Virgin or British air for our dog?

Hi,

We'll be flying over to the UK in September with our 65 pound french spaniel.  I'm wondering if anyone has any firsthand experience flying out of atlanta on british airways with a dog, or flying out of Orlando on Virgin atlantic with one?  We're trying to decide which route to take, and Virgin sounds more pet friendly but its a little out of the way.  Thanks.

We flew Virgin out of JFK and they were great! Very helpful and caring towards our dog.

hope to help you soon. my dog will be fling out of chicago on BA cargo (thus being the only way they can travel in cargo on BA). in a mid Aug i hope to know more than 6 months ago. I will post with more info in mid Aug 05.

Virgin gives animals air miles...

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/frequentflyer/fcnewsfeatures/nf_flying_paws.jsp

I may need to leave before my pets. Has anyone flown there pets seperately?

Hey D-Rock.

Hope your trip went well.

Can you share a bit of information about your trip?

I'm curious to know which airline you went with and how your experience was...and also, about how much it cost to ship your dog. My lab is about 60 pounds and we're planning on going back to England sometime towards the end of 2006 and I'm trying to guesstimate how much we'll need to bring our beloved "Stinky" with us.

Thanks for any info you have!

hey,

the trip went well.  the ba cargo people in atlanta were super nice.  It ended up being very expensive though, $1600 for the dog's ticket.  Also, make sure you comply with the space requirements.  Our french spaniel weighs about 60 pounds.  Our kennel wasn't big enough, but luckily they had a wooden crate for us which he seemed to like.  The dog was a little stressed when we got him back, but not too bad. 

hope you have as good an experience as we did.

D

Hoping to revive this thread and get more input on Virgin vs BA -- price and quality of service. I'm moving my Siberian Husky (about 55 lbs) from Maryland to Somerset via IAD (Dulles) to LHR (Heathrow) in June ... and I think I actually have the choice of Virgin or BA. How did the move go for your dog, Jsayegh?
geeksgoddess

hi, my dog just passed her six months and we are leaving end of February.  I chose BA, flying out of San Francisco to Heathrow.  She is 55 pds, rhodesian ridgeback mix.  Her total ticket is $2000.  Includes her UK fees.  This of course is not including the $100 crate I have to buy or any of the lab bills!! 

I liked the customer service much better at BA than Virgin.  Live person on phone, they actually return your phone call when you have to leave a message!  You can only buy tickets two weeks in advance and from SFO I can only fly her Monday-Thursday.  BA and Virgin are the only airlines with direct flight out of SFO.  I dont want her to change planes in another airport.  Ill be posting in pets how her journey goes!  Good luck!!

Wow, $2000 from SFO seems really good, as these things go. My "Voi" has been microchipped, vaccinated, antibody-tested and is well past his 6 mos. He'd never set foot in a crate before this summer, but I started teaching him in August, and in less than a week he was in love with his "cave." We took a road trip at Christmas and had him in the crate in the car, just to get him used to traveling that way and getting in and out of cave in unfamiliar surroundings.... He did great! And staying over at my sister's with another dog (an Australian sheepdog mix puppy) he used the crate as his sanctuary. He's going to need that behavior once we move: my husband-to-be has a neurotic / psychotic springer spaniel. Anyway, the one thing that worries me is not being able to get a ticket with BA until two weeks before flight time. I'll be cutting things fairly close after school gets out, I sell my house here, and the time we need to be in the UK for the wedding. At any rate, I'll give BA a call. When I enquired with Virgin last year, they didn't call back, but emailed the info very promptly.
thanks and good luck -- I'll be reading to see how it goes for you! (a neighbor had a ridgeback and she was a sweetie)

from what BA told me, they dont usually have problem being over booked for the pet cargo area.  But Im a bit nervous to because I want to buy my ticket within the next week, and I want her on the same flight!   

Raisin spent her first few months with us in a crate, although we left the door open all the time and she also thought of it as her "cave"!!!  She is a sweety, RR are great dogs.  Thank god shes a mix or she'd be 30-40 pounds heavier!  Imagine that ticket!!!!!!!!!!

Not to be contrary, but...

Our boys (two labs) just came over from seattle via SFO on virgin, and I have to say that the experience I had was fantastic. My brother checked them in at SFO and had nothing but praise for the staff there. They always returned my calls, took my booking two and a half months in advance, and e-mailed and posted me information.

when we got to heathrow, a virgin rep came out to speak with us and explained the process, and gave us an update on the dogs, explained what that they travelled fine, etc, and really set our minds at ease. Then, he took our mobile number and said to go have some lunch and he'd phone us when the dogs were cleared through customs (which he did). All in all, a fantastic experience.

By the way, the woman who had brought her cat over on BA who was in the animal reception centre at the same time said, "Funny, I haven't heard from anyone from BA. I was just told by the ARC staff to sit here and wait, and that it could take up to four hours. I haven't heard anything since."

The other thing was that, because our dogs are big and there are two of them, it was going to cost about 60% more on BA--they would've required them on two separate airbills, both billed at the highest volumetric weight. I found virgin's pricing to be much more reasonable.

-Baylor

Thanks for all of the info. I, too, am in the process of deciding. Although my two cats won't come over until the summer, I want to be as informed as possible before deciding on VA or BA. I will rent a car in NC and drive up to DC to fly out of there.

baylor, thank you for that posting!  Now Im gonna have to give Virgin another call.  I have to admit Im still in SHOCK over the cost of her ticket! 

well, Virgin just raised there rates.  I just called and spoke to them about the cost and its $1711, NOT including the UK fee of 220 pounds.  BA is $1977 including UK fee.  This is all just so confusing.