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Hi!
We will be moving to Hawaii in October or November 2009. Husband in the military. We have one 17 year old dog. He is old, but very healthy and no reason to think he won't make the move. There is absolutely no way we will have him fly in cargo, so we are looking into chartering a flight with Dog Travel Company.
In a perfect world we would like to fly from Washington DC - Honolulu. This will be rather pricey, so if need be, we will drive to California and fly from there.
We are looking for people and their pets who might be interested in sharing a charter flight. The dogs will not only be able to travel in the cabin, but actually sit in the sit right next to you! It is a great - not to mention the safest way to travel with your dogs. They do allow cats in the cabin, but they have to be in carriers and ok with the dogs.
The more people who go - the lower the price. If anyone is interested - please let me know. There are a lot of health requirements that have to be met to bring dogs to Hawaii, so we need to start the process.
Location: Big Island- Hawaii, AK, WA where the whales are!
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Hello
have you looked into the charter flight?
In past I have also but it was finally when they got a flight -- $7500 for the dog ...plus you....
not sure if I am right you can search but hell I decided dog would be more comfortable in a crate able to turn around - used to it if you crate befor you go and can strecht vrs us being bound in set if bigger.
Yes I will be returning sometime in Oct if it is - reasonable ... I would be interested but not going to pay beyond the cargo prices of $200 to $800 I have seen ...........
I have not booked it yet, but I have looked into it. It is pricey, but the more people you can get the lower the price is. My hope is to find as many interested parties as possible and then book it.
My dog will be 17 1/2 when we move, it would be entirely to stressful for him to fly in cargo. I know that hundreds of people fly with their pets in cargo and things work out just fine. I used to work for the airlines and it was a huge eye opener to me as to how many aren't fine. Dozens of dogs die every month flying in cargo and many more are lost or injured. The statistics are really scary. I have seen perfectly healthy dogs come off airplanes so traumatized that they never recover. This happened to my Aunts dog. Unfortunately these things happen much more than people realize.
Please don't get me wrong, I understand that many times there is just no option. But for me, I am going to do everything I can to make this charter work because I don't think my old guy can handle the stress of cargo.
I'll be happy to keep you up to date as to the range.
I need to make a correction - in regards to deaths and injuries to animals flying in cargo - I should have said every year, not every month. I went back and was looking at recent statistics. They really didn't start reporting these incidents until May 2005. There were so many problems and complaints against the airlines for deaths and injuries that they made it mandatory for the airlines to report all incidents.
Things have improved but they still aren't great. In 2008 there were 28 deaths and in 2007 there were 30 deaths.
Anyway - let's think positive and see if we can't make this charter work!
The reports of pet deaths needs to be taken with some reality. In about one third of the cases, those animals would have died be it in cargo, on your lap in the cabin, or on Air Force One. The airline will always perform a necropsy at their expense if the owner agrees to find out what happened so they can fix anything under their control. What the USDA needs to do is go after the Vets that gave a clean bill of health to dogs and cats that should never had been on any flight, cargo or cabin. If you look at the total animals transported and look at the deaths, the number is under .0012 percent (wish our luggage faired one tenth as good as the pets).
My belief is that 90% of the time, the pets could care less how they travel. Its the owners that freak out and imprint their own personal "human" fears as if its the pet's fear.
I am in no way an expert on these matters. All I can go by is my personal experience and I have known many people with very healthy dogs who didn't survive. Because of this - yes, I do have a fear.
At any rate, the last thing in the world I want to do is get into a debate about this. I think it would be irresponsible for me to put my 17 1/2 year old dog in cargo, as does his vet. So I am trying to get a group of people and their dogs/cats together to share a charter flight. If we can get enough people together, the price will be reasonable. And how cool will it be to have your best friend sitting right next to you!
So if any one is interested.....
Please let me know!
My husband has been offered a job in Hawaii and needs to be there by April. However, we have 1 dog and 4 cats which need to be tested, etc. before leaving so I knew I wouldn't be able to join him until at least 4 months later. However, would be willing to wait until October to go if I could get them on a chartered flight.
Hi!
We will be moving to Hawaii in October or November 2009. Husband in the military. We have one 17 year old dog. He is old, but very healthy and no reason to think he won't make the move. There is absolutely no way we will have him fly in cargo, so we are looking into chartering a flight with Dog Travel Company.
In a perfect world we would like to fly from Washington DC - Honolulu. This will be rather pricey, so if need be, we will drive to California and fly from there.
We are looking for people and their pets who might be interested in sharing a charter flight. The dogs will not only be able to travel in the cabin, but actually sit in the sit right next to you! It is a great - not to mention the safest way to travel with your dogs. They do allow cats in the cabin, but they have to be in carriers and ok with the dogs.
The more people who go - the lower the price. If anyone is interested - please let me know. There are a lot of health requirements that have to be met to bring dogs to Hawaii, so we need to start the process.
I know you love your pets, but this is a crazy idea for a number of reasons!
I have flown my animals much longer distances, and they were fine. I understand why people worry about animals in the cabin, but I think some of this worry is overboard and completely unnecessary. Not only that, but Hawaii probably has restrictions about receiving the animal and getting it through quarantine.
In many cases, the crate has to be sealed by a government approved official and they animal must stay in that crate until the plane lands. You will probably need to get your animal microchipped and have a rabies titre done by certified labs located in Kansas (I believe.) And I think the titer needs to be done 5 months in advance.
You need to look into all of this stuff in advance in order to qualify for the 30-day quarantine (not the standard 6 month). I think that for a 5 hour flight in a crate, your pets should be fine.
Good luck!
Last edited by Woof Woof Woof!; 03-05-2009 at 02:06 PM..
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