Going into Manchester w/Delta

So I just got off the phone trying to get information about how to book my cats to Manchester from Louisville, KY.

Delta only has 2 routes into Manchester, either through JFK or Atlanta.  So I'm rather limited in my choices of flights.

#1) They told me that I would be responsible, once they arrive in ATL or JFK, to pick them at the Domestic Cargo terminal and then take them to the International Cargo terminal for check-in! The only way around this is to hire an IPATA agent to move them around. I couldn't believe that.

2) They said they had to 'split' the airway bills for the domestic flight and the international flight so it it costs more.

3) Oh, and not to mention, because they require 4hr between flights, and the way this split airway bills works, that I would need to spend the night in ATL or JFK because they could not get us there in one day. So that would screw up the tick/tapeworm treatment.

Has anyone else been told this by Delta? They also quoted a $650 clearance fee once I arrive in Manchester.

Whereas, Continental had no problem getting us all there in a single day, despite them having multiple stops to get to Newark, and only a $303 fee in Manchester. The choice seems pretty easy to me.

Our cat went via ATL with Delta in June. Because of the 'summer embargo' we had to drive from Richmond VA to ATL. The cost of the cargo/flight was around $700 from ATL to MAN. The clearance fee on the other side (and you must use Pets on Jets) was £130; POJ was very good, very responsive to pre-trip questions, and cat  was ready to take away as soon as hubby got over to the cargo terminal.

If you have the choice of flying Continental, I would do so. We did not again because of the summer thing, unless I had elected to drive to Newark.

I was just on the phone with Delta this week as well and was pretty much told the same thing.  Continental did say we had to use either Chicago or Minn for our departure as they don't fly pets out of our nearest airport(??) I found that odd but it's not a huge deal for us.  The clearance fees quote was similar to yours too.

Let me know how it goes

I will have to drive to Cincinnati to fly our cats, as CO can't fly animals as cargo out of my local airport - they say their planes are too small. So instead, it sounds like they will have to go Cinci --> Cleveland --> Newark since they don't have any direct flights from Cinci to Newark. I find that somewhat hard to believe since Newark is such a big airport, but what I can I do ya know. 

I'm kind of glad I live close to Atlanta, lol. I just take my cat with me to Atlanta, drop him off, and it's a direct flight to London with DELTA. the price you were quoted was fairly close to mine.. $680 for my cat (who was 15.5 lbs. at the time I got the quote) and $730 once we landed in the UK.