Another PETS question

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all the great information.  This forum has been so helpful.  

I have been planning to move to England for almost a year now.  I started the PETS certification process last August, so my two little Pugs are in the clear and ready to move to England with me.  

Up until recently, I had planned to send them on an approved route on either American or Continental.  I've tossed around so many different scenarios that my head is spinning!  So, my latest thought is this: I am flying on United from SFO to LHR on April 27.  United will fly dogs out to Heathrow, but they are not an approved route.  If I do this, it will only cost me $127 per dog!!  Then, once we arrive at Heathrow, I don't know what would happen next.  

Can someone who knows about the Early Release scenario for people whose pets qualify under the PETS travel scheme but they just arrived on an unapproved route tell me about their experience?  Or, maybe someone just knows what exactly happens next (after arrival at Heathrow) and the costs involved.  I'd like to know specifically, where do they go?  How do they arrive at the place where they are kept in quarantine.  How much can I expect to pay when its all said and done.  Is this a cheaper way to go than just sending them on an approved route on another airline?  The cheapest approved route would be Continental and that would be over $1200.  Other airlines don't allow snub-nosed dogs, so that's another concern.

My two Pugs are very easy-going dogs.  I know they will handle this fairly well.  Since I am moving over to go to school, I need to find the least expensive option I can.  If anyone has first-hand experience with the Early Release procedure, I'd love to hear about it!

Thank you very much!

Cindy  

I have the same question, as I live in Baltimore, and there are no approved routes out of anywhere closer than NY/NJ.  It seems like it may be less hassle to just fly out of Baltimore and do early release than to have to worry about getting the cats from here to JFK -- and finding someone to drive us all that way.

Plus, I like the idea of having a couple of days to get the apartment ready before the cats join us.  Otherwise, the very first thing we'd have to do upon landing would be run out to get a litter box!

I'm taking my cat over next month.  I thought I would have to take him to NYC, then fly him to Heathrow.  I called British Airways Cargo for nfo on what to do.  The lovely man there swore up and down that Spucky now can fly from Boston to London.  Lovely man said that non-stop flights are being added to the approved list.  Now, the difficult part is finding an approved vet to seal the crate!

Chris

Odd...I just spoke to someone from Cargo too and they told me it was Chicago or New York, but that was a week ago.  I do think they are changing every day.  For now we plan to drive to NYC with the animals and get a plane from there.  Unless they change before that.  

Sorry this does not help much on the early release thing, but if anyone does know let us know!

BA definitely flies pets from Boston to Heathrow.  I'm bringing my cat over in May and have been pulling my hair out trying to arrange everything.  They sure don't make it easy to get a pet over here.  Anyway I have the BA Boston cargo sales department phone number if anyone wants it.

Hello all,

I live in, and will be flying to London out of, Atlanta, which is not on the approved route list from the DEFRA site.  Now, granted that may change at any time, but I'm not holding my breath.    Has anyone had to deal with anything like this, i.e. flying out of a non-approved city?  What did you do?  Can you fly to another approved US city and then to London?  I would seriously hate to do that to my cat, as from what I've read it would require carting him around the airport even more, and I know he'll be stressed enough.  I've emailed DEFRA about this, but have yet to receive a response.  Any help, advice, experiences to relate would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Jenn

I believe that your cat would be released into quarantine, but that you would be able to have her released as soon as you proved she meets the qualifications.  But please check with DEFRA to be sure.  You can try calling them, remembering that it's 5 hours later there. 

Jenn we just flew out of DC.  Basically drove from Atlanta to DC and then stayed the night and flew from there... granted we were able to stop at my parents house in SW VA to sleep.  I mean I hate to tell you to drive to Florida (which would be closer), but it might be less stressful on the animal in question.  For us it was the stress on the animal combined with the fact that we have three pets so paying to fly them on a domestic flight was just too much.  Hopefully someone can give you pointers on flying direct from ATL as I know it is possible.  Have you tried to call approved carriers like BA that might be able to advise?

No, haven't tried calling an airline yet.  This won't be happening until September, so I'm just trying to get some ideas at this point.  Like I said, I'm not holding my breath, but I'm really hoping Atlanta gets added to that approved list in the meantime.  Since my fiance and I will be getting married, flying to NY for my visa and then flying out to the UK all within a week, driving to another state to fly out would just top it all off nicely     Of course, not only do I want to keep the hassle to a minimum (because I think we all know all of this is a hassle, even if worth every bit of it), but I want to keep my poor cat as stress free as possible.  He hates getting into the crate to go to the vet, so I can't imagine how he'll handle this.

Anyway, thanks for the input guys.

Jenn

Have you started introducing your cat to being in the crate when he's not going to the Bad Scary Vet?  Perhaps you can put  catnip or tuna or something in the crate and leave it open and let him come and go as he chooses.  I don't know if that works with cats, but that's what I'm doing to get my dog crate-trained.  You don't want your cat to think that he's going to the Big Vet in the sky!

That's what we did with our pets and their crates.

