Travelling by plane with your pet

Before travelling by plane meant saying goodbye with pain from our pet, but thanks to the growing number of hotels and airlines that allow pets, more and more people take their friends when they fly.

But cases that have ended in tragedy or confusion when transporting animals have raised questions about the best way to fly with a dog or other pet, and if the animals should even travel by plane.

Some, like the expert Cesar Millan, support traveling with our dog everywhere. But organizations like the Humane Society of the United States advise prudence.

Medical check

Kitty Block, director of Humane Society of the United States, says flying with dogs and other pets should always be the last option.

“If you have to fly […] do not take your animal unless there is obviously no option,” he says. “It’s not an ideal situation for an animal, and it can be stressful for him.”

If you have no choice, he says, the key is to prepare yourself as best you can.

In the weeks before the flight, the animal needs a veterinary medical check-up to make sure it is able to travel and its vaccines are valid.

Which airline to choose?

As soon as you’ve decided to fly with your pet, call the airline, advises Block. Not all companies accept animals, and the rules to fly with them vary.

The Petfriendlytravel.com website has an extensive list of airlines and their pet policies. Among the most friendly with pets is Virgin Atlantic, with its Flying Paws plan that gives pets their own frequent traveler reward scheme.

One thing is for sure: there is no free flight for them. The pets accumulate points called “paw prints” that can be redeemed for gifts such as pet clothes from Burberry, Prada and Gucci.

Pet owners should pay attention to the fine print when booking flights for their animals.

Air France, for example, says that some pets are accepted in the cabin and in the aircraft hold. But certain “attack dogs” such as staffordshire terriers or pit bulls, mastiffs and coughs are not accepted.

Singapore Airlines asks that your pet have a certificate of good health, but does not allow pets to travel in the cabin of the plane.

Most American airlines do allow small pets to travel in the cabin with their owners, as long as it is communicated at the time of booking. The rates may suffer increases, and some only allow it in domestic trips.

“We do not recommend one [airline] over another,” says Block. “What we say is that you call before, be the best defender of your animal.”

Let’s say you’ve found an airline that will transfer you and your dog. Then comes the difficult part, the procedure.

Immigration laws for pets are specific to each country, but one way to reduce some of those headaches is to create a pet passport, which is “a collection of all the documents necessary to enter a certain country,” Pettravel suggests . .com .

The pet passport is an essential part of the Pet Travel Scheme (PETS) program, a system that allows animals to travel to the United Kingdom without being quarantined if all the rules are followed.

It was originally introduced in 2001 for animals that enter or return to the United Kingdom from other countries of the European Union, but since then it has spread to other countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Pettravel.com has a complete list of immigration regulations for specific pets in each country, with the option to purchase the necessary forms online.

Prepare your pet

The next step is the control of urine.

Although it’s probably a bit easier than flying with children, taking a long trip with your dog is not as simple as putting it in an animal carrier and taking off, warns Cesar Millan.

You must prepare it for the long trip and let it get used to its box or carrier.

“Do not put them in a box the day before, it must be a transition,” he told CNN. “You have to teach your dog to hold his bladder, it’s almost like training for a marathon, he performs the process before flying, for example, flying from Los Angeles to Spain takes 14 hours.”

Before buying a carrier, check the list of requirements to transport pets of the International Association of Air Transport, to which most airlines adhere.

What to do on board

When the time comes to fly, your pet must register as a load or be stored in a carrier under the seat in front of you, depending on its size.

Going into the warehouse has risks, says Block. Possible risks include poor ventilation and extreme temperatures.

“You just have to make sure you keep in mind that if you travel in the summer months it will be very hot, avoid the scales so that your dog is not in cargo holds and has multiple transfers,” advises Block.

If you take it in the cabin, keep in mind the size restrictions for the animals. Some airlines also have limits for the number of animals allowed per cabin.

Each airline has its own regulations and procedures, and Block suggests getting familiar with them before the flight.

The Humane Society advises that you should talk about your animal and its needs, whether you travel with you in the cabin or in the hold.

“It never hurts to let people know [that your animal is on board],” says Block. “There can always be a failure in communication.”

The rules for assistance and emotional support animals (which recently made headlines when a woman tried to carry an “emotional support peacock” on board a flight) are slightly different.

“Because these animals are emotional support, they stay with the passenger,” explains Block. However, she emphasizes that there are no universal rules, and passengers still need to check with the airline before traveling.

Change the rules

Block and his team at the Humane Society are currently advocating that no animals be placed in the upper luggage racks, which caused the recent death of a dog on a United Airlines flight.

In an ideal world, there will be commercial flights specifically for animals, designed for your needs.

“The statistics of how many pets die each year are not good, and that should not happen,” he says. “There will always be accidents, but this amount suggests that there is a problem, so we are studying it, it’s time to solve it.”

Ultimately, Block says that you should be very careful with the animals that travel. “They are not cargo, they are not suitcases, they are living beings and they are the members of our family, so we really have to make sure they are safe and secure.”

Farewell

If you have to leave your dog on the ground, do not worry about separation anxiety. Millán says that with proper training, your pet can handle the separation time, even better than you.

But it is also a problem that must be resolved if you travel with your pet, as there will be times when you should leave it in the hotel room without having to worry about it barking and scratching the door or chewing things when you’re not there.

“Separation anxiety is created by humans because they feel closer to the dog the more they live with it, which is not realistic for the dog, which does not understand,” he says.

“I help people and show them how we create that separation anxiety In Mexico, a dog is not allowed in the intimate space Many houses have no room The dog lives outside But in the United States, a dog lives The human is going to work, the dog does not know how to separate from it, it is easy to rehabilitate them, but you have to understand the concept of proximity to train them for the moment when the owner goes to work. “

“It’s not good to let your dog follow you everywhere, tell them when they can be near you, and then tell them to leave,” suggests Millán as a method to decrease your dog’s attachment to you.

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