Unapproved Routes

(I thought I'd make this a new topic instead of tacking it onto another one...hopefully this'll help out someone down the road with the same questions)
I was getting a quote from a few companies for receiving my dog in London and forwarding him to here in Glasgow (simple enough, right?). Well, after receiving a number of quotes for full service door-to-door from the US to Glasgow, I got irritated with them. In response, one company mentioned the possibility of shipping my dog directly to Glasgow and putting him into quarantine until the paperwork can be sent down to DEFRA for approval and returned. She mentioned this would take about a week. Looking at the prices, this would be loads cheaper than the full-service stuff ($5400!) as the dog can be shipped for under $1000 (and I can't fathom a kennel charging more than £100 a day without having some kind of royalty spa treatment attached to it).
So, my questions are (1) has anybody shipped their pets on unapproved routes and (2) how did that work out (assuming all the paperwork was good)?

i thought that unaproved route meant that defra wouldnt let the pets into the country?

Nope. It just means they won't let the animal in through the PETS scheme. Defra will still allow an animal to enter through the regular quarantine procedures. After that, one can apply to Defra for early release. For example, if you do everything for PETS except fly an approved route, you can apply for early release which typically takes about a week for the paperwork to clear.