sstef1946

I want to travel to raleigh durham, from paphos cyprus, on or around 29th November, returning two months later, and taking my cyprus poodle, who weighs approx 12 pounds. Does anyone know the best airline for doing this and whether she will be allowed in the cabin, if we fly business class?

FlyinHawaiian

Welcome to FlyerTalk!

I've moved your post to our dedicated Travel With Pets Forum.

FlyinHawaiian, Co-Moderator
United Mileage Plus Forum

RSSrsvp

It would be helpful to know which major carriers/alliances service Cyprus to give you a proper response.

If AF flies there you could possibly structure a routing with them and their Skyteam partner DL.

STBCypriot

Cyprus Airways offers a code share with KLM to AMS, then you can connect to a DL flight or stay on a KLM flight.

Czech Air (DL codeshare) flies from LCA to PRG and then you can coonect to JFK on DL.

Aegean is a United partner and that is a possible option.

BA is another option. But I don't know if BA allows in-cabin pets.

I flew BDL-JFK-PRG-LCA in June with a cat in the cabin. It cost me $125. I was told that I would have to pay a separate fee to Czech Air but they never asked for anything. Going the other way, I am certain I would have had to pay both Czech Air and DL just based on the way things are done flying to the US. I'm not sure what the weight limit is for in-cabin pets on TATL flights as my cat was only 3 months old and the total weight combined (cat + carrier) was around 3 kgs. I do know that European airlines often set a weight limit for in-cabin pets. When I flew Bulgarian airlines and Cyprus Airlines from Sofia to Larnaca with a different cat, the weight limit was 8kg combined. Didn't exceed that limit.

You should be ok with a 12lb dog. Just get a lightweight carrier.

Airlines limit the number of pets per cabin and no mixing of species. There is no benefit regarding the pet if you are in business class or coach - same rules apply. You need to contact the airline prior to booking your ticket to determine if they will allow you to take your pet on the flight you want. Be prepared to have to wait a day or two for an answer.

Make sure you have all your documents in order for the pet when bringing it to the US. And then for the return. I suspect that you have an EU pet passport since you are originating in Cyprus. Even though you have an EU pet passport, you may have to have a health certificate certified by the USDA vet services to go back to Cyprus - Cyprus does not require it, but the airline may. Be prepared that getting the health certificate in the US takes some planning so don't wait until the day before you travel to try to get it (if you need it). That being said, I had both the EU pet passport and the health certificate for my cat and no one ever looked at the health certificate (the DL agent asked if I had it but did not ask to see it). But I wasn't going to take any chances so I went through all the bureaucratic hoops.

Be prepared to pay around $200 each way for your dog, plus the vet fees.

I hope this helps you.

kazza

To clarify, BA don't allow in cabin pets. It's cargo only via BA.