Pet Transport Companies

I am thinking about using a pet transport company to move my two cats to the UK.  Does anybody have any recommendations?  I can't seem to find anything on the web that gives testimonials that aren't on the companies' web sites.  I've looked closely at airborne animals, but am hesitant to choose them without getting feedback from y'all.

If it is just impossible for you to do it all yourself, then by all means use a transport company. However, if you're still in the area and you can do it yourself, save yourself some money and do it yourself. It's not that hard, it just takes some time to educate yourself. I looked into Airborne Animals and I think by doing it myself I saved about $1000. If you decide to do it yourself, I would contact your USDA before you do anything and they'll let you know the steps. I didn't do this and in the end I wish I would have contacted them from the very beginning.

Good luck!

If you made the decision to go with a company I am currently using Airbourne Animals (recommended by another UKYer) and Sally Smith is really wonderful.

If you made the decision to go with a company I am currently using Airbourne Animals (recommended by another UKYer) and Sally Smith is really wonderful.

 
My Dh & I used Airborne Animals when we shipped my cats over to England.  Sally Smith's company is very Proffessional & the staff are very Courteous. for what we paid & the service we got, I will freely suggest to anyone to use Airborne Animals! we were really impressed with how they handled the situation with my cats. I was living in England with my Dh so I couldnt do much of anything from here. my cats were in Indiana an Airborne agent went to Indiana an got both my cats an flew them back to New Jersey. where they stayed 1 night had all the legal paperwork & vet stuff done before they were on there way to England the next day. they also had my cats delieverd to my door for an extra fee of course but well worth it to us. because when my cats got it here it was a Bank Holiday weekend, in a car with 2 cats for 3-4 hour drive no thanks. having my cats here has helped my settle in more here. at that time I was really homesick an them being here helped me out tremendously.

I ended up choosing not to go with the pet transport companies because of the expense, and because of this clause in their contract about my not getting to know what airline, nor flight number my cats would be on until they were in the air.  That just didn't feel right to me.  After further investigation, I discovered that Continental Airlines is one of the approved airlines for the PetScheme and they are trained to help make sure all the paperwork is ready before the cats get on the plane, and there is someone in London to pick up the cats for me and take them through customs and bring them to me.  Their Live Animal Desk (I think that is what it is called) -- when I phoned them the people were so helpful and knowledgeable about the PetScheme they were telling me things off the top of their heads that I had taken weeks to research!  I feel very good about my decision to go with them.  I thought I didn't want to have to deal with the cats and seeing them in distress about getting on a plane, but when I was faced with the thought of no knowing their flight or airline, I realized I wanted to do more of it myself.  And, I've figured it will save me at least $1000, which I'm very happy about.  My vet is very willing to work with me on putting in their Eurochips, which I ordered off the web from http://www.pettravel.com/ ... my girls have their appointment today to have those chips put in and their rabies vaccinations.  I have about a book's worth of things printed off from the defra site to take with me, and my vet's assistant blocked off an extra amount of time for us today so we could make sure we do everything correctly.  So, I am VERY happy!!  Thank you to those of you who made recommendations.  Everyone on this site is so very helpful.  I am starting the process myself, so perhaps I can be helpful to others in the future!! 

My cats flew on Continental and they were great. I was really concerned about dropping them off at the cargo office in Newark, but the Continental people were really friendly and you could tell all of the people working there genuinely cared about pets. That made me feel so much better. They let me come around the back of the desk to say goodbye to them. They asked if I wanted them to have a couple of ice cubes in their little water dishes. It was really nice. One word of advice is make sure you get to the desk with plenty of time. I had to wait at least an hour as there were a couple of people in front of me and it takes them awhile to do the paperwork.

Good luck!