is price quoted by Virgin pretty typical?

Hi everybody,
I talked with someone from Virgin back over the summer about preliminary arrangements/rates for my dog. he quoted me a price of about $500 to fly my medium-sized dog from washington dulles into heathrow. now i'm just a few weeks away from trying to go over there and the price has jumped from anywhere between $1200 to $1500 just for my dog's fare. she would be in an intermediate to large-sized crate. can anyone tell me if this is a typical price, or is it worth it to shop around? do fees for cargo work at all like regular tickets-- do they change around according to season, time in advance, anything like that?
thanks for the info!

Sounds high to me, but it could be what current prices are with the cost of fuel and it being the slow season.

You have to fly a DEFRA approved carrier on a DEFRA approved route.  I'd check the form and see which other options you have.

Two years ago I paid $1300 for two cats on Continental between Newark and Gatwick.

I paid $1500 for my dog from LA to Heathrow 5 years ago.  The original quote was around $800.  They didn't like the size of the crate I originally used, so it cost me almost twice as much as budgeted, plus another $200 for the new crate.  They said because my Abbey wouldn't stand up, it was too small for her.  I love my dog to bits, and I know the crate was plenty big, but Virgin says they are very careful about crate sizes, because if Defra decides the crate is too small when the animal arrives in the UK, the airline gets the fine and after X number of infractions (can't remember the number, but it is something pretty low, like 2 or 3) they can take away the ability for the airline to carry animals on that route.

I could argue that they are over safe, because then they can charge more...but that would mean I am being cynical!   

So, long way to get to my answer...that price sounds very typical.

I paid $500 and something for a cat in a medium crate last November. My cat would fit in her existing small crate, no prob, but I got the same lecture Karrit got and panicked. The shipping agent snorted when she saw my little cat in that big dog crate. Better safe than sorry, though -- there's no such thing as a crate too big as far as they're concerned.

That's not counting airport fees on the US side (~$175) and ARC fees on the UK side (~£235) and a taxi big enough for both of us.

Geez, that's a lot for a little feral puss. Where is the little ratbag, anyhow? Stoatula need some payback...

Just to follow up, I ended going with BA but found out something pretty interesting about Virgin's pet cargo prices...it seems that any crate with dimensions that exceed a volume estimate of 80 kg (like an extra-large size Sky Kennel) qualifies for a rate that's at least $10 less per kilo than the smaller crates. So, oddly enough, the fare for the crate I was originally going to go with (something like 35"x25x27) is actually $200 MORE than the fare for the bigger crate (40"x27x30) I later opted for. If your dog is medium sized and right on the border between crate sizes, it might actually be cheaper (and less risky) for you to go with the bigger crate, on Virgin at least...