Charma1ne

Sorry if this has been asked before. I have had a little look through (maybe I am just rubbish at searching?) but I couldnt find an answer...

My husband is flying over with my baby (the dog haha) and we are doing it ourselves through American Airlines. They have said just book any flight on there website and then phone up and they will add her on.

Now my question is this...AA let you "do it yourself" but BA dont so will I incur problems at the airport if I book flights through the AA website but they are operated by BA...??

Anyone with any experience?

Stressing out so help REALLY appreciated.

Cx

Edit - Called AA and they said this would be fine as its an AA flight even though I stressed its operated by BA...

Speedwell

Microchip the dog, Charma1ne, register the chip immediately with your destination address and phone number, and write your contact and flight info directly on the carrier with permanent marker. Tags can get lost. Everything should be OK, but my vet says the microchip is the BEST. Make sure your husband asks the vet for the kind of chip they can read in both the US and UK. When I got my cats chipped, the vet assured me that they used that kind.

Charma1ne

Thank you for the warning, she is a rescue so she has a chip it has 10 phone numbers (Mine, my husbands, my works number in the usa and several family members in the UK) my US address, US work address, UK address and two UK family members address' all programmed in haha she is my baby and I would literally kill people if she went missing...

Good tip about the permanent marker though as I hadnt thought of that!!!

Cx

rpjs

BA definitely require pets to be shipped as cargo through a specialist animal shipper. I'd be very surprised if booking through AA would change that if the actual flight is operated by BA. Also, I recall someone posting recently about flying pets as checked baggage with AA where the pet was denied carriage at Heathrow. We used a shipper (PetAir UK) when we flew our cat over in Jan 2011 and whilst it was expensive it all went without a hitch.

jmjh

I'd be very careful. I tried to do the same with Delta. On their website it says you can transport pets, but when I spoke to their agent on the phone they said that there is currently an embargo on individuals shipping animals by air in the UK, and that only registered agents can do it.

Just booked my dog in with PetAir UK, flying on the same day as us!

lansbury

Now call BA because they are the operating carrier and if they say no, their decision is the only one that counts.

HarryTheSpider

You can only ship via registered agents if going with BA.

Also, check with the destination airport - some places won't handle live animals during the hot part of the year... I don't recall where you are headed to... usually the change-over date is 1 Nov, so you may be OK - we brought our 3 via BA in to Phoenix, AZ - we had to wait until Nov before we could bring them - they came on the same flight as us. We had an excellent service - our 3 were in extremely good condition when we picked them up...

cxx

We flew our dog over to the US with BA - at the time they did direct bookings but suggested we book the flight via PBS who were excellent and also cheaper than the direct option. We did the rest of the process (getting travel crate, vet approvals, etc.) ourselves.

Charma1ne

I will call BA and see what they say then thanks and if its a no I will try and find a roper AA flight

I just want her to come with me rather than after

Cx

AmyEllison

I just flew my jack russell and staffie as checked baggage with AA to JFK, 18th Oct.

Checked several times with AA customer services who are pretty useless but got a direct phone number to AA check-in at heathrow - they were great and explained what happens and really reassured me.

We got to Heathrow 4 hours early with our dogs in crates we bought (doggie solutions - IATA approved, cheapest I could find). I had to fill out some very simple forms - I was armed with EU pet passports with proof of rabies vaccination and vet health certificate. They checked neither but were very nice. They check weather at other end (temperature restrictions so be careful when you are due to fly).

Once the paperwork was done - took about half hour - they told us to got outside with them and come back at a specific time (near to flight as possible for us to get through security and board ourselves).

They provide all necessary labels for crates and zip-ties (do not put on until told too!!). When we went back I had to go "behind the scenes" to the cargo area to get dogs out of crates so they could x-ray them. Then the dogs go back in crates, zip-tied up and taken to a quiet holding area.

We went through security by which time it was almost time to board...once on board I asked hostess about them - she phoned down and let me know when they were loaded...last thing to go on! In fact we could hear them barking as they went in - much to amusement of everyone else!

They were first off other end (so relieved to hear them barking!) and were waiting for us in bagge claim area by the time we had got through immigration. At JFK they didn't check health certs or rabies vaccinations, even though both state requirements. Dogs were pretty stressed by then but all ok after a walk and good drink.

Glad I did it that way so we were with them as much as possible and it saved us a lot of money - only $175 each for flight and about 60GBP for crates each - quoted 1100GBP for both with companies!

Charma1ne

Hi Amy this was AMAZING and really helpful thank you SO much! Just a quick question (easy one I promise haha)

By labels do you mean Set of Live Animal Stickers and Pet Identification and Information slip?

Many thanks

Also thank you to everyone else who commented

Cx

AmyEllison

No problem - I wished I could find the same when I was looking around!

They provide live animal stickers (they also come with crates from doggie solutions), a stick-on form which has check list of documents you have, when they were last fed and watered, your details etc. They also put on airline barcodes etc.

Charma1ne

You're a star

Thanks

Cx

AmyEllison

Oh missed part of your original message....

You MUST book an AA flight, not a BA flight sold through AA website - you cant do what I did on a BA operated flight...

really sorry if I caused any confusion - I was on an AA run flight

Charma1ne

Thats ok lol its an AA flight direct now anyway

Cx