Pet shipping cost

I don't know why Delta is still quoting that clearance fee - we were told $730 payable on the UK side last June, which turned out to be £130, which was paid directly to Pets on Jets at Manchester. We only paid the shipping fee at the Delta cargo terminal when we took the cat, and that was based on the weight of cat + the carrier.

I emailed a couple of companies recommended by Delta and United last week, and only one has emailed me back so far. All I truly need is to arrange someone to pick up my dog from the plane and take him to the Reception centre; I feel pretty confident about handling the paperwork myself (or with the help of my vet, who is German & moved to the US a few years ago).

Any recommendations from people who've been in this situation recently, who flew into Heathrow?

I'm not moving til end of June (knock wood) so all the "dog stuff" is on my June to-do list (the rabies/chip steps were handled last year), but I'd still like to have a handle on who to hire, before crunch time.

As far as I know, the airline transports the animals to the reception centre. When I flew my cats to Gatwick, I got off the plane, drove to the reception centre, and they were there. I didn't use a pet transport company either.

Pets on Jets does the clearance at Manchester for Delta; other airlines/airports have similar folks. They take the animal from the plane and to the reception center. They check all the paperwork, read the microchip etc. If there are any irregularities they will then tell you what needs to be done (worst case being quarantine).

They aren't a 'transport agent'  - they are the clearing agent. The airline does not take the animals to the pick-up area.

Sorry, you're right. I should have clarified that it's not the airline themselves, its the company that the airport/airline uses to check in the pets. Bottom line is you shouldn't have to hire someone to do this for you. Did your airline tell you you needed to hire someone to do this? Continental handled everything, I didn't need to search for someone to do this. I did have to fax some documents to them, but that was it. I just paid at the ARC when I picked up the cats.

I'm likely going to fly on Delta, hopefully on the same plane as my dog. They gave me the name of 3 clearing agents; I emailed two of them, and only one has emailed me back. They seemed most interested in me hiring them to do a door-to-door service, but I don't need that. The names they gave me were Kimino Redcoat, RSH Ginger and Airpets/Willow. She didn't specifically state that i *MUST* use a service. It's always been my understanding that the general public wasn't allowed to get their own dog to take over to the ARC for final clearance.

Do companies like these work with whatever airline you're using, or are there specific ones for specific airlines?

I'd have loved to use United (they has adopted Continental's pet transport procedure, which seemed very user-friendly to me when I looked into it last year), but it would've involved a 2 or 3 layover set of flights, whereas I can fly directly from Atlanta to Heathrow with Delta. I felt like that would be less stressful for my dog, all things considered.

Would it just be better to contact the Animal Reception Centre to get a recommendation from them?

I spoke to someone at my state's USDA office today & she was less than helpful. All I want is a little peace of mind that I have everything in order, so that when I start the last-minute forms process, everything's organized & I know exactly what to do and who to send it to etc.