Carrier Suggestions

Could use some help determining what carrier to buy to ship our 2 cats. I'm not sure what airline just yet, but I think it will be Continental since we are going to fly in to Manchester and we only have a choice between Continental and Delta. Here are links to a few of the ones I am have found so far and could use some help deciding between them. Maybe there are things you all can think of that I haven't, that would help my decision.

The price is right on this one, but I'm not sure I like the plastic bolts that are used to assemble it.
http://www.dogkennels.com/dog-crates/plastic-dog-crates/mediumvarikennelultra.cfm

I like this one because I can pay extra for metal hardware, and it comes with the water/food bowl and "Live Animal" stickers:
http://www.pettravelstore.com/products/Pet-Crate-Medium-.html

Would this be acceptable for their food/water bowl (if I didn't get the carrier where its included):


I also found this fan that can be attached to a kennel and was wondering if it was worth buying (or if I would be allowed to attach it):
http://www.thecatandkittenstore.com/servlet/the-2372/cat-crate%2Cpet-crate%2Ccat-cage%2Csmall/Detail

What did you use to attach the documents to the carrier? I assume some kind of clear pouch/envelope that you can adhere to it? Is this something you bought, or did the airline provide it?

We plan on putting in a couple of the puppy pads to soak up any messes. What, if anything, did you use to help keep those pads in place? Double-sided tape, velcro or something like that? I was thinking about not putting their regular sleeping pads into the carriers as I didn't want them to get messed on, so what else could I put in there for some padding? Just some old towels I guess?

Also, if it matters in the advice you give, we probably won't keep whatever carrier we choose as I don't like the hard-sided carriers for transport to/from the vet, and will be shipping their existing carriers to my OH in Scotland.

I flew my guys in crates similar to the first link you posted. The airline will also attach zipties to every corner of the carrier (and the door, I think), so even if the bolts come loose the crate stays shut.

I put the documents in an envelope which got taped to the top of the carrier.

My boys got shipped with old blankets/towels in the crate. I threw away the one from my cat's carrier (because it was old/ratty, not soiled), but washed/re-used the old blankets for my dog. I didn't attach them to the crate, just lay them in the bottom - both boys arrived fine.

We also just used zip ties instead of the bolts for both of our dogs.  The both airlines didn't mind (I think we used NW to get them to Gatwick and Continental from MAN back to the US) We did have whoever met us bring something to cut them off so we could collapse it and get it into the car.

We used that exact kennel for our cats.  It worked well.  I seem to recall that we had metal bolts, though, but I can't remember if they came that way or we replaced the plastic.  Hmmmm.  It's been 3 years now.  We flew Virgin and they were only going to zip-tie the bottom right corner of the door and I insisted upon using zip ties on all 4 corners of the door and they had no problem with it.

We used Dry Fur pads inside the kennels and they coordinated size-wise and fit perfectly.  We bought their medium airline kit and it had stickers, food/water bowls, metal hardware, zip ties, etc.  I know there's a markup for the convenience, but it was easy and worked quite well for us.

We'd had a moth infestation back in the US and our favorite sweaters were ravaged, so the cats traveled in style with our moth-eaten cashmere sweaters (cut up so there was no chance of getting caught up) as blankets.  

We used that exact kennel for our cats.  It worked well.  I seem to recall that we had metal bolts, though, but I can't remember if they came that way or we replaced the plastic.  Hmmmm.  It's been 3 years now.  We flew Virgin and they were only going to zip-tie the bottom right corner of the door and I insisted upon using zip ties on all 4 corners of the door and they had no problem with it.

We used Dry Fur pads inside the kennels and they coordinated size-wise and fit perfectly.  We bought their medium airline kit and it had stickers, food/water bowls, metal hardware, zip ties, etc.  I know there's a markup for the convenience, but it was easy and worked quite well for us.

We'd had a moth infestation back in the US and our favorite sweaters were ravaged, so the cats traveled in style with our moth-eaten cashmere sweaters (cut up so there was no chance of getting caught up) as blankets.  

This link is very good! Thanks.

This link is very good! Thanks.

I agree! I was trying to say this last night, but I kept getting an error. I purchased 2 of the airline kits, containing live animal labels, food cups, doc pouch, crate absorbent liner, etc. It has pretty much everything you really need!