£350 Pre Approval letter?

Ugh. I ran into some issues trying to fly on Tuesday. Delta checked me in and flew me to Philadelphia but wouldn't let me board my flight to London with my dog.

Apparently I missed some info about a pre-approval letter. Upon some quick research, I find this costs $350 for my ESA traveling with me? Has anyone had experience with this (better be gold plated, diamond encrusted) paper I was supposed to have had? I'm in the process of sending my paperwork to Heathrow now to get that letter and my flight has been re-booked for next week... But like... £350 seems insanely steep!

Anyone else had to pay this?? This is the fee they're insisting applies to my "unrecognised" emotional support animal, as they refer to her. I know ESAs are not recognised in the UK, but I didn't anticipate that crazy price for a silly letter.

Thanks in advance!

I just wanted to update on this. Or rant about it. Whichever.

I've had to apply for this pre-approval letter from Heathrow Animal Reception Centre. They have been absolutely impossible to deal with. They will not answer any of my questions.

I asked them if I could send the paperwork in before getting it endorsed or if it had to be endorsed by the USDA first. They couldn't answer that. I managed to find the answer to that on their website, and the answer is YES they CAN receive it BEFORE it's endorsed. So I sent the paperwork to them on Thursday last week (27th of August). Now, they are 24/7 phone lines so I pestered my boyfriend to call them all weekend and he kept putting it off (my Skype credit ran out, and I don't want renew it for just a couple days, so he's doing the talking for me).

It's now Monday and he finally called. They didn't receive anything from me. I'm flying Wednesday, as in the day after tomorrow. It takes them 48 hours to get this letter apparently.

They gave him a direct email to send the paperwork to. We did that. We called them, still hadn't received it. They gave us the wrong email. Re-sent it again for the 3rd time.

Called them just now and they received the email but only 3 out of the 6 documents came through. Did they tell either of us this? NO. I am literally pulling my hair out.

The dog is sick right now and vomiting and pooing everywhere so I'm freaking out about having her fly on Wednesday as it is, let alone trying to get this stupid piece of gold plated, diamond encrusted paper that costs £350. I am losing my mind.

I do NOT want to pay that for this level of "service", if you even want to call it that.

We just sent the other 3 documents for the 4th time. Explicitly asked that if anything was missing or wrong to email and tell us this time.

I asked them if they would charge us for the process, even if it's denied or if the charge is only issued when it's approved and the letter is issued... They couldn't answer that either.

I really want to haggle and barter that price after all of this, but the boyfriend keeps saying not to. I don't know if it's because he has that attitude where he won't send his order back if it's wrong or what. My attitude is a lot more aggressive and it's getting the better of me the last week. If I pay for a "service",  I want what I paid for.

Still welcome any advice any of you can offer. Thanks in advance and thanks for letting me vent.

Usually ARC are really great at answering questions.  As its a bank holiday weekend, I imagine they are bare bones staff and not senior people working.

The cost is what it is.  Customer service in the UK leaves a lot to be desired in general.

Not that you asked, but I would check with your vet again before flying.  I wouldn't fly an animal that wasn't 100%.

wanted to check if there was an update to this post