How much did your pets plane ticket cost?

If you don't mind telling .

In Dec. I flew 3 cats from DWF to Heathrow. It was $750 for the first cat and $350 each ,for the other two.

Today ,I call the same airline (BA) to return to England with ONE cat ,they estimated his flight to be $1235.00 !!!

Has anyone paid that much for a cat to fly? I am confused here. (not to mention a little sick to my stomach ) 

I paid $1708 to fly two cats (approx 11-12lbs each) ATL-LGW on BA in October 2006.  I shudder to think of what it would cost to do the same today.

Mine was in the neighborhood of $750 for my one cat, in July of 2008, flying Continental from Houston to Gatwick.

Price varies not only between airlines but also almost day-to-day based on a number of factors including fuel price fluctuations, which is logical.

This I was told from the "horse's mouth" -- phoning Continental pet cargo several times during the lead-up to my flight day. Just incase anyone wants to come along and question the veracity....

As my flight day approached I racked up more than one call to Continental at different times, and the quotes I got on the phone each time did go up and down during that last month, again because of the above stated reasons.

the quotes I got on the phone each time did go up and down during that last month

I had a similar experience - the quote I received from BA when I booked my cats' travel two weeks prior was not the price I wound up paying, due to fluctuations in fuel prices.

My mental note says it was about $800 on Virgin at the end of November, 2008.

continental just quoted me 599 per dog

In late November 2008, I paid $1485 to fly 2 cats on Virgin (plus the Virgin ground fee of 250ish on the Heathrow end).  One is a monster cat, weighing in at 22lbs.  One is a perfectly normal size cat, weighing in at 8lbs.  My original quote was lower because they were using "cat size" container measurements -- which we have all discovered are way too small.    But the "final" quote with correct container measurements was only $50 or so off the original price, and it was actually lower on the day.

I flew two cats on Continental from Newark to Gatwick in December 2006 and paid just over $1300 for both.

My dog (a medium sized 50# shepherd mix) is costing me $1350 on Virgin, plus the 250 pound fee upon arrival. (We're flying from JFK in NY to LHR.) Crikey -- it's 3x the price of MY ticket on the same flight!

you know i find it utterly ridiculous that airlines charge this much money.....not that our pets are not worth it but i find they charge it because they can......they know that we have to pay it.

They also charge it because hauling a live animal involves a lot more personnel, fees, risks, etc. Most airlines charge money for extra baggage, and a suitcase doesn't involve health checks or excess paperwork.

Not that the prices aren't ridiculous, but if you figure that, for the same space they use to ship my dog, they could probably pack in 5-10 suitcases (bringing in an extra $250+ for them with no real extra effort/staff required), and my dog will require extra staff at both airports (and the risk of heavy fines from various agencies if they screw up on his care during the flight, or inadvertently ship an unhealthy/uninspected animal)...the fees make more sense.

(Finally, there's the law of supply/demand. Most airlines I've talked to will ship only 4-6 animals per flight, which means getting your animals on a flight that works for you is harder/rarer, which means it's more valuable. And, people will pay silly amounts for animals they love. )

(Finally, there's the law of supply/demand. Most airlines I've talked to will ship only 4-6 animals per flight, which means getting your animals on a flight that works for you is harder/rarer, which means it's more valuable. And, people will pay silly amounts for animals they love. )

Yep.  As of last November, Virgin would ship a max of 5 pets per flight, BUT they can't come from more than 2 families.  So my 2 cats and another man's dog flew together, equalling 3 pets, so those 2 empty potential spaces couldn't be used by a third party because of the 2 family max.

They also charge it because hauling a live animal involves a lot more personnel, fees, risks, etc. Most airlines charge money for extra baggage, and a suitcase doesn't involve health checks or excess paperwork.

Not that the prices aren't ridiculous, but if you figure that, for the same space they use to ship my dog, they could probably pack in 5-10 suitcases (bringing in an extra $250+ for them with no real extra effort/staff required), and my dog will require extra staff at both airports (and the risk of heavy fines from various agencies if they screw up on his care during the flight, or inadvertently ship an unhealthy/uninspected animal)...the fees make more sense.

(Finally, there's the law of supply/demand. Most airlines I've talked to will ship only 4-6 animals per flight, which means getting your animals on a flight that works for you is harder/rarer, which means it's more valuable. And, people will pay silly amounts for animals they love. )

Thanks for putting that into perspective.  I hadn't thought about all that when I was sickened by the quote we were given!

Thanks for putting that into perspective.  I hadn't thought about all that when I was sickened by the quote we were given!

Yeah, it does help a bit! I'm still in sticker shock a bit that shipping my dog and cat will cost 3-4 times as much as my plane ticket, but on the plus side, I have yet to hear horror stories about the process (aside from something happening during/after the PETS process to put your pet back in quarantine).

I don't know if/how you could sue, but I'd imagine there would be legal ramifications if (heaven forbid) an animal died during transport, as well, which probably doesn't help lower the fees. (I don't know how the "value" of my rescue mutts would be determined, but I'd hope it would be more than the cost of their airfare!)

I disagree. I firmly believe they charge that much because they can. And they can because the UK government forces you to ship the pets as cargo (not as a checked bag).

We compared prices for flights to France where you can check the pet as baggage, and it is a fraction of the amount. The plan was to then take one of the sanctioned ferrys over. We aborted in the end because of too much hastle between dog and 19 month old son.

If the UK were to allow the airlines to check the pet as baggage, they couldn't charge as much. Then to top it off, we found that the only airlines that were on the PETS scheme anyway were Brit airlines (Virgin and BA). It's a modest subsidy, to be sure, but this smacks of preferential treatment to me.