Flying Our Dog from Orlando to San Anton/Austin - Help (Houston: fit in, transporting)

[burnw005]

Greetings,
We are relocating to Boerne in May from Kissimmee Florida, and need to relocate our 55 lb dog on an airline. A non-stop from OIA to San Antonio is very hard to find so we included Austin as destination. Southwest has one a day but they don't take dogs. Prefer a non-stop for his sake.

Has anyone transported pet on airline?? Any advice appreciated.

[pobre]

Have you tried JetBlue? They fly in to Austin.

Allegiant flys into SAT and AUS from SFB, but not MCO.

[Penquin927]

Allegiant flys from sanford to SAT nonstop but I was looking at their pet policy and it reads in-cabin only which means a 55 lbs dog isn't going to fit in a small crate under the seat.

Southwest has some nonstop flights for MCO to SAT but it looks like they are also in-cabin only.

another option would be Houston for the larger airlines. It is a longer drive but you would have united airlines most likely for a non-stop flight.

[Rustybolt]

I wouldn't be so afraid to have the dog change planes as cargo. I think United or American would be good choices. I once flew two of my dogs from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (pet dogs are quite the oddity there BTW) to DFW on Lufthansa. They changed aircraft in Frankfurt. They came through just fine. Don't ship dogs in the summer. In the best circumstances they won't do well in the heat. If shipping in the spring, ship them in the morning. It is cooler and less likely to encounter the thunderstorms that seem ubiquitous in afternoons around DFW or IAH.

[WilGar]

Originally Posted by Rustybolt

I wouldn't be so afraid to have the dog change planes as cargo. I think United or American would be good choices. I once flew two of my dogs from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (pet dogs are quite the oddity there BTW) to DFW on Lufthansa. They changed aircraft in Frankfurt. They came through just fine. Don't ship dogs in the summer. In the best circumstances they won't do well in the heat. If shipping in the spring, ship them in the morning. It is cooler and less likely to encounter the thunderstorms that seem ubiquitous in afternoons around DFW or IAH.

Having flown for Continental, now United, I can attest that pets are given priority treatment in their carriage. On more than one occasion, I went on the ramp to insure a pet's arrival to see the transferring personnel keep the animal in the transfer vehicle until the last minute to insure a comfortable trip.

I wis I could say the same about the treatment of the cabin passengers; however, that is another story.

[Rustybolt]

Originally Posted by WilGar

Having flown for Continental, now United, I can attest that pets are given priority treatment in their carriage. On more than one occasion, I went on the ramp to insure a pet's arrival to see the transferring personnel keep the animal in the transfer vehicle until the last minute to insure a comfortable trip.

I wis I could say the same about the treatment of the cabin passengers; however, that is another story.

Now that IS good service!

[satx78247]

burnw005,

I always had good service with Delta Airlines when transporting my old Belle Star (Dobermann), during the last decade of my military career.
NEVER a single problem & she always arrived healthy & well in every respect.

yours, tex

[Paka]

The BIGGEST problem I see is the time of year you want to fly your animal. ALL airlines have a heat limit for the tarmac that, if exceeded, they will NOT fly animals because of the risk to the animal. Before you book with ANY airlines, CHECK and see what the heat limits are . (And I am not talking the HIGH TEMP for the day in that area, but the actual READING ON THE PAVEMENT OF THE RUNWAY LIMITS).

Good luck!

[nam2015]

I agree with Paka, check with the airline. I flew my dog from Europe to Atlanta when we relocated to the US and the cutoff was April due to the heat, both ends origin (being Southern Europe) and destination (Southern US). San Antonio would probably have very similar cutoff time.
Incidentally you have a reverse cutoff for the colder climates. The airlines guarantee climate controlled cargo area but they cNnot guarantee the tarmac conditions.

[poopycat]

Originally Posted by Paka

The BIGGEST problem I see is the time of year you want to fly your animal. ALL airlines have a heat limit for the tarmac that, if exceeded, they will NOT fly animals because of the risk to the animal. Before you book with ANY airlines, CHECK and see what the heat limits are . (And I am not talking the HIGH TEMP for the day in that area, but the actual READING ON THE PAVEMENT OF THE RUNWAY LIMITS).

Good luck!

Excellent point. If you can't relo soon, it will probably be too hot for the dog to fly.

If you have the money for it, you might want to search for companies that specialize in transporting pets. When I relocated to TX, I didn't want to go through the headache of driving two days with three cats so I had a pet transportation company fly them down. It was very convenient and worth the (rather high) expense, and probably less stressful for the cats since there was a shorter travel time.

The company also knew which airports were best for pets. For example, if I remember correctly, Houston had an area where pets could be temporarily housed. Wish I could remember the details...

There are also companies that will drive your dog if flying is not feasible.