Hi guys,

I’ve been asked to relocate from London to NYC on an L1 visa and have begun making preparations to move late-summer. My wife and I are excited about the prospect of an adventure, but slightly terrified about the prospect of shipping our cocker spaniel across the pond.

Have any of you done similar and can you recommend the company that handled the process? We’re planning to outsource the whole thing for simplicity and benefit from some expert help, rather than tackling it ourselves.

Thanks in advance,

James

We used PetAir for our Ragdoll. Disappeared after 6 months so it was a lot of money down the drain.

We used PetAir as well. My partner is a veterinarian and did a lot of research and they were the best she found. It's run by vets as well, so they seem to offer better care during the process. We were really worriesd as well but our dog was absolutely fine with the trip.

Why are you terrified? A large number of passengers transport their precious cargo each year. PetAir is good as others have mentioned. You can then use AA Cargo on the way back (PetAir can handle customs).

Well you have the hard part done if you have your visa already for your move. Between backlogs and getting an interview people are seeing massive delays.

I have not brought a pet, I have seen them in the cabin on UA on international, but assume that was an “emotional support animal”. For the hold I have heard only take a direct flight and also, more relevant in your case avoid summer flights when it’s to hot.

p.s. per your thread title, your immigrating to New York, your emigrating from the UK. Either way your L1 is a temporary work visa, to stay here you will need a green card.

Personally if I had the time I would use the Queen Mary 2
$1000 for a pet kennel aboard.

(Dependent on cruise ships sailing again)

We used PetAir as well to bring our two cats to Atlanta. PetAir were really good and we were very pleased with the service from start to finish. There are quit a few threads on here where people have recommended different companies and shared their experience, I found these useful. It isn't cheap though - so worth including this in your relocation package with your employer.

Have you actually done this? I can see dogs being ok, since you can take them out on the doggy deck and hang out with them, but I assume cats have to stay in the kennel for the full 7 days which seems like prolonged stress. Also, we would have to get ourselves and cat to the east coast

I could be wrong but I don’t think there is a cattery on the QM2. There are certainly kennels but I haven’t seen anywhere to house cats.

I think they muck in with the dogs, but you have to get two upper level kennels, one for the litter box and one for sitting in. They did, anyway.

Talk about stress! Not a cats idea of a fun way to spend 7 days....

Interesting, thanks. If we were returning to the UK I would certainly book my dog into the QM2 kennels.

We flew our cat directly with Virgin Atlantic. They have a pet specialist team who were very helpful and made the process easy. Just dropped him off at the Gatwick Airport cargo area in the morning and picked him up from the Orlando Airport cargo area about an hour after landing.

It is often said on BE that it is the owners who have a problem with their pet in the hold/cargo area of the plane…not the pet. Most take even the longest journeys very well, even to Oz/NZ. I can only recall one, maybe two people who have had a problem with their pet. I have already said I would use the QM2, probably because it is my favorite way of crossing the Atlantic.

Yeah, I would love to do the QM2 crossing. I'm sure you have to commit really far in advance though, to get a kennel, esp two kennels for a cat. I know you can go on a waitlist, but that seems too uncertain for a move.

I really don't know what the cat would prefer out of plane or ship.