Pet Transport Cost

Hi,

We are all ready to have our two cats shipped over the UK (Manchester preferably).

Please could somebody direct us to the best airline for transporting animals?
Also, what are the estimated costs for shipping cats from the US to the UK?

Thanks as always.

There are only certain airlines with certain approved routes that you can choose, so it depends where you will be traveling from.  Where do you currently live?

Costs depend on weight and size of your cats.  Expect to pay approx $700-900 per cat.

You'll want to call the airlines to get quotes. This page has the options for flying your pets into the UK according to DEFRA's rules. Looks like direct to Manchester, you can leave from Atlanta, Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas, Newark, New York, and Sanford FL. So if you don't live near any of those places, you may have to book a domestic flight to get your cats there first, or you'd have to fly into London and go get them.

From calling British Airways and Virgin Atlantic several times, I've gotten a different quote each time. (Unfortunately, they seem to be going up steadily.)

The airlines will have requirements as far as what documentation you need (health certificates, etc) to fly, what size crate they'll need to be in (some require more head room than others), and obviously how much it'll cost.

We paid about $1200 to have our beagle get a one-way ticket on Northwest Airlines from Detroit to Heathrow. Of course, this did not include the host of the crate and all of the other associated vet visits.

Airfare for our 3 cats on a direct flight from Houston Intercon. to Heathrow was about $1700.  We flew them on BA and customer service seemed pretty good.  They don't tell you the exact cost until you get the cats and the crates to the airport, but their estimates are pretty accurate.

QM2 is 300 per cat or dog

Just wanted to add to the thread, called Virgin Atlantic yesterday morning and got a quote for four cats (each in a medium sized dog kennel - 28X20X21 and they estimated $1,589.

Hey Steffunny,

What is QM2 and why is so much cheaper to get your pet shipped through them?

TIA

QM2 is a cruise ship/ocean liner.   

If it helps to know....

I flew BA from Atlanta to Heathrow in December with 3 dogs (14lbs and 24lbs) and the cost was around $1700 - without the use of a Pet Travel Agent.  That fee was all inclusive with the necessary fees included for the Animal Reception Centre at Heathrow.

I'm sure your cats are much smaller than that, just wanted to let you know my costs so you could use it to gauge things. 

Best of luck

Hey Steffunny,

What is QM2 and why is so much cheaper to get your pet shipped through them?

TIA

the QM2 is an ocean liner that i will be taking out of brooklyn.......i leave nov 1st and arrive in southhampton nov 8th.............their pricing for kennels is extremely reasonable at least i think it is......ive spoken to many ppl that have moved over on the ship and do nothing but praise the kennel master and how well their animal friends were cared for........but if you total everything up all together it all costs about the same in the end.....best of luck to you