LillyRobeson

We've a boxer-lab cross we need to ship from London to JFK.
We looked at some pet agents and have been quoted anything from 950 quid up to 1600

So we thought we'd check direct with the airlines and, so far, this is what we have:
BA will only deal with pet agents
Virgin will charge us 850 so with 140 for the crate may as well use a pet agent.
KLM quoted me 200 Euros and said they fly with their partner Delta. I phone up Delta who say that they don't fly pets to or from the UK.
American Airlines quoted me $175 as long as dog and crate are under 100 pounds (putting dog on diet...) and they may not take the dog since he's a boxer mix (not snub nosed though).
Haven't yet called United who I understand repalced Continental.

I'm not sure who else fly direct from London to New York but don't get why AA and KLM are so cheap and BA/Virgin so blooming expensive. Surely they all have to follow the same animal welfare regulations?

rpjs

Have you asked Delta if they'll fly pets from the Netherlands as I'd've thought anything with KLM would involve a transfer at Schipol. Delta took over NorthWest and inherited NWA's long standing alliance with KLM which almost always involved going through AMS.

LillyRobeson

Delta fly direct from London - they operate KLM's direct flights. We could do KLM with a transfer in Amsterdam but would rather a direct flight, it's going to be tough enough on the dog as it is.

Mr Weeze

We went ABZ - AMS - IAH and to be honest, it was probably easier on the dog via AMS. KLM have a very descriptive piece on their website about their animal holding centre (or at least they did in 2010).

Of course, that is all immaterial if you want to go direct.

LillyRobeson

No, that's good to hear! I thought it'd be tougher on him and I wanted to minimise the travel time.

Weeze

And they have a four star doggy hotel in the airport at Amsterdam that they take them off to!

RubyD

we got prices from Airtransat, not sure if they fly Lon to NY but worth a try. we were quoted 3500 via pet agent from Dub to Toronto for 2 dogs but Airtransat will allow us to book them ourselves on the same flight as us for $280 cad each dog
worth a google anyway to see if they go from Lon to NY

captainsensible

Call United - they have a pretty clear pet transport policy on their website so you may get more mileage with them. You might have to fly to Newark though.

md95065

... which is often preferable to flying into JFK anyway ...

LillyRobeson

Not if you're going to be living in Queens!

Anyway, United quoted me $638.

I really don't understand the differences in price but looks like we'll go with American although I'm suspicious about their $175 - it just seems too cheap!!!

captainsensible

Just seen the price on the American Airline site... thats incredible! Looks like a winner to me!

captainsensible

Which bit is immaterial?

Mr Weeze

If you want to go direct, going via AMS is not an option, therefore the facility that KLM has is immaterial to what you want to do. Sorry for the confusion.

AntMcG

Hope you don't mind me using your thread to ask a related question....

We're taking our two Leonberger Mountain Dogs from London to LAX. The cheapest we've found is (wait for it...) £2700 EACH!!! That's with Virgin.

If anyone knows how to do this cheaper, please, please let me know (they're much bigger than boxers and weigh 45 and 55 kilos).

The crazy thing is that our ticket for the same flight is around £470.

chestersmate

"and they may not take the dog since he's a boxer mix (not snub nosed though)."

LillyRobeson - I'm a bit concerned about this as I intend to take my Bull Mastiff/Rottie cross and Cane Corso over with me. What is the problem with sbnub nose, and is this just related to American?