Shipping animals to the USA
 

Hi There
I am shipping both my cat and my dog from Greece to LA within the next month or so.I have been quoted over 9000 dollars for both , can anyone give me any idea regarding costs and if anyone else has shipped their furry friends recently.

Re: Shipping animals to the USA
 

Ouch. We paid £900 or so to ship our cat from London to NYC last month, and judging by what other people have posted here we could have probably done it a bit a cheaper. We used Pet Air UK, but if their name is any guide I doubt they'd be much use to you!

Also don't forget there is a new US TSA security regulation that requires you to have been in a "business relationship" (which includes asking for quotes) at least 30 days before you ship your pets, so if you do find a cheaper quote, if you've not dealt with the shipper before you'll need to wait for that 30 days to be up first.

Re: Shipping animals to the USA
 

Ok thanks for that better stay with the original carriers then !

Re: Shipping animals to the USA
 

Is it a large dog? The larger the dog the more they cost to travel by air.

Edit: I see from your other post you have a Lab.

Re: Shipping animals to the USA
 

Yes ! he is a rather large labrador it looks as if both the cat and the dog are going to cost more than two adults and a child . We live on the Greek mainland which is ratrher remote and I think the cost of getting them from here to the nearest airport etc.. is bumpibg up the cost .

Re: Shipping animals to the USA
 

It may sound silly and maybe it would work out more expensive, but can they be shipped to the UK first? If your animals have the pet passport, it might work out cheaper to get them to the UK first? :unsure:

Re: Shipping animals to the USA
 

Are you paying the company to transport them from your home to the airport? Maybe you could ask if you could bring them to the airport or the company's animal center yourself to cut down the cost?

Re: Shipping animals to the USA
 

If it's anything like Pet Air UK, then the animals need to be at the reception centre the day before they fly to be certified as fit to travel. OP says her location is "rather remote" so that may not be a practical option.

Re: Shipping animals to the USA
 

The animal doesn't need to be at the centre the day before as the "fit to fly cert" can be from your own vet (within a set num ber of days but cant remember exactly) and you can turn up on the day - that's what we did last Sept when flying from T5 to JFK. (Thats obviously for the UK)

Just to add - we got a quote from a company that works with the relocation firm that moved our belongings to transport our cat from UK to US and it was $3500......not the £600/$900 we paid Petair. I think companies that are used to dealing with HR depts of companies that are relocating people charge lots more than they should.........perhaps this is the case of the OP.

Re: Shipping animals to the USA
 

I would stay away from letting HR (and Air France) or a company other than pet specialists have anything to do with shipping animals. Read White-ishRose thread 'Air France lost my dogs'. A nightmare!

Re: Shipping animals to the USA
 

We used PetAir in the UK, to take our 3 small dogs by air, Heathrow to Phoenix, AZ, last October (2010).

We paid around £1900 all in - superb service and our pooches arrived in extremely good condition - highly recommended.

Cheers

Martin

Re: Shipping animals to the USA
 

We used Continental to fly our dog here to the UK from the US a couple of years ago, and will be using them again this May when we move back to the US. My brother in law is a pilot for continental, and he assured me animals are looked after really well with continental - he said several of the flight attendants will check on the animals when they are in the hold, which is a nice thought at least! They have to adhere to strict regulations, apparantly. We were really happy with the service, and our pooch seemed fine. The flight back to the US from London is around £600.