jgraham95

Greetings all,

Looking for some help on your experiences with Pet Relocation. I recently have obtained a visa and will be moving over to Atlanta, Georgia from Edinburgh and am trying to figure out the best options for bringing my dog over.

I have been told of 2 options to use, 1 being a dedicated Air-freight and the other is via the chargeable excess baggage fee on my flight over with airlines such as KLM or British Airways.

Now I have been looking into costs via Air-freight and all these dedicated services have been quoting me in excess of £3000 which covers everything including vaccinations, passport, etc. However my dog already is up to date with vaccinations, chipped and valid passport so other than filling out the paperwork, purchasing a kennel and booking the flight I feel this sort of cost to be rather expensive. On the other hand I have seen Airlines such as KLM quoting between 150-300 euro's to accompany me on my flight over and I heard British Airways offers similar options around the £900 mark.

As I have no experience in this I was looking to see what others thoughts are from their experiences of using these services and what you would recommend. My main worry is my dog safety in transportation conditions where she will not be neglected, stressed or be in storage that has excessive noise or poor heat and ventilated conditions including if there are concerns during the trip that she will be well looked after or that I am close by to check up on her or have her checked up on.

I have read that various people recommend the Excess Luggage option but there is never mention on duration of trip and number of stops in their experiences. As this will be at least 12+ hours travelling I want things to be as pain and stress free as possible for my dog.

What method of transportation have you all had experience with and which transporters/airlines have you used? Would you recommend any in particular or recommend any to avoid?

Thank you for taking the time to read this post and I appreciate any input you have to offer.

Pulaski

Some of the vaccinations for pets/ dogs in the US are different from those in the UK, and even the rabies vaccination may be different (there are two types, and the one your dog might have had in the UK may not be the right one).

petitefrancaise

It is fairly easy to ensure that your dog is compliant for entry to the USA.
Animal Health - Ga Dept of Agriculture

If you intend to bring your dog with you on the plane (as we did) then you need to check the requirements of the airline. Just google airline dogs policy. You shouldn't book your own flights until you have ensured that there will be space on the plane for your dog - they will reserve it for you.
We used Lufthansa and had no problems at all.. €350 which was paid when we checked her in (in France). You will have to pick up your dog and clear customs with her at your port of entry to the USA, it will be better if you can get a direct flight from Europe to Atlanta. Although Lufthansa insisted that the €350 covered the entire journey, I knew from others that the internal flight to my city would be charged extra - and it was $450 for a 40 minute flight. Our journey involved flying from France to frankfurt to Houston (clearing customs and immigration) and then Austin. Our dog was fine.

mrken30

I would look at how the operations work at the US end. The last thing you want is your dog being left out on the tarmac in Atlanta. I think most pets travel without getting stressed. Most vets used to recommend not sedating you pet prior to flying.

petitefrancaise

Sedation is NOT recommended.

We flew into Houston (95F) at the end of september - the dog was off the plane and into the terminal before we were. I watched her being taken in as I waited to disembark and then she was waiting for us in the excess baggage claim when we got there. We then escorted her (and us) through customs and then had to take her in a taxi to the pet travel place. She was really well looked after there and had time for a drink and some food- and then taken to do her business before being taken on to the next plane.

TBH I think Lufthansa is a lot easier than BA for animals. Not sure why.

I would like to point out though, that returning with your pets to the UK is expensive and much trickier.

mrken30

And if you mess it up they can end up in quarantine. I transported a dog almost 20 years ago to the UK and quarantine was not fun. Now you can do pet passport style transportation.

sir_eccles

Some airlines at certain airports at certain times of year will not even let you transport animals due to the heat (or cold). I don't know if Atlanta is on that list.

MidAtlantic

It is essential to check the details with the airline. Here are some examples:

DELTA: For any travel to or from South Africa, Hong Kong or the United Kingdom — with the exception of service animals — pets must travel as cargo and are not permitted in the cabin.

BA: British Airways does not permit pets to travel in the cabin with the exception of medically approved service animals. (Seven day notice required) First point of entry must be London Heathrow, Gatwick or Manchester (accompanied pets only).

jgraham95

Greetings folks,

Thank you for the invaluable information so far. This is helping hugely in what to look at. Especially since as some note there may of been area's I overlooked such as certain injections and caveats with different airlines.

I think based on the answers so far that the AirFreight may be the better option to go with for peace of mind and less complications.

Can anyone recommend any AirFreight providers other than passportforpets? I reviewed theirs and unfortunately the distance to travel prior to the flight would not be feasible in my situation. I seen PetsAirUK and AnimalAirlines are available in Scotland. Any recommendations on others to contact?

mrken30

I don't have any recommendations but you can bing/google "pet transportation uk" you can also look on the IPATA website https://www.ipata.org/ipata-pet-shippers-air-and-ground

Another option my be to contact your vet or local kennels that are used for quarantine.

megalaser

I brought my dog from the UK to Orlando in 2009, we both flew on the same flight from Gatwick to Orlando and it worked out fine. If you want to know any more please let me know.

MBee

My husband and I had a similar conundrum and ended up taking the Queen Mary 2 to New York from Southampton. The kennel for a week was about £500 and it was totally worth it, with an on-call 'kennel master' keeping them company and many visiting hours per day.
I highly recommend going by sea if possible to save the dog the stress of the flight and the possibility of the dog not being able to fly on the day due to unforeseen airline policy changes or issues.

I can also recommend seeing what it would take to register the dog as a service dog Friends have done this and the dog was allowed to fly with them.

Nutmegger

However much you love your pet, committing fraud is not the appropriate path to take.

megalaser

I'm wondering - has anyone on here (or knows anyone) that has ever flown with their dog in the CABIN of the aircraft on a transatlantic flight? As a service dog or whatever, has anyone done this or seen a dog in the cabin or knows anyone that has done it? It's my understanding that all dogs are flown across the Atlantic in the cargo hold.

mrken30

I did this with my cat. There's was thread on here recently where someone else was also considering flying their cat in the cabin. The kennel requirements are quite small , so it depends on the size of your dog.