kazza

A friend of mine who lives in CO is having a puppy from a litter I just bred (in the UK). She wants to come and collect it when it is 8 weeks old and take it back with her, preferably as carry on baggage or worst case checked baggage. She had a puppy from me before and managed to do this quite easily 5 years ago.

We already knew that the UK based carriers do not allow pets as excess baggage but the US based airlines have always been more accommodating, I guess because travelling with pets is far more common in the US.

She rang Delta's call centre in the US to arrange the travel and was told that no pets can be carried from the UK either as checked baggage or carry on, and that the only option is to use a shipping company and fly the pet as cargo. I know that this is the case into the UK but as we've done this without any problems in the past I just called the UK enquiry number (and spoke to a Frenchman) who told me that it is possible for a pet to fly from the UK to the US and travel in the cabin as long as it is less than 6kg. I asked him to confirm that this was definitely possible from Gatwick airport and he said yes. If it's over 6kg then it needs to be in the hold. So a completely different answer! Does anyone here know the answer to this question, ie has anyone seen a pet on board a flight originating from the UK, or have any suggestions as to how we can find out for sure?

vatraveler

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8320/4.5.0.81 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

Don't check a pet on DL. I probably wouldn't on any carrier. Too many horror stories.

reddawngrl

this appears to address the issue of pets from UK to USA on delta.

http://www.delta.com/business_progra...pets/index.jsp

"United Kingdom (U.K.) regulations do not permit carry-on pets or accompanied pets traveling with passenger baggage. All animals, including service animals, must be transported as cargo."

However, since you had someone tell you it was permissible, I would have your friend actually go to the airport and ask in person, if feasible.

Pharaoh

So she takes a train to Paris and flies from there, assuming the regs permit it else some other airport.

More important: what breed?

pokeable

Yes, do tell!

FWIW Good luck to your friend, I remember taking home our 7 week old Berner. Cute as a heck, but wow did she whine, cry, and make messes on our 60 minute drive home.

rjnsystems

We paid the $125 (each way) to put the dog under the seat with us - we were traveling F/C, but we spent $90 and got a nice collapsible dog kennel with wheels under it. Our Jack/Dach mix weights 22 lbs, so she falls under the 25 lb limit. They did make us bring her out, walk her back in and get her to turn around as they thought the kennel was too small. As we were going out east it was less expensive to take her with us, the board her. She enjoyed herself and all the hotels we stayed at charged a minimal pet cleaning fee.

Good luck with the Pup!

sunny_side_up

What are the pet immigration rules for the US? Many countries require that incoming animals travel in cargo, in-cabin travel not allowed.

MSPeconomist

I've seen dogs in the cabin on international flights, most recently from NRT, although I can't remember when I last saw a cabin pet from England to the US.

kazza

Yes, I did see this but this is for transportation under the PETS scheme which is only relevant for animals entering the UK, not exiting, and has always been the case. Animals entering the UK definitely need to fly cargo as they have to be met by someone from the Animal Reception Centre and taken away for their documentation to be checked. We flew one of our older Border Collies and a Shetland Sheepdog that I purchased from the US into CDG to get round having to fly them cargo (as opposed to checked baggage). It was then a simple case of driving to Calais and getting their paperwork checked before entering the UK. It takes several hours apparently for the paperwork to be checked at the Animal Reception Centre so as we lived in Kent at the time we were home before the dogs would have been released at LHR, and it was less time stuck in the crates for the dogs too.

Dogs are not allowed on the Eurostar so to get to France the pup would need to be taken by car to Calais via the ferry or Eurotunnel and then either driven to CDG or taken by train from Calais. However to be within the rules for entering France the puppy has to have a rabies innoculation and will be too young at 8 weeks. If we leave it until it is older than 8 weeks it will be too big to take as carry on which is the only reason for flying from CDG. Also, US import regs (that differ by state) do not require a rabies innoculation from rabies free UK but probably do require one from continental Europe. I don't believe that the USA requires a dog to fly cargo (OK, so maybe some states do) as you just collect the pet along with your other baggage and pass through customs with the dog's paperwork (that's how it used to work anyway).

The puppy is a Border Collie (AKA a sheepdog) and should just about be small enough at 8 weeks to take on board. As this will be the least stressful option for the pup (and also the safest) the owner is keen for him to go as carry on.

I'm interested in the perception that it's unsafe for a dog to travel in the hold. Is this because the dog is lost in transit or mainly because the hold isn't at the correct temperature etc? I've flown 5 dogs in the hold (3 as checked baggage and 2 as cargo) and haven't had an issue. I did however feel more 'in control' of the ones flown as checked baggage. We boarded last so were able to see the dogs loaded. Once on board we asked to talk to the captain to let him know that we had dogs on board. On one of the flights the captain personally went to see that the dogs were safely loaded. Flying the dogs cargo was worse as I only knew that the flight had taken off and landed. I had no way of knowing that the dogs were on board until they were collected at LAX after having cleared customs (which takes much longer than clearing customs as checked baggage).

Interestingly puppies do react like this on car journeys, although my litters are all taken out in the car many times prior to going to their new homes to try to acclimatise them to car travel, however on a plane as carry on they seem to be relaxed and sleepy (that's my experience anyway). I've no idea why this is.

lucky6666

After the airlines killed one of my Pugs at the airport in BKK, I brough the other Pug into USA in-cabin. No problem entering USA. I had his shots record, and i had some export license from BKK. And the airport vet looked at him befoe he got on the plane in BKK. Thats it. Not sure which side required the license or inspction

But on the US side, no problems, no quarantine at al.

Pharaoh

Bad news and good news. Too bad about Eurostar regs. But I had a hunch s/he would be a border collie; I have two and they are wonderful. Alas, mine aren't interested in herding the horses, and it's too expensive to put up sheep fencing around the pasture.

BobH

[QUOTE

I'm interested in the perception that it's unsafe for a dog to travel in the hold


.[/QUOTE]

It isn't just conditions in the cargo hold, think conditions on the tarmac -- for example it was below zero (degrees F not C) in the DTW area overnight and on TV they often tell people to bring their pets inside.

Bob H

azepine00

DL has a rather questionable record handling animals in cargo with three animals dead over the last couple months; one or two were coming from overseas

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...-airlines.html
(and two other threads cited there)

In your case I would only consider in cabin option, no cargo.

3Cforme

There's a dedicated FlyerTalk forum for travel with pets:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-pets-645/

SuSu2014

I've called so many airlines I have a headache. Can you tell me who allowed a small puppy (Westie) in cabin from the UK to the east coast? DC is home but I'm flexible to make this work. No UK based airline will allow it. United first said yes but then said no. Thanks for your help!