Turns out not to be that straightforward. Direction of travel would be UK to USA, so no restriction on carriers due to the UK pet passport scheme.

However, all of the carriers I've looked at have a "no pets in the cabin" policy on transatlantic flights. Now Miss Kitty is a bit of a senior (16 and a half now) so I don't want her to have to travel in the hold.

I've looked at cruise ships, they all seem to say "only service animals." Not sure whether my doc would be amenable to writing a letter classifying her as an "emotional support animal" but it might amuse him to do so

I was discussing this with a friend and he said "why not use the collective intellect of the Internet?"

So here it is. Does anybody know of a routing that would avoid hold travel. We'd be happy to e.g. take a train to somewhere in Europe and fly from there. Or other options?

TIA for any ideas.

Air France accepts cats in the cabin for transatlantic flights. A couple years ago, Northwest did too - don't know if they still do.

Others probably accept cats as well, but those are the two I've used. Please feel free to PM me for more info on the cat traveling experience.

Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow? Meow?

A friend of ours flew from Helsinki to Dallas with her dog a few years ago. I don't remember what airline it was but I think it may have been Air France.

Your cat can travel on AF/NW/KL/DL/AA/ in cabin and BA/VS/AZ/IB in the hold on US-EUROPE itins.(dont know about CO/US/UA and no reason to think it would be any difference from EUROPE-US?, but perhaps.) NW IMO is the best atlantic transcon carrier. Just flew r/t with the misses and our pooch 5/3-5/9 NW37/38 BOS-MXP-AMS. The connecting KL flight are just as enjoyable as the crew is very dog friendly. But truely in the transcon pet-in-cabin market every major carrier that allows it is usually very good. In terms of fees its usually 150USD (varies by airline).
But here is a tip that can save you some bucks:
When checking-in your supposed to by a ticket for your dog (150USD fee is in the states, in Europe it is 150Euros). You can do it at any time and you can do it either for one leg or for the whole trip. Obviously orignating from europe your best bet is to only buy your cat a one-way ticket and pay for his return leg @ check-in in the states.
Good Luck.

Hi, I appreciate you don't want to put kitty in the hold, but for what it is worth my poor cat emigrated from the US to Australia via the LAX/SYD route in the hold. She is a terrible traveller but survived it ok. I used Jetpets who were expensive but well worth it - they knew all the clearances needed and get a great 'airfare' for the cat.

Our company uses http://www.pettravel.com/airline_rules.cfm as it is a good resource for pet travel questions and info about various airlines and their pet travel rules and policies.