Pet Travel Blog

Just when I thought I had heard most everything!  I have been an airline reservation agent, a travel agent, a corporate travel manager and now a travel agency owner and thought there was no longer a question that would really amaze me.  However…..I got one the other day.  A woman called to see how much it would cost to ship her cat from San Diego to Kansas City.  I advise her of the estimated amount.  She paused and asked me “Do you know if the U.S. Postal Service will let you send a cat in the mail?”  I literally was speechless for about 10 seconds…thinking did she just ask me what I THINK she asked me?  I quietly said “No.”  What do you think PETA would have to say about that?

It was reported by the government recently that “Money lost in Internet crimes hit a new high last year, topping about $240 million”.  It also stated that one of the biggest scams on the Internet is fraud that involves pets.  You do have to be careful!  Any pet shipper and/or pet travel agent in the United States can tell you of stories from clients and colleagues where people were completely ripped off by using an on-line company to purchase a pet.  A big part of this scam is the actual shipping of the pet to you the buyer.  Scammers have been known to use the names of established pet shipping companies.  They tell the buyer that their purchased pet is being delivered by one of these companies…when in fact it is a total lie.  As pet shippers we are very aware of these scams and do all we can to sort them out and get them off the internet.  If you need to use a pet shipper or pet travel agent here are things you need to look for:
 

1-Are they a member & in good standing with IPATA-International Pet and Animal Transportation Association?
www.ipata.com
2-Does the company offer references of past clients whom you can contact independently if requested?
3-Does the company that works with the animals have a USDA handler’s license?
4-Can the company answer specifically all questions regarding the transportation of your pet from origination to destination?
5-How long have they been in business and can they document this information for you?
 

Be careful and do your homework!  There are WONDERFUL companies that ship animals all over the world…just make sure you know who they are!
 

www.puppytravel.com

Pet Travel Consultations are so WORTH IT 
Many individuals these days are thinking that they can go ahead and plan their pet’s travel on their own-directly with the airlines.That is true you can…but how much patience do you have?  With summer around the corner you need to remember that not all airlines accept pets in the summer months and some have some very stringent restrictions regarding temperatures.  Did you know that Puppy Travel is the only full service pet travel agency for passengers and their pets in the United States?  We are very experienced and we know what we are doing.  If you are traveling internationally with your pet you are definitely going to want our help.Remember in the ‘good ole days’ when you needed to go somewhere you picked up the phone can called your travel agent?  

United Airlines annouced that they intend to charge passengers for their checked bags that exceed one.  As a pet travel agent-one who works exclusively with pet travel I agree with the new policy.  When you ship a pet as ‘cargo’ the rates are based on dimensional volume-how much space is used for the crate inside the aircraft belly.  Anyone who has shipped a pet via cargo knows that the rates are pricey.  When you travel and see people checking in their bags that look big enough to contain a twin sized mattress, why should they get to pay nothing when you pay $300+ to ship a 3 LB Maltese puppy on an international flight? 

Maybe next they will ban all carry-on bags that exceed 5 lbs…wouldn’t that be cool?  Just think how much faster they could board and deplane the passengers!

Now is the time of year I get the ‘panic’ phone calls.  People have already purchased their airline tickets for the holidays and suddenly realized they have no place to put their pets – or they don’t want to pay a kennel to put them up for a week.  Of course they have purchased passenger travel with a ‘no pet’ airline.  When I explain their options to ship Fluffy they can’t hang up quick enough when they hear the price.  Some even think that they can somehow shove a 20LB dog in a medium size Sherpa bag to carry on board the aircraft to take the pets with them.  Poor things…they really don’t always rank high on the family priority list. 

My advice:  Try another carrier that will let you take your pet and save the unused ‘non pet friendly’ airline ticket for another time. 

Holiday Pet Travel Tip:  Keep your pets away from the Poinsettia Plants! They are poisonous!

One of the more popular questions I get as a “Pet Travel Agent” is “Where do I get a crate to ship my pet and can I rent one?”  The airlines do not rent crates and to the best of my knowledge I know of no company that does.  Ever since I have become involved with pets and travel, I notice crates!  In the back of pick up trucks, garages, in back yards….they are hang’n around everywhere!  Many times when I deliver a pet to a client I will inquire about the crate and if it is possible to purchase the crate from them-if they feel they are done with it.  About 95% of the time they say ‘no’ they think they made need it another time and want to keep it and it goes in the garage to collect bugs and gather dirt.

If someone could figure out a way to make it pay, they should start a ‘rent a crate’ business for pets.  If there were someway to ‘store’ them and ship them…you maybe would have something productive and successful.  I’ve have a garage full of the ‘wrong sized crates’ that I have had to swap out for clients….I am sure my family would love to get rid of some of them….but then I think “I might need them”.  Go figure.  I just keep storing more and more and more of them-I think they are ending up in my garage! 

It has been 5 years now since I started my pet travel agency. Mostly I do travel planning for cats and dogs…I have however done some other ‘pets’. I did 2 little chinchillas “Ben and Jerry” from the United States to Germany. They did great. Had a bit of a hassle convincing the airlines that chinchillas are not ‘endangered’ species.
I also imported a pet rabbit to Argentina – “Shadow”. The USDA has a special form for rabbits importing into Argentina. The export agent in Buenos Aires got a bit upset when it said ‘MINK’ on the top of the form….it actually was for minks And for rabbits. Shadow did just fine on his journey to Argentina.
Next personal challenge: Getting my neighbors dog ‘Izzy” from Salt Lake City to San Jose, Costa Rica. It is so hard to do friends and family travel! Things that come so easily with clients seem to worry me more when they see me every day!