Hazardous Cargo out of Dulles on BA

Just wanted everyone to be aware of this....

My fiance and I are moving to the UK with our 2 cats out of Dulles in 3 weeks. We followed another poster's moving advice to not book out flights on Friday due to Hazardous Cargo so we booked a flight out at 10pm on Thursday. I called the Pet Passport desk to double check that this was ok, and it wasn't. Apparently all of the later flights out of Dulles, the ones at 10pm all have hazardous cargo on them. The guy then rattled off what days and times and flights (there are 3 flights out of Dulles) had hazardous cargo, and which flights I could go on. It went something like this....Monday you can't go on X flight, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, you can go on X, Y but not Z flight, Friday you can't go on any flights, but wait oh did I say Tuesday? I didn't mean that. You can't go on Y flight on Tuesday. I was like, WHAT! Can you repeat that? Like 10 times? Of course he was irritated with me that I couldn't understand him on the first time, but whatever. These are my cats, my babies. And what are they doing flying hazardous cargo on flights with people on them anyways?

So, I wanted to alert you guys to this. We had to change our tickets. It was a $200 fee. It would've been more but I have been so stressed out by this move (we originally were supposed to fly out of Dallas but couldn't due to the Heat Embargo) and I ended up bursting into tears on the phone with the Reservations lady so she gave me a discount on the change fee. But...anyone who wants to fly out of Dulles with pets, call Pet Passport first.

They also told me that the Hazardous Cargo schedule can change at any time...so we are essentially at their mercy. I was told that the change fee can also apply to us if they decide to change the schedule on the day we are scheduled to fly, but that they probably wouldn't charge us...but it depends on how nice they are at the counter. Sigh. At the rate we're going, we are just sucking it up til we get to England. It is what it is. Hopefully what we are going through will help others avoid this mess.

They also told me that the Hazardous Cargo schedule can change at any time...so we are essentially at their mercy. I was told that the change fee can also apply to us if they decide to change the schedule on the day we are scheduled to fly, but that they probably wouldn't charge us...but it depends on how nice they are at the counter. Sigh. At the rate we're going, we are just sucking it up til we get to England. It is what it is. Hopefully what we are going through will help others avoid this mess.

It's not a schedule. It's just that certain flights already had hazmat booked on them. If you had gotten there first, the hazmat shipper would have been turned away because there were live animals on board. It's a combination of first come first served and boarding priorities (basically who's paying the most).

Also, all kinds of hazardous materials fly on commercial aircraft. The one that affects live animals the most is dry ice because it displaces the oxygen in the baggage compartment.

Thats not what they said at BA...she said that they could change what days the Hazardous Cargo could be flown on the planes and that if we were booked on a flight that right now does not have hazardous cargo on it, but by the time we were to fly, if things were to change and it would have hazardous cargo, that we would be bumped to another flight.

Where did you get your info? From BA? I hope you are right...that will really relieve our stress. I will call them on Monday to ask about this. Thanks.

I work in logistics for a different major airline.

Yes it's true that a higher priority shipment could bump yours. They pay tens of thousands of dollars for the privilege. Either that or it's company material being shipped for maintenance.

Ok, thanks for your help, I will let you know what they say!

Wow thats awful. I flew out of Dulles last year with Virgin Atlantic and didn't even have a clue that this was a thing. Is it just certain airlines?!

ianp, BA basically confirmed what you said. They have specific days that they usually fly HazMat, but if they book it on the flight we are on before we book the cats (we have to wait until 2 weeks before the flight before we can book the cats flight) then we will have to change the flight. So we are crossing our fingers that everything will be fine.

Thanks!