kuyuke

Hello,

This is my first post here. My fiance and I nearing the end of our journey through the K-1 visa. We are getting ready to book his flight from London to Florida. He will be bringing his 30lb English Cocker Spaniel with him.

We looked into British Airways because they fly direct from London to Tampa (which is the closest major airport to where I live), however it appears BA insists that we use a pet export service. This service is extremely expensive and we do not need all the extras they tack on (pick up and delivery to airport, getting the necessary immunizations, etc). My fiance will be getting her fit-to-fly certificate and pet passport and will use the train to get to the airport.

I found an old post on this site where someone mentioned flying Virgin Airlines from London to Orlando and did not need to use a pet export service. I am hoping I can get some feedback from the members here on their experiences with flying a dog in cargo from London to Florida.

Thank you for reading! =)

RICH

Welcome to BE

You found the ONLY direct flight to Tampa from anywhere in Europe. Try Miami, and try KLM. Other than what I have read here, I have no experience.

kuyuke

Thank you for your response!

Yes, I am realizing we will have to fly into another airport which is fine by us as long as we don't have to pay an arm and a leg for a pet travel service! =)

I'll keep researching. Anyone else have any experiences to share?

Flabound oneday

oh yes.

First.....do NOT send her to Miami, its a sh1t pit and they treat the dogs appallingly.
second,,,,reconsider a pet service.....yes you pay a little extra but its your dog FFS. we used Pet air UK
we left our 130lb (yup) mastiff with them 2 days before we flew so we could tidy up all our bits without worry, he had a custom made crate (they dealt with), they sorted all the paperwork AND on their advice we flew one day he flew the next.
two reasons for this...one if the flight you are on is bumpy etc you wont be worrying about fido downstairs and 2 (and we thought this made real sense).You arrive at TPA or MCO, tired and facing the usual immigration fun PLUS if its a first entry on a visa you may get delayed, then you have to go deal with all the paperwork to get your pup back...it can mean they sit around for 3-4 hours waiting, in a hanger, no ac , no care (I will get to that)
OR you arrive, chill the night, go back the next day all relaxed and be there waiting for him/her and get them home asap.

we chose this option, flew out ....and then all London airports were closed with snow. pet Air looked after him, fed and watered him, took him to Gatwick..and back...then Heathrow , all at no extra charge. and repeatedly kept in touch by phone. their service was beyond excellent.

BUT instead of flying into MCO he arrived at Miami, where he sat, in his crate, with no water, and we could see him, and he could see us , BUT , we "couldn't cross the white line" as we were repeatedly shouted at by a bunch of un-caring pedros. finally I got so p1ssed off I did cross it and gave him some water...only to be shouted at ,AGAIN,

we swore then we would never go near that hell hole again

I think it ended up costing us around £2000 (mainly cos he is so big) and for us...worth every penny

radita

I have no experience .but you can see Airlines website and its rule from London to Orlando. then search another airlines to know clearly about it.

scrubbedexpat099

There have been many many similar threads.

Tegwyn

I do believe you get what you pay for, and I have known folk that had lost pets because of cheap service. The end result vet bill more than made up for the cutting corners in pet care during travel. It is an already extremely stressful event for a pet, and not wanting extra care is simply cruel. If the pet is such an expensive inconvenience, may I suggest an even cheaper option of rehoming the dog. Less stress on the dog, and you save some $$$. I wish that Spaniel a long and happy life.

Mr Weeze

It can be done yourself - we did it via KLM. Dropped him off as we caught the flight, picked him up at the other end. The wiki discusses the options. People have had experiences ranging from fine (us) to horrific (Ailidh) by going the DIY route. I have yet to see a bad review of the pet courier services. They just cost more. There is a lot of preparation involved in the DIY method.

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Bringing_Pets

NatashaB

If you do decide to use a pet courier service, I would recommend PetAir. They were great, and do offer 2 tiers of service - one where they do everything such as the F2F certificate, and the other where you arrange all the paperwork and drop them off. As someone else said, cutting corners may result in a vets bill that overshadows the saving.

kuyuke

Thank you for your constructive criticism, Tegwyn, however in the future it would be beneficial to read posts thoroughly before making a hasty reply. I am not interested in a "cheap service", nor do I "not want extra care", I am interested in finding a way to get Sally from point A to point B as cost effectively as possible without all of the unneeded extra bells and whistles (we can transport her ourselves to the airport and can get her rabies shot and fit-to-fly certificate just fine on our own). Thankfully, forums like this make it possible to find the answers to questions rather easily and due to the kindness of others sharing their experiences we have found our solution.

kuyuke

Thank you for sharing your experience! Yes, I know from personal experience that Miami is a dreadful airport not to be reckoned with!

Your mastiff is gorgeous. I used to do pet sitting as a side job and my favorite client was a french mastiff. He liked to sleep in bed with his owners so of course I let him sleep with me when they would go out of town. I'll be darned if that boy didn't take up the ENTIRE California King sized bed leaving me with just enough room to lay stiff as a board without fear of falling off! Luckily he was the sweetest most lovable dog ever so it was worth it of course! =)

kuyuke

Thank you for sharing your experience and sharing your input. The preparation doesn't seem too intrusive to us so we will be doing it on our own.

kuyuke

Thank you for your comments, I did not know they offered different services. We got quotes from 4 different pet export services and not one of them mentioned having different levels of service. =/

Tegwyn

Please don't get me wrong, I have known too many awful outcomes and tried to emphasise that point because of it. Sometimes the cost is such that for some, it is better for the pet to be rehomed than gamble with a tragic outcome. With the amount of animals that travel, one would hope that airlines would have something a bit better than they do. It is a very hit or miss set up to say the least and why they are safer with the best pet care service one can find. Sometimes, the price is premium for third rate care. If I came across as suggesting you don't care, I apologize.

NatashaB

This was 3 years ago so things may have changed, but I would definitely check them out. They were really helpful, gave me advice on all the paperwork even though we weren't paying them to do it, and sent me regular updates via text on how the cat was doing in their care. Especially when you're flying into an airport where heat could be an issue, I wouldn't want to take any chances.