Lottie

Thanks for that, we do have a pet passport for her. My other option is to start saving for a transatlantic cruise back

Jerseygirl

Remember it is illegal for you to take a pet into the UK from the USA via a 3rd country, unless you keep the pet in the 3rd country for 6 mths, quarantine the pet for 6mths in the UK or adhere to DEFRA's rules and regs. ie the pet has to have tests, shots etc and travel in the hold.

Pony

Hi,
It appears its not just a UK air regulations requirement that pets go in the hold. American Airlines doesn't allow pets in the cabin on any flights unless they are domestic.

AA are much cheaper to fly your pet than Virgin. My cats ticket was just $100, thats almost 1/4 the price you quoted for Virgin - WOW!

You usually have to accompany your animal on the same flight, as your pet is treated as 'checked baggage'.

Jerseygirl

Air France allow small pets onboard...or at least they used to...if you are thinking of taking them back via France.

Pony

Air France are very liberal. They said my 13 year old daughter could fly unaccompanied from England, even changing at Charles de Gaulle Airport, on her own!!!

I said "thank you, but no thank you" and flew here using the unaccompanied minor scheme on AA.

andie&jase

Some really useful information being posted, thanks everyone for all your comments and advice.

Andie & Jase

Just Jenney

I've posted my experience bringing my dog from Chile several times on these forums, such as this post.

BTW, my dog's name is Andie! She was named after the Andes Mountains where she was born.

~ Jenney

andie&jase

Thanks Jenney! One of the options we are thinking about is having her sent out a few days after I leave, so I'm not worrying about her whilst I'm travelling, and so that I can be there straight away when she arrives. It's so worrying, I've heard so many horror stories, I'm really nervous about the whole thing. But I've had lots of advice on here which is a big help.

Thanks again ~ Andie )

Lottie

AA are much cheaper to fly your pet than Virgin. My cats ticket was just $100, thats almost 1/4 the price you quoted for Virgin - WOW!



Bargain When/where did you fly your cat from?

TruBrit

i have two persians that i worried about the whole flight through but they were ok and the trip was the bumpiest ever...major head winds but they were ok...so don't worry just do the best can for them and they'll be fine...

g1ant

We brought our dog over with us on the same flight. $110 plus the cost of the travel crate which I think was about 60 quid.

We were qoted something over £1500 by pet moving companies which is a bit of a rip off.

The only thing we did different because of the dog, was that we flew Gatwick direct to Dallas and then drove, rather than going Manchester-Chicago-Austin so you can add a couple of hundered pounds on for one way car hire.

a.

TimFountain

Not true, we moved 1 week before our pets (in order to setup the house and get settled. We left 3 cats and 1 dog in kennels near Gatwick and had them shipped out to Austin via DFW a week later. All arrived fine. The cats acted strange for a few days (I think that was the new house) and the dog acted like nothing had happened. The kennels were very used to what we needed to do, and arranged transport from the kennels to checkin and all the paperwork and crates for them. IIRC the cost was about GPB 1200 (I recall thinking an economy ticket was not a whole lot more....)

- Tim

Scorchio

We brought our dog across in 2004 with BA from Gatwick to DFW, flying with my wife, and it cost £140 in excess baggage fees for the dog+crate.

We made sure to get all the necessary bloodwork, shots and certificates sorted out at our local UK vet before leaving. I can't remember exactly what was needed, but I seem to remember one of the tests or shots needed to be done a month before leaving, so don't leave it till the last minute! Might be useful getting in touch with the relevent people at the airport you'll be arriving at to see exactly what paperwork they'll be looking for before allowing your pet in. We booked the flight with BA and told them in advance we'd need to be transporting our dog, to ensure there was room and she was able to travel.

There was no sedation for the flight, which was fine by me as it's generally a bad thing, but our dog was fine when she rejoined my wife in Dallas, even though she's a nervous dog at the best of times. The food we'd provided in a compartment on the crate had been confiscated, so I don't know if she'd been fed, but she was perfectly ok.

Seems that spending more than a few hundred is excessive, unless your pet needs to travel separately to you.

Pony

Manchester. The $100 is a flat fee per journey. To be honest I could have flown it for free. When I checked the cat in they asked if I had already paid the $100 fee, they didn't ask to see any receipt.

bugman

try jets4pets.com we shipped our dog last year from manchester under 400 quid.

bugman