Flying your Pet

[Princess Fiona]

Looking for some advice regarding pet transport.
My sister is looking after our family Labrador whilst we are away for a couple of months and I was looking into flying him there as opposed to a 7 hour car drive each way.
Would love to know if any members have experience with this and if it would be an advisable thing to do and what's the best way to do it?
He's 3yrs old and generally very well behaved.
I got a quote from Jetpets so far.

 

[cross]

I recommend Australian air Express. Have used them multiple times in the past (although not dogs). You will need to provide appropriate travel box/cage/carrier. Drop him off at the AaE terminal and have your sister ready to pick him up on the other end when the flight lands.

 

[amaroo]

Pets and travelling :-|

We need to put our two dogs into a kennel for 5 weeks over x-mas.......$2k gone before we've even left for the airport.

FWIW I'd be flying him.

 

[Meggsy]

I have used a company called Dogtainers multiple times with my previous and current dogs (a labrador and a kelpie) and never had a problem. They provide the cages and used to do a door to door service but can also just arrange for drop off and collection at airport freight terminal. There has never appeared to be any obvious stress on either dog on collection.

 

[JohnM]

Looking for some advice regarding pet transport.
...and generally very well behaved.
View attachment 20566

That qualification (which is maybe a non sequitur) worries me :mrgreen:.

 

[miclyn111]

Was a housesitter/ pet sitter considered as option?
You get to save on kennel/boarding costs, pet/s gets to stay in their home environment, housesitter provides animal love/exercise+ home security/garden/plant care etc-
win/win for all.
I have used house/ cat sitter three times in past and am now doing this (housesitting) 'professionally' with my relocation in Brisbane.
Happy to share how you can interview and select optimal applicants- food for thought....
BTW- your Labrador looks adorable in the photo...
Happy with Jetpets and service in past.

 

[Lizzi]

My mother recently adopted a dog from Brisbane (she lives in Perth). It would have cost about $800 to fly him over by himself with Dogtainers or AAE, so I ended up flying over, picking him up and flying him back on Virgin (always happy to pick up some extra status points). We hired the cage from them, and the dog seemed happy as Larry when we picked him up on the other end, even though it ended up being about 6 hours from drop off to pick up. Hearing him and the other dog in the hold barking their way down the runway and up into the air was pretty amusing to all concerned!

I think it only ended up costing us $150 -$200 including the cage when we were flying with him, which is why we decided to do that instead of sending him by himself. The guy I spoke with when I dropped him off said they all do very well, as they're in a dark, air conditioned section of the hold, so most of them tend to sleep most of the way! I have to admit, we didn't hear a peep from the previously very vocal canines in the hold once we'd reached cruising altitude...

That said, generally we tend to have a housesitter when we go away, rather than taking our pets with us - our old doggie had quite a nervous disposition and stayed much happier if she was at home with someone she knew.

 

[kalboy]

Have done the same as Lizzi at least 6 times in the last few years, found to be cheaper and was happy to be earning Status credits when someone else was paying.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

What cities are you flying to/from PF?

Certain cities you can't use VA so would be QF only TT & JQ don't freight pets.

When booking unaccompanied pets through pet transport companies often VA works out cheaper as QF charge the cubic weight of the cage whereas VA charge for the animal weight plus cage weight. It would depend also on where you're shipping the pets as BNE/PER would be more expensive than BNE/SYD.

 

[Princess Fiona]

The quote we have is from Jet Pets NTL-CBR and it includes the hire of the crate. Not sure which route it takes as I cannot see him fitting in the hold of a BAE Jetstream 41 :shock:

 

[docjames]

The quote we have is from Jet Pets NTL-CBR and it includes the hire of the crate. Not sure which route it takes as I cannot see him fitting in the hold of a BAE Jetstream 41 :shock:

Highly recommend Jetpets.

Used for our Labrador twice now, always arrived in great condition.

PM me if u want more details.

 

[docjames]

The quote we have is from Jet Pets NTL-CBR and it includes the hire of the crate. Not sure which route it takes as I cannot see him fitting in the hold of a BAE Jetstream 41 :shock:

I believe they use VA but its the door to door (or drop off to pickup) care that seemed excellent.

 

[Princess Fiona]

I believe they use VA but its the door to door (or drop off to pickup) care that seemed excellent.

Thankyou, thought he might be following the FF mantra "Why Fly Direct When You Can Connect"
NTL-MEL-CBR maybe on VA?

 

[docjames]

Thankyou, thought he might be following the FF mantra "Why Fly Direct When You Can Connect"
NTL-MEL-CBR maybe on VA?

Was VA in 2008 and again in 2012 but I guess they may just contract to "best option" as they do worldwide transfers.