Hi everyone

I am moving to Tampa from Edinburgh in July with my husband and family. We are currently getting everything arranged and have always said that we would take the dogs over with us. Now that the time is getting nearer I am rather nervous because they need to go in the hold of the plane. Just wondered if any of you have experience (good or bad, but preferably good!!) of coming over with your dogs. We have not booked the flights yet, but will probably travel BA direct into tampa from london.

there are many thread on here... you should do a search and read through them.

I don't know about plane flights with dogs, but you will need to visit their vet to get their shots updated & a pet passport thingy before you travel. I'm not sure about the time needed ahead of time to do this.

Oh you lucky thing ..you will be near me .....

this wasn't true when i brought mine over... back on '04... the pet passport was for re-entry to the UK... not for US entry.

Hmmmmm...

We brought our dog over last year. We flew Virgin - LHR-LAX.. I hated the idea of him going in the hold.. but the thought of leaving him behind was worse. Make sure you go and get their Rabbies vaccines.. and all other vaccines upto date.. I called Virgin and asked what they needed regarding paperwork etc.. Its really not very complicated. I thought Virgin were great in the UK.. wasn't so impressed at LAX.. Just my experiance.

I'm sure it'll be just fine.. best of luck

i flew BA with my dog & cat in 2005 from heathrow to seattle, they had to go in cargo - i hated that & stressed the whole way but BA were great, it all went really smoothly, no hiccups at all i would suggest making sure there is a non-slip liner of some sort under their bedding in the crates so they are a bit less likely to slide around in their boxes.
pet passport is purely for getting back into the uk - don't need it to enter the usa but you will want it if you ever want to take them home again, can do it from the usa though also.
check with the airline as to what they require & check with florida state for what they need. if you can it might be worth getting the dogs started on heartworm medication before you leave the uk 'cos florida is almost certainly going to have it - talk to your vet about that.
from my point of view it was definitely worth it, all went well, they arrived safe & sound (cat was more upset by it all) - i could never have left them behind. dog bounced out of her box tail wagging!

Thanks for the encouragement.

Will talk to a few companies today and see what they are saying. Think that we may need to delay the dogs coming though until after the summer as it appears many companies won't carry then in the hottest months.
Now I just have to worry about them being eaten by alligators!!

We used this company in 2005 and they were fantastic.They were recommended by our vet. We flew out first and left the dog and cat with them for a week. They arranged the crates etc and on the day they flew they kept us informed by phone of each stage of the journey. We had contact numbers for the kennels at Atlanta airport.
Once the animals were actually in transit Pets on the Move didn't care how often or when we phoned them.


www.petsonthemove.co.uk

They arranged flights in the coolest part of the day and to avoid a long wait between connecting flights we had them boarded at the airport in Atlanta. That meant they could be fed, watered, cages cleaned and flown out to Pittsburgh in the very early morning.
The staff at the cargo depot at the airport were lovely and got them off the plane really quickly.

Or worry about yourself being eaten by alligators

Hi and welcome to the forum - Tracy(dog lover married to a Scot)

Looks like it, Ironically just been reading in the news about a woman in Oldsmar, north Tampa who found an alligator in her kitchen this morning! Seems it was looking for the family cat for breakfast.

There was some talk on the MBTTUK forum about the QE2 kennels. Apparently not as expensive as you may think and if I recall correctly no baggage limits...

The QE2 no longer sails. The QM2 sails to New York from the UK...the OP would then have to transport the extra baggage (if there is any) and dogs to Tampa.

QM2 that's what I meant! Sorry!