Sabrielle

Not right now but in a few years when my husband and I are sorted I want to fly our 3 dogs to the US (rehoming them is absolutely out of the question they are my babies). My friend used a pet courier company when she moved and I think she said you had to now? I thought you could do it all yourself and it saved money? We'd be flying from London can either do LGW or LHR to New York and then driving from New York to PA. I have had a good read of the pet section on the wiki but couldn't find specifics about it and most everything seems cat related or small dogs. Mine are huge! Alaskan Malamute, Siberian husky and a Northern Inuit.. thanks.

Mr Weeze

There are, carrier by carrier, limitations on the total size (add length + width + height) of the crate you can use. We brought our 45 lb border collie ourselves. The IATA regs are a good place to start regarding the size limits.

md95065

There also are or were some requirement that you have an "established relationship" with the carrier before they were allowed to accept your animals for shipment.

In the end I seem to recall that this effectively just meant that you had to be sure to book everything at least a few weeks in advance.

HartleyHare

We have just come to the US from the UK with our Cavalier. We used a pet carrier as I didn't want the added hassle of overseeing yet more paperwork!

As mentioned above, it depends on the airline. I think that BA will only work with a carrier and not allow you to book direct. Each airline has a "pet policy" on their website so it is not complicated to look at the requirements for each. Our carrier used Virgin and I was very happy with the service.

Some states in the US have certain breed restrictions so you would need to check this out too.

The other alternative that some have used is to come over on the QM2, but not sure how expensive this would work out with 3 dogs.

Sabrielle

It's quite cheap by QM2 but they are fully booked for a year. They also don't allow Malamutes although I think they would make an exception for mine as she is small, but the Northern Inuit is bigger so again not really an option :/
It'll have to be flights.
I am familiar with cage sizes, they must be able to fully raise their head, get up and turn around. I don't think any of the dogs I have come under breed restrictions but I will check for NY and PA. None are aggressive breeds.

HartleyHare

You have beautiful dogs. My OH is a big fan of Huskies!

jmjh

I believe that there is a blanket ban on individuals shipping animals from the UK - at least that's what Delta told me when I called to bring my dog over from the UK last December. There are quite a few companies that will do an all in one service for you (inc vet approval etc) - we used PetAir, it was just under 1,000 GBP for my cocker spaniel from Heathrow to Atlanta (although he cleared customs in Houston, because apparently ATL airport has a bad track record of killing pets!)

Sabrielle

HartleyHare: Thank you, she is my baby, I rescued her when she was 5 months, love her to bits.

jmjh: You can bet my babies will be going nowhere near ATL How the hell can you kill a dog? What loose it in transit, you just feed and water them!
We'll be flying direct to New York because I don't want any change overs at all, no change overs, very very difficult for them to loose my babies

jmjh

Not entirely sure, but PetAir were pretty adamant that they considered it a very bad idea for animals to clear customs in ATL, even though it meant a longer journey for the animals. Maybe something to do with the quality of the customs officials here.

HartleyHare

We also used Pet Air. Our bill was around £1300. Would highly recommend them. We flew into Newark airport. We were originally going to be on the same flight as our dog, but quickly realised that we would not be able to get transport that would accommodate 6 suitcases and our dog's crate and us too! (I think we did find someone, but was quoted $400!). There is also a process to go through before you can collect the dog which involves driving to cargo, then to customs, then back to cargo. We decided instead to fly ourselves in the day before, get settled, then collect our dog the following day.

scrubbedexpat099

Just wondering if Newark is as crap for animals as it is for people.

I have been looking for a crate for my puppy, needs to be 54 inches long and not cost a fortune.

HartleyHare

Pet Air advised us that Newark was better for pets as it was not as busy as JFK, so paperwork would be completed quicker. We are also staying in Jersey City at the moment so it was a very short journey from the airport. Our dog arrived around 7pm, and we have to allow an hour for the paperwork. We had to collect her from the cargo warehouse (think the last scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark) and I did wonder where they had put her as it was quite noisy. When the men went to collect her they went into the offices and came out with her crate. I thought that was really nice. She was lying down looking a bit sorry for herself but when she saw us she began wagging her tail.

Pet Air supplied her crate as part of the service.

Sabrielle

£1300 for a cavalier?! I think I'm doomed lol! That seems like an awful lot of money for east coast.. My friend paid £1400 for her dog all the way to colorado and he was bigger than your cavalier and I have to pay that 3x over o.O

Sabrielle

I've just called petair they are going to send me a quote.

HartleyHare

That's one big puppy!