Twelve tips before making your pet a world traveler

by Jamie Rhein on

The story about the U.S. soldier who was granted permission to bring the dog she rescued from a trash pile in Baghdad to the U.S reminded me of the friends I’ve known who have brought their pets with them when they have moved to another country.

In the case of the U.S. soldier, the issue was with military regulations that needed to be worked out. In other cases, bringing a pet has to do with airlines and the regulations of the country to which you are moving.

Depending upon the country, regulations differ. Knowing what to expect right off can save you time and frustration in the end. For example, if you move with your dog or cat to Singapore, there is a lengthy quarantine process. One set of friends brought their two cats. Other friends brought their dog.

Every other day or so, both sets of friends would head out to the place where their pets were being held to visit. Along with the time and expense it took to get to the quarantine location, they had to pay several dollars a day for their pets’ lodging and care.

With pets offering undivided devotion, the desire to include them in a move is compelling. If you’re so inclined, here are tips to consider before turning your pet into a traveler:

These 10 tips are from the Website Living in Indonesia, but most of them are not Indonesia specific.

  1. Find out from the airline the regulations for the country to which you are moving. Also find out what you need to know about bringing your pet back with you.
  2. Consider the costs for both going overseas and coming back in your decision making. Getting there is only the first part.
  3. If possible, bring your pet along with you as access baggage which will allow you to check on your pet throughout the journey.
  4. Sending your pet via cargo may be more practical and cheaper.
  5. If you can, schedule layovers so your pet can have a travel break.
  6. Make sure your pet carrier meets regulations
  7. Clearly mark the carrier with the name of the pet, your name and your destination.
  8. Before your trip, put your pet into the carrier for long periods of time to get your pet used to being in the carrier.
  9. Put one of your pet’s favorite blanket or toy in the carrier to create a sense of familiarity
  10. Don’t feed too much
  11. Don’t give tranquilizers because they put your pet at risk
  12. Attach a water bottle to the cage that can be filled from the outside.

For more details for taking your pet along, click here. Some are Indonesia specific, but they give an idea of those things you should be thinking about.

Here are the guidelines for traveling with an animal on American Airlines. I chose this one for no particular reason. Other details are listed that are worth reading if you’re considering taking a pet on your move.

Travel Alert! Virgin sale to from LA – Sydney — for $480!

by Grant Martin on

Alert! Virgin just put Sydney on sale from Los Angeles! Their front page says $1600, but if you get in and tinker with the dates, the price will drop to about 250$ one way. Combined trip: less than $500.

Here’ s how I got my fare.

  1. Go to Virgin’s homepage first.
  2. Make sure you’re on the America site, if you aren’t change it.
  3. Click Departure from Los Angeles and Arrival to Sydney
  4. Select dates after March 1
  5. On your search, if you don’t see the fares you like, click back and forth on the “Arrivals” box. Sooner or later a fare will come up around $250.
  6. Then click back and forth on the departures.
  7. You may have to mess around with the dates to find something that works.
  8. Good luck!

Mind you, Virgin had to push back launch a bit from December from the strike that’s currently rocking Boeing. So there is a chance that things could get jiggered a bit.

You also might recall that a few people had problems with the initial sale that Virgin offered last year.

But if you’re willing to take the risk (for <500$) and are confident that you’ll get a refund if things turn south, give it a go.

See you in OZ!

New TSA rule aims to improve security and cut down on hassle

by Meg Massie on

Up until now, airline passengers have only been required to provide as much as their first initial and last name to get a plane ticket. However, due to the high rate of false matches to names on the government’s terrorist watch list, passengers will soon be required to provide their full name and birth date before they can fly.

If your name resembles a name on the watch list, you might get held up at security. It has happened to Senator Edward Kennedy as well as to numerous children, but the TSA says that if they have a full name and birth date for every passenger, they won’t get all the false matches they get with the current first initial and last name system.

