Originally Posted by Elisabrat
You can and its very stressful on the cat to ship them. They fly under the plane not inside it (with luggage) and its very cold and also not pressurized like inside with you.. unless you get someone to carry it on for you under their seat its very traumatic. Also expensive: ie TX to CA is a REGULAR plane ticket plus handling of the cat from point A to B. you need a vet certificate on what has been done (rabies, vaccines all required) so there is another cash register ringer.. it is not an inexpensive venture. At all.
The part of the cabin under the plane where pets go IS pressurized. I have shipped my cats via plane many times. If the area where the pets go was not pressurized, the pets would not survive. Not only would the not survive the depressurized, but they would have froze to death at the altitudes that planes fly at. At 36000 feet, the outside temp is MINUS 46 degrees. At least that is what I saw on the screen when we were flying from Hawaii to Guam.
Flying, either underneath OR in the cabin, can be tramatic either way for ANY pet. I've seen pets come out unscathed, such as mine and I've seen some that are wide eyed and wondering....what the hell just happened?
If you are thinking of flying a pet alone or flying WITH your pet...the best airline to go with is Continental. The pets that fly alone have a handler with them at all times...well, except for when in air. The handler puts the pet on the plane, a handler meets the plane when it lands, takes the animal and is responsible for the animal until it is picked up by "parent or guardian".
Yes, the pet has to have a Health Certificate issued that will not expire while pet is in flight. The certificate is usually good for a total of 14 days. Pets have to have had their rabies shots and sometimes the airlines also want a flea/tick treatment...not to mention a microchip too.
Tickets for pets flying alone can range from $100 on up and can also cost that much if the pet is flying in cabin with you.
There are also companies now that you can contact that will drive your pet to it's destination.
With all that said....I wish I could sign my pets up for Frequent Flyer Miles...they could be flying First Class if I could!!
But, I digress.........