Pets on VS

Hey everyone,

Do any of you have experience transporting your pets on VS? We've been considering it but wanted a real world take on what it's like. Anything from the pre flight health check to the at airport experience and pick up as well as costs would be great! You all are always a great source of info.

Thanks!
Jon

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/gb/en/tr ... -pets.html

Check out the above link to VS site and information - hope it helps.

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/gb/en/travel-information/flying-with-pets.html

Check out the above link to VS site and information - hope it helps.

Yes I've read the above - thanks. I was hoping more for a personal experience. VS can say what they like about their UCDS on their website but the real world mostly says otherwise!

We flew our dogs to LAX - all quite stressful. Nothing to do with VS, just the regulations are quite complex and vary by country (and state in the US) so make sure you research what is required for the destination you are flying to, from crate sizes to health checks and vaccinations to customs paperwork - it might be worth using a pet travel agent which we did for the return journey.

In our experience the standard of care at heathrow was better than that at LAX (which we were disappointed with).

We sent 3 dogs to LAX and one of them didn't like it at all and was bit distressed at the arrival end - they don't have dedicated facilities like the Animal Reception Centre at LHR. it would be wotrth researching what facilities are at your destination airport.

I'm afraid I'm of the view that unless it's absolutely necessary (eg a long term relocation), planes are no places for pets.

When you consider how many people find flying stressful - in many cases they can't even bring themselves to step on a plane - it must be 10 times worse for an animal that has no idea what's going on.

And as pointed out above you are at the mercy of ground handling agents at airports that may not offer the same standard of care that you get here.

Here we go again ----- I once saw some snakes loose on a plane.........