Airlines have resisted because of the cost and hassle of updating their computer systems, but as of July 2009, full names will be mandatory. Travelers who book flights without giving all the required information will be unable to print or receive boarding passes until they confirm the missing information with an airline ticket agent.

While the TSA is confident that the new procedure will greatly reduce false matches, it’s not clear that it will actually improve security. Security expert Bruce Schneier says terrorists could get around the rule by buying a ticket using someone else’s name.

Continental announces a ‘downsize’ for carry-ons starting November 1

by Jeffrey White on

I’ve never really objected to the checked baggage fees that most airlines now have in place.

As someone who never checked luggage in the past, doesn’t travel with small children (or anyone else, really, for that matter) and typically travels light, I saw the fees more as an incentive for people to make choices in their packing and lighten a plane’s load. If one can’t, or doesn’t want to, then pay the fee.

But recently several major carriers have been reducing the size of acceptable carry-ons, and this does irk the hell out of me, because it smacks of a money grab. Clearly airlines are making good money out of the baggage fees — enough, I’m guessing, for them to be aware of all those other passengers that are choosing to carry-on. If airlines can make it more difficult for those of us that fit into this category, well there’s even more money to made.

In recent months, American Airlines, United, Delta and Northwest have all reduced the size of acceptable carry-ons.

The latest is Continental, which recently sent a note to travel agents that starting November 1, it would be enforcing strict new size restrictions for carry-ons. The 51 linear inches that used to be kosher will be reduced to 45 linear inches, or 9″x14″x22″.

New sizing bins will be installed at all of Continental’s domestic counters. Continental’s carry-on downsizing is effective for all tickets; it doesn’t matter when you purchased them.

Is a scant six inches really that big a deal for your packing? Probably not. And it certainly doesn’t amount to much space savings (or weight savings) on board. Which is why such downsizing should piss you off. Increasingly, people who carry-on are going to be scrutinized at check-in and efforts are going to be made — rightly or wrongly — to force you to check that carry-on, for a fee.

And this should make you mad even if you never carry-on. Why? Because — and we probably all suspected this to begin with, on some level — it proves that the airlines’ claims that all these nettlesome fees that surfaced this year were necessary to combat record high fuel costs were at the very least only partially true. In reality, these were obvious and never-before-explored ways to make money for many airline companies who have rarely been able to turn a profit, even in good times.

Passengers were asked to understand how record-high fuel costs were forcing airlines’ hands. Yet in recent months, as the price of oil has dropped significantly due to the financial crisis, there do not seem to be many airlines hurrying to reduce their taxes or fees, in a good faith effort to put an extra buck or two back in their passengers’ pockets and rebuild traveler loyalty.

US Airways is holding its carry-on size to a 51 inch dimension.

Southwest Airlines, that maverick of the industry, is not changing the size of carry-ons it allows. That’s not surprising: The airline doesn’t have checked baggage fees, fuel charges or any other hidden costs.

Southwest is consistently the most profitable airline in the domestic industry. How does it do it?

JetBlue’s JFK Terminal 5 opens its doors

by Grant Martin on

After a few brief delays, a dry run and countless days of anticipation, JetBlue finally opened the doors of Terminal 5 at JFK today.

The building, a Gensler re-design of the old TWA behemoth, features wide open spaces, new amenities, all sorts of lovely food options and a dedicated home for the once-cramped JetBlue airlines. Blogger Jeremy Kressmann took a look through T5 earlier this fall and wrote it up for us here.

So how are things going so far? Have there been any epic fails like Heathrow’s Terminal 5 that opened up earlier this year?

Things actually seem to be moving pretty smoothly so far. JetBlue launched a liveblog (of sorts) that details some of the features and hobknobbery that’s going on during the first day activities and things seem pretty calm. Sure, you can’t trust content coming straight out of the lion’s mouth, but the blog is at least worth taking a look at for all of the fun pictures and insider looks into operations.

Later this week, our own Jerry Guo will be wandering through T5. Stay tuned to hear his take on the facilities.