Travel with Pets - Traveling with a pet turtle

Hello everyone, this will be a first post from a long time lurker. Apologize if this is in the travel security forum but this forum seemed a good fit.

I want to bring a pet slider turtle to New York from Southern California and was wondering if others had experiences with this through different airlines. I have seen people carry little dogs in backpacks. This turtle is approximately 4" wide x 5" long and can fit in a shoebox for the 5 hour flight. The previous posts have said it is okay as long as they 'fit in a crate' and airline people have been somewhat vague in their responses. I figure the shoebox taped up should work.


I primarily fly Skyteam (China Airlines, Delta) and am Emerald member/Skyteam Elite Plus if it makes a difference but would fly a different airline (Jetblue, Virgin, etc) if it would make the process less troublesome.

Thanks in advance for your help and views. :)

Have the turtle start walking now. Take your flight in 5 years to meet up..... :D

I think the airline is your best bet for accurate information. You will want to know exactly how they have to be secure and contained. Anything from here will be best advice available, but still could be just incorrect enough to cause trouble at check in.

Welcome to Flyertalk, superboxf1. Your thread is a perfect fit for the Travel With Pets Forum.
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

It really depends on the airline that you will get in with if they will allow you to bring with you the pet. If it's possible, I guess they will giving conditions for you to take it in.

Find out about California's rules about bringing in turtles. They may have restrictions.

I think you're going to have a difficult time finding any domestic airline willing to accept turtles in the cabin. It's incredibly stupid since they're even more harmless than cats or dogs but it is what it is. We're talking about a slider turtle not a snapping turtle.

I hate to suggest this but what about shipping the turtle via UPS or FedEx? This is how I understand commercial shippers ship turtles. Here is a page on how to ship turtles:http://turtlerescues.com/shipping_turtles.htm It kind of kills me to have to talk about shipping any animal. I would drive if I had the time.