Well I hope ATL gets added for you.  If not I am sure you can apply for early release.  Good luck.

Hi Jenn,

We are moving from Atlanta to the UK as well and I have already been researching this. If you haven't started with the DEFRA requirements yet, get to it ASAP. It takes 7 months from start to finish..... not 6 months when you consider you have to get the titer test done a month after the rabies shot.

Atlanta is not on the list of approved sites and I don't see it being added anytime soon. I say this because there have been rumors for quite a while that it would be added but nothing seems to be happening.

We plan to fly our dog out thru Orlando. You need to know that Virgin Airlines does not ship any pets at all from June thru September. Most US airports on the approved list don't as well. The one airport I have found that's on the approved list that will ship pets to the UK year round is Houston (Continental Airlines). Plan accordingly. You may not be able to fly our with your cat until October. (Air Britiannia also flies out of nearby Sanford on an approved route but I can't seem to find anything out about whether they will ship during warmer months. I did see something on another forum where you must have a British passport to fly with Britiannia from Sanford though).

We plan on renting a minvan, loading up the dog, her crate, our luggage and driving to Orlando the day before we are due to fly out. We are lucky that my brother lives in Orlando and we will have a place to stay the night before.

Cheers,

Leslie (Scout)

Hi all.  I have a similar problem as the one stated above.  I am posting an email that I got from DEFRA that seems to say that you can fly to an approved departure city, hang out in the airport, then fly from there. 

My question to DEFRA was whether or not I could fly my cat from Memphis to Chicago, then Chicago to London.  Hope this helps!

At present there are no approved routes and carriers to the UK under
PETS from Memphis.

You can take your [cat] to Chicago and then bring your cat to the UK on
one of their approved routes/carriers.
You cannot take an interconnection flight as this would mean your
journey started off from Memphis (where there are no approved routes).
You would have to take your cat to Chicago from Memphis and then change
planes at Chicago onto the approved route/carrier for the route to be
approved under PETS.

If you bring your cat to the UK on an un-approved route with an
un-approved carrier your cat will be subject to a few working days
quarantine on arrival in the UK (assuming all other PETS requirements
have been met).  For this you will need to obtain an Import Licence from
our Quarantine Section on 020 7904 6222 or quarantine@defra.gsi.gov.uk

Please see the attachment which states all of the present Non-EU
approved routes and carriers to the UK under PETS.

There is still the problem of flying any pet out of most airports in the US during the summer months.  Most airlines will not fly pets either domestically or internationally from June Thru September  (or when temps are over 85 degrees farenheit). So if you are going to fly out of Memphis to Chicago.........make sure the airline flying you into Chicago will fly your pet if you go during the warm season. Some airlines do have climate controlled facilities for flying in the warm months but they are few and far between.

Lordamighty every little thing we do for this move is a pain in the butt. 

Here I am posting in case you haven't found your answer yet -- with any luck, you have!

My wife and I flew our cats through the PETS Scheme from Houston to London Gatwick on December 2nd. Houston is on the approved DEFRA list, but only if you fly out on Continental. That would have been perfect, except that Continental's PETS flights were all booked full for at least six months past the date we intended to travel, so even though we lived in Houston, we were unable to use our local airport and airline.

We found a good solution though, and one that worked out to be (marginally) cheaper than flying Continental. I freed up about two hours worth of time and called American Airlines, which flies the PETS Scheme out of Dallas. I told them what my situation was, and we ended up flying from Houston to Dallas, where the cats were set up on an official PETS flight from American Airlines Cargo. It worked out beautifully.

I imagine you could do the same thing, check the DEFRA list and fly from where you are to the nearest city that flies on the PETS Scheme.

A tip, if you don't mind me offering it: Book your flight to land in Gatwick during the BRITISH working day (Monday-Friday). If you arrive between 9.30am and 5.00pm, you will pay the minimum fees (which are still pretty steep). If you arrive outside those hours or, God help you, on a weekend day, the fees will increase 30%-100%! Also, be prepared to take a taxi from the airport to the cargo area (about £10 each way) and back to the airport. And you will probably have to wait on your pets for about two hours as well... I had to pay about £200 at the airport.

It wasn't a good scene, I was awfully cranky at the airport, and waiting for two hours was no picnic. I had to leave my wife with the luggage at the terminal while I took a cab out to pick up the cats -- my poor little lady thought I was dead! Our mobiles couldn't pick up a signal and there was no way for me to tell her, 'Hey, I'm alive, and sitting here staring at a water-cooler. They say that soon they'll give me the cats!'

Best of luck to you -- I know that in our case, all the trouble was worth it and the cats continue to give us the joy they've always given us. Because I lived in the flat for two months before bringing them over, my scent was everywhere and they relaxed and felt at home as soon as we got them in the door. Maybe after 24 hours in a cage, they would have been glad to see anything! And it does seem as though American Airlines treated them very well.

Do let us know how it works out -- nothing better than a happy ending to a PETS Scheme Story!!