Experience flying Continental with pets

I see that starting 3-3-12 United will adopt the same program that CA now uses for shipping pets. They will become cargo instead of checked baggage. We fly United with our two dogs twice a year from Boise to Maui. My question is being asked of people flying on CA with their pets. Do you take the dogs to another part of the airport (cargo area) and then you go to the normal counter? Also in the past from Boise to SFO it is the smaller commuter jet (CR200) and we can only put one dog in cargo (that is the max allowed) and we put the other one in cabin. At SFO we have to go to the counter and check the second dog as checked luggage to Maui. SFO to Maui all pets have to go below in the plane. Now if the second dog in SFO needs to go to another part of the airport (cargo area) we may have a problem getting there. I guess a taxi to cargo and back maybe. Almost think my wife and I will have to travel on separate days to avoid the problem. How does the CA program been working.
TIA.

FWIW....
Consider flying Alaska Air instead if you must travel with pets. Much more liberal with pets in cabin, including to/from HI.

http://www.dogjaunt.com/2011/08/taki...aska-airlines/

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Thanks. We are not sure about taking them in cabin. Also with our status with united we always get upgraded to first.

I picked up my puppy at MCO and flew back to LAX with her in first class on United. In fact, that's why I returned via UA versus Virgin America as VX wouldn't let me travel first class with her (understandably as they don't have the below seat storage). She's a Maltese and all of 2.2 lbs, so her carrier fit under the seat.

However, were I to do it again, I'd travel VX-- I find that I liked VX coach better than UA first.

Contact the UA Live Animal Desk (1-800-575-3335 or 1-281-553-5052) for current rates and pick-up/drop-off locations.

The UA Cargo facility at SFO is a short walk form the International Terminal G AirTrain station (about 5-10 min 1/4-1/3 mi).

Thanks. Just found out the as of 3-3-12 on United, we can now take both little dogs on the CRJ200 from Boise to SFO. That makes our life a lot easier. We can now check both as cargo in Boise or Maui and they fly as cargo all the way.
Aloha

Quote:

Originally Posted by lapeter

I see that starting 3-3-12 United will adopt the same program that CA now uses for shipping pets. They will become cargo instead of checked baggage. We fly United with our two dogs twice a year from Boise to Maui. My question is being asked of people flying on CA with their pets. Do you take the dogs to another part of the airport (cargo area) and then you go to the normal counter? Also in the past from Boise to SFO it is the smaller commuter jet (CR200) and we can only put one dog in cargo (that is the max allowed) and we put the other one in cabin. At SFO we have to go to the counter and check the second dog as checked luggage to Maui. SFO to Maui all pets have to go below in the plane. Now if the second dog in SFO needs to go to another part of the airport (cargo area) we may have a problem getting there. I guess a taxi to cargo and back maybe. Almost think my wife and I will have to travel on separate days to avoid the problem. How does the CA program been working.

When I knew we were leaving the UK, I dutifully filled out the online paperwork for United PetSafe. I received an email telling me basically, sorry we don't help when the flight originates outside of the US. Contacting Cargo at Heathrow, I was told sorry, but you can't bring your pet to the airport, you need a pet relocation company. When I contacted such a company they discovered that UA would only fly the pet to SF. For my 90 min. onward flight, I would have to break my flight and reboard my now domestic flight, and check the cat as excess baggage. Let's review: returning home from living abroad. Any guesses on how heavy my bags are? Yes! They are the international weight, not the domestic weight, so suddenly excess baggage is a very expensive proposition....UA Cargo at Heathrow is unwilling to schedule the transfer of the cat to baggage at SFO or even alert the SFO station that a live animal will be transferred to our onward domestic flight. This cat has been around the world with us, and when we previously landed at SFO, we picked up the crate in the baggage area and carried it to something like an "unusual sized" luggage bay and sent her on her way to the same home airport on the same sized plane we'll be on. But because of the UA/Continental merger the rules have changed. I cannot declare the cat as luggage or excess luggage until I arrive at SFO. So here's my question: Has anyone had a similar experience? Were you able to retrieve your pet from UA Cargo, get it to the check in counter and check the animal as baggage in under 2 hours?