paying Washington Dulles to Heathrow in June for 1 cat on Virgin is around $500 (calculated on size of the crate) + the $500 for handling in Uk, similar total as BA for same route.

Update: Flying Virgin-Atlantic, UK handling for 1 cat is 275 GBPounds payable at pet pick-up.

Hi Geoff,
I was sitting by a elderly lady back in March on my way to visit the UK and she had used BA and Continental for her little dog quite a few times and was completly satisfied with the serviice on both airlines. I believe it cost her around $600 to $1000. I'm currently looking into the cost myself for my two Aussie Shepherd mixes as both are around 52lbs each. We plan on moving back to you UK from the US (Washington State) hopefully sometime middle of next year. Also do you have the pet passport, as you'll need this for your dog's to bring them back into the UK, I found this out on a website about bringing animals in the UK! If it's anything to go by, when I was going to bring my Afghan Hound out to the states with me in 1990, I was quoted 1800 Pounds. He was 95lb, and I had to have a special crate built for him, but Spillers (dog people who ship animals all over the world) were going to handle everything for me including paper work and taking care of him and he was flying on BA. I sadly ended up leaving him with my parents becuase of the husband at the time...should have known what he was going to be like, my dog did'nt like him from the start
Good Luck and please let us know how you get on, it will be useful info for the rest of us!
Alexis

Hi everyone ,thanks again for all the info ,this site is fantastic!!!
Alexis ,
Thankyou for your information taken on with much appreciation.
We are still deliving into a minefield of do and dont re the dogs going back ,will let everyone know what we end up with !!!
Cheers
Geoff.

We're about ready to take our two cats back over to the UK with us. Their titre test is still valid and their vaccinations are up to date, so the next step is to get the USDA letter - how long does this typically take, as we're looking to leave in 3-4 weeks... hope that's enough time.

Hi, we are going through this right now.
Before you get the USDA verification (Competent Authority) you need your vet to complete and sign the 1st part of the form that USDA sign and that (at least in my case) couldn't be completed until 10 days (or less) prior to travel because the vet needs to check the animal for fitness to travel (a airline requirement too in the case of Virgin Atlantic for they also have a form to be signed by the vet certifying fitness to travel)
So 10 days before the flight (this Monday for us) we take the cat and all the previous documents to our vet, get their sig on the form "EC No 998/2003 Vetinary Certificate for Domestic Dogs, Cats and Ferrets Entering the European Community and Norway for Non-Commercial Movements" -
Then we get the same cert to the USDA for "Endoresment by the Competent Authority". As an alternative to USDA maybe you could instead find a 'official veterinarian' as suggested on the form.

To your question, I can't tell you how long it will take turnaround with USDA, we are lucky to have USDA office local so can can just drop in. . I had phoned my local USDA, he said they are used to everyone having to get this done last minute, they just review the docs and sign the form and your done. Depends then how you get the forms to USDA, suggest FEDEX etc and call USDA beforehand to arrange them to be looking for it.

Best wishes, it's a paperwork chore but no way could we leave the cat behind.

I carried all my documents, including the Certificate with vets signature, to local USDA today.
It took them all of 10 minutes to 'process' and provide their approval. Done and dusted. Next step the flea and worm treatment on next Tuesday, fly next Weds.

Thanks for the advice, everyone. Turns out there's a USDA office in Trenton (about an hour away) so it should be pretty simple.

Cheers again!

It takes 9 minutes to write up the $75 invoice ...

Hi everyone....new poster here..but avid lurker for many years. :-) Just a quick question for Dunrovin, if you don't mind? How did you transport Suzie to Scotland after you landed in the UK? That's my dilema right now. Relatives would surely help out, however I feel it's a bit of an imposition to ask them.

Thanks in advance! :-)

Hello Poppycat,
we are renting a car at Heathrow to get to Lincolnshire.
We checked for airport taxis but they were more costly than even a 1 way rental car, and did not have flexibility.
It takes 3 to 4 hrs after the flight arrives for the pet to be released from the Animal Center (there is a waiting room) which is 4 miles or so from the passenger terminal. Then at the other end we have to drop off our cat at a cattery because our temp accom doesn't allow pets. So this all made the airport taxi rather impractical and no offers made from relatives.