Anyone interested in chartered dog flights to Maui? (extended stay, live)
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Anyone interested in chartered dog flights to Maui?
NOTE: Dear Monitor, really sorry about the extra posts, I'm new to City-Data and missed that condition. Can you keep this post on in the California thread, as I think I'll have better luck notifying Californians who plan to move to Hawaii and want to find a safe way to fly their dogs over...
If anyone is interested in forming a pet group for a reduced fare on a chartered flight from CA to Maui-Hawaii, please let me know! The more people, the more affordable it is to be with your dog on a private jet.
I fly to Hawaii every year with my and my wife's service dogs (live there part time, so extended stays). We can fly with our dogs seated in the cabin with us -- but we don't ... p.i.t.a.
You do understand that animals shipped in crates on the regular (read: affordable) flights travel in temperature and pressure controlled cargo space, right? A lot of folks worry about their pets getting too hot or cold or suffering in other ways ... but they are in the same kind of conditions the seated human passengers are in -- except better, because they are in their little security dens. If your dog is conditioned to love its crate, flying for them is a piece of cake. If you are concerned about their anxiety levels, slip them a couple Benadryl's ... lights out and sleepy bye ... happy as clams at high tide.
Thanks nullgeo. From my research, Alaska Air pet travel seems the best one for commercial flights, as mentioned before by others, problem is--they only allow one dog at a time, and I have two Labs, brothers, that have never been separated since birth. They won't be as scared when they're together. I'm going to see if they can make an exception, but I doubt it.
What kind of dogs do you have and how did you work out the "service" dogs -- would love to do that! to get them on the cabin. I envy folks that have lapdogs -- they can just take them on the cabin with them on all the major commercial airlines now.
Someone worked out a really good deal on a charter flight by posting at City-Data by the name of Jollydog, she pulled it off, got the group together in 2009, I spoke with her and she said it worked out perfectly, and for a one time trip over there, it was worth the money to be with her dog. She got the fare down to around $2,500 for each person. But it's a lot harder than it seems, I don't know how she did it, frankly, it was like pulling a rabbit from her hat. People can do it, but it usually means having connections with clients who fly on chartered jets, and last time I checked my address book, there were no millionaires listed. ha!
Thanks nullgeo. From my research, Alaska Air pet travel seems the best one for commercial flights, as mentioned before by others, problem is--they only allow one dog at a time, and I have two Labs, brothers, that have never been separated since birth. They won't be as scared when they're together. I'm going to see if they can make an exception, but I doubt it.
What kind of dogs do you have and how did you work out the "service" dogs -- would love to do that! to get them on the cabin. I envy folks that have lapdogs -- they can just take them on the cabin with them on all the major commercial airlines now.
Someone worked out a really good deal on a charter flight by posting at City-Data by the name of Jollydog, she pulled it off, got the group together in 2009, I spoke with her and she said it worked out perfectly, and for a one time trip over there, it was worth the money to be with her dog. She got the fare down to around $2,500 for each person. But it's a lot harder than it seems, I don't know how she did it, frankly, it was like pulling a rabbit from her hat. People can do it, but it usually means having connections with clients who fly on chartered jets, and last time I checked my address book, there were no millionaires listed. ha!
Yes, we fly Alaska now and they are pretty good. They were professional and helpful in making the arrangements from stateside ... and excellent at the stateside airport. Their staff in Honolulu for the return flights are not as well trained and we have repeated frustrations at that end for return flights. It takes some real effort to get them to understand their own and government ADA regulations. But they always came around and once informed by upper management, they were also very helpful.
Our dogs are Chesapeake retrievers -- generally a breed too stubborn to make good service dogs ... but they work well for us, as we trained them to serve our needs ourselves. My wife is born profoundly deaf and I am a disabled war vet with a couple issues the dog helps with, also including my hearing loss. The dogs alert us to texts on the cell phones, to alarms of all kinds, and orient us to strangers for security.
Flying with multiple dogs -- I did not know they limited such. That was not my understanding. I thought their policy would accommodate multiple dogs on a paying basis -- and the cost was only about $100 each (each way)? However, multiple animals are not allowed in the same crate. They must each have separate except if small relative to space inside crate. Two retrievers would never fit together. As for their potential for "separation anxiety" ... I personally wouldn't worry about that. Two crates side by side ... the dogs can hear each others' heart beats and breathing plus smell each other. And, as I said, a bit of Benadryl does wonders for a nice doggie flight ;-)
All dogs, including service dogs, must comply with Hawaii state health protocol, especially rabies vaccinations. For service dogs, the process is fast tracked, but still strict as for non-service. The normal process for rabies testing and approval is not terribly difficult, but it takes a LONG time to get tests done, submitted, analyzed, and reported back to Hawaii. Allow literally six months for this. If all protocol are followed in good communication with the Hawaii State Department of Agriculture, there doesn't need to be any quarantine, as before ... used to be up to 6 months of quarantine. You can now arrange to pick up your dogs from the airport quarantine facility same day -- IF you do everything right well in advance.
Here is the "5-day or less quarantine" checklist from HDOA:
All dogs, including service dogs, must comply with Hawaii state health protocol, especially rabies vaccinations. For service dogs, the process is fast tracked, but still strict as for non-service. The normal process for rabies testing and approval is not terribly difficult, but it takes a LONG time to get tests done, submitted, analyzed, and reported back to Hawaii. Allow literally six months for this. If all protocol are followed in good communication with the Hawaii State Department of Agriculture, there doesn't need to be any quarantine, as before ... used to be up to 6 months of quarantine. You can now arrange to pick up your dogs from the airport quarantine facility same day -- IF you do everything right well in advance.
Here is the "5-day or less quarantine" checklist from HDOA:
And you can fly directly to Maui? I thought all animals had to go through Honolulu.
Oooops ... sorry ... forgot the Maui part.
No, you can't go directly to Maui, I don't think .... service dogs can be checked through ... but I don't believe there is a primary arrival quarantine facility there. You have to go through the Honolulu airport first ... unless some new change has been instituted -- which, in the current state of economics, ain't likely.
You can always go get blown up in a war and then qualify for a service dog maybe ...
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