We chose that title only to be concise, but we should have called it “The Utopia of International Doggy Travel” as it is extremely complicated to travel internationally with dogs, unless it is to a neighbouring country, and intercontinental travel is down-right impossible!
Ok, like with everything else there are a few exceptions, so if you are Donald Trump, Bill Gates or a person of equal financial wealth, or have a dog that weighs less than 6 kg (13 pounds), you are exempt from the limitations that being a proud dog owner represent while traveling internationally.
Most people go around the problem and leave the dogs at home, preferably with friends or family but also at doggy boarding. The problem is that boarding is pretty expensive too, and it is not really a solution. It’s kind of like when you were a child and had to clean up your room so you would just shove everything underneath the bed, it would take almost the same amount of time and effort but then you would have to bend over every time you wanted to find your socks.
Being the in-your-face proud, enthusiastic owners of Balam, Tau and Cora, we want to travel with our dogs everywhere we go. We want Cora to test her speed against a Saluki dog in Egypt, and take Balam to eat “Wurst” in his native country of Germany, and see if Tau would be up for hunting a lion in South Africa, ok… maybe not that even though he would probably be up for it. There are so many things to do with dogs around the world, and those things are different in each country, if not the activity at least the approach.
The problem is that airline rates are sky high for checking a dog in the hold area of an airplane. The cheapest airlines charge 400 dollars per dog… ONE WAY! Delta actually charges 200, but per travel length, which means if you have to connect flights, that’s 200 dollars more every connection!
Apart from the costs there is the problem of safety. Dogs are left unattended for long periods of time and in some cases out in the sun. For this reason, airlines like Delta don’t take dogs in the cargo area during summer months (May to September) for fear that the dog might die of a heat stroke or dehydration.
Other Airlines like United have taken an initiative to hire personnel that will accompany the dogs and tend to their needs. They will walk them and make sure they have food and water which is absolutely fantastic, except for the fact that the prices go up to 800 Dollars per dog for a one way flight (depending on the weight of the dog).
There is still hope nonetheless. Airlines like Interjet have done a great deal to improve pet policies and will not charge anything at all for a pet unless it weighs more than 50 kg (110 pounds) in which case there is a fee of 5 dollars per exceeding kilogram, which is fair considering that most dogs fit within the permitted weight, unless you are trying to sneak in a donkey. The problem is that airlines like this only travel short distances and mostly only between Mexico, Canada and the US.
It amazes us that living in the 21 Century, with all the information in the world at the tip of our fingers, Genetically Engineered food and sheep being cloned, we still haven’t figured out a comfortable, safe and economic way to travel with our pets, which by the way are now more than ever as much a part of our family and daily life as the other humans we interact with.
We apologise for all this complaining but we were amazed by the complete absence of options that we were left with when researching how to take our dogs with us for our next summer vacation to Europe. If anyone has ever done it before, or has a any idea on how we could do it, we would very much appreciate whatever help we can get!
Thanks a lot and see you soon.
El Dogerino 