Unaccompanied into Manchester

Has anyone flew a pet unaccompanied into Manchester? 

While doing my research a few months ago I was told by both Delta and Continental that our dog could fly unaccompanied and also on the Defra website it says nothing about them needing to come in on the same flight as the owner.  I called Animal Reception there today just to double check a few things and was told that ALL pets coming from the US must be accompanied when coming into there.  I then panicked because our flights are already booked on other airlines so I called Defra and the guy there said he never heard of that before but said if animal reception said then it was so.

We could fly her to London and go get her but I am grasping at straws here to avoid the extra hassle and cost since we only live 15 min away from MAN airport.  I found it really odd that it wasn't posted anywhere on the website and also just sort of buried on the Pets on Jets one too.

Any help/ ideas?

I think either 1) You were told wrong; or 2) You spoke to an uninformed individual(s).

You do NOT have to be on the same flight as your pet(s). You do, however, have to make certain that they are accompanied into the country via some sort of pet transport on the UK side. For instance: they can be flown in on any approved route but once they land in the UK they do have to be transported to ARC or whatever service the local airport allows according to UK guidelines. You cannot just pick your pet up from baggage claim etc...

I sincerely think perhaps when you phoned DEFRA they did not understand what you were asking. To fly them into the UK you HAVE to follow an approved route which the airlines should be more than aware of. The pets would then be picked by a pet transport on the UK side and delivered to wherever they need to go. This is NOT an option and often times the airlines do not include this in the price. Basically you generally have the privilege of paying a couple hundred pounds to have an "Animal Transport" pick your lovely up and take them to the appropriate place.

No...you do not have to make certain that your pets are on the same flight as yours. Nonsense. I cannot imagine DEFRA saying so either. I think they misunderstood. Several of us have had our pets sent before during or after our flight.

I wish you and yours the best of luck!

I told the OP my story from this past summer when we brought our cat from the US.

Delta required that the cat be accompanied, and because of the summer heat embargo, we had to originate the flight at a gateway city in the US. For us this meant a 10-hour drive from Richmond, VA to Atlanta.

At that time, Continental would have taken our cat unaccompanied, but again we had to fly her from a gateway city, and that would have been Newark, NJ. Closer to Richmond VA, but the traffic, drive would have been even worse that going to Atlanta.

The airlines have their own rules - Delta required the USDA paperwork, Continental only required the DEFRA vet certificate.

Airlines have rules, airports have rules and DEFRA have rules, and unfortunately, flying to MAN versus LHR or GAT can mean an additional layer. I agree based on my own experience that some agents don't have a clue, and give incorrect information, but you really do have to check at every level to make sure the animal can get on a flight.

I know- I never would have thought Defra and Animal reception would have different stories though:)  Or at least they'd publish it someplace:)  We'll get it figured out somehow.  Lucky for us she is staying with a really good friend so that relieves some of the stress if something doesn't work out

Best of luck! I think this is something imposed by either the airline of possible Manchester Airport. DEFRA should publish a disclaimer saying that 'additional restrictions my apply' or some such, but they would likely say 'not our job' LOL.

Sorry to hear of your predicament OP. When we flew our cats into MAN, with Continental/Pets on Jets this past October, we were told they had to be accompanied. I I also found this info on the Pets on Jets website. So that's the route we followed. We didn't actually use a pet agency to bring them over, I just made the reservation myself and dropped them off at the local airport's cargo terminal and Continental transferred them between flights domestically.

I hope you are able to sort this out!

Thanks everyone-- we called the airlines again and it seems as we just got bad info (even though we called everyone numerous times)  We are now coming up with a plan to either have a friend accompany her on Continental or just fly her to London and go get her.  In the end it was my screw up for not being more paranoid and booking us on flights anyway. 
Thanks again