Relocating with My Piggies

kyleila

Post   » Fri Nov 20, 2009 9:26 pm


Yup I called and talked to their customer service agent. They will be putting my piggies' carrier into their large carrier inside the plane.

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zazzified

Post   » Fri Nov 20, 2009 9:28 pm


Ahh, that's good to know! You'll have to let us know how it goes. Too bad they don't go to more cities.

kyleila

Post   » Fri Nov 20, 2009 9:48 pm


I will definitely write a review after the trip. I hope my piggies will be okay...

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TexCavy

Post   » Fri Nov 20, 2009 9:49 pm


Good luck to you and them.

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zazzified

Post   » Fri Nov 20, 2009 9:53 pm


I hope so too!

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zazzified

Post   » Fri Nov 20, 2009 9:59 pm


Here's a link you might find interesting! It's written by someone who sent their dog on Pet Airways, and it includes a play by play of the whole experience.

http://sfappeal.com/culture/2009/11/pet ... -today.php

It sounds like they were quite happy with it!

More positive feedback:
http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/7/15/ ... em+Pleased

Second link is giving me trouble, so you'll just have to copy and paste the full link to get it to work.

kyleila

Post   » Wed Jan 13, 2010 3:16 am


Hi all!

Finally have some time to sit down and write about flying my piggies with Pet Airways. Hope this info will be helpful for other piggie parents out there!

So I relocated from New York City to California in December. I have 4 piggies with me that I needed to transport to CA. I flew with them on Delta to NYC back in 2008 when Delta still allowed piggies in cabin.

Since I really didn't want to send my piggies in cargo, and giving them up was the last thing I would do... I decided to give Pet Airways a try.

I talked to a rep to make sure that they allowed guinea pigs. The rep said that piggies are allowed and that they can put the cage inside one of their own pet carriers (They use their own bolted down carriers inside their planes).

For a flight from New York to California, it was going to cost me about $450 ish for a pair of piggies! The fare depends on the flight distance and the pet carrier size. They offer different carrier sizes but recommended the large carrier for my piggies' travel cage. I could fit 2 piggies into their travel cage to be placed into Pet Airways' large carrier, so I was looking at a $900 bill to transport all 4 of my piggies! (2 large pet carriers).

Fortunately, the Pet Airways rep told me about a discount offer they had for November and said that if I could fly before November 24th I could take advantage of their November special.

After a lot of planning and begging friends and family to help out (I was flying out in December...) I decided to send my piggies ahead of me in November.

The total cost was $282.87 (tax and fees included) x 2 cages = $565.74 -- Almost half off!

This was back when Pet Airways only had 5 flight cities. The flight stopped in all of their cities for pickups and drop-offs. They fly about once a week on average across the country and back.

The airports they fly from are smaller airports that cargo and private planes fly out of. The airport they flew out of in New York is the Republic Airport in Farmingdale (Long Island). It's about a 45 minute drive from Manhattan and it can be kinda hard to find if you're unfamiliar with Long Island. I did eventually find the location of their pet lounge. There was a large Pet Airways sign outside the building.

The check in process was very simple. I gave them my name and they checked against their pawsengers list. They have name tags ready for my piggies' "luggages", and from their convo, they seem to make name collars for cats and dogs. (A staff mentioned that he almost made collars for my piggies haha). I gave them the health certificates (that you get from your vet) and they made copies of them before returning the documents to me. After that they took my piggies into their waiting area and I was free to go home.

Pet Airways allowed a gallon ziplock bag of food/toys per pawsenger. I packed a food bowl, pellets measured out for the trip in sandwich baggies, hay, some fresh veggies, and their water bottles (emptied to prevent leaks. They filled the bottles up for me when they made stops).

My piggies flew from New York to Baltimore, then to Chicago and spent a night there. Continued their journey the next day, stopped at Denver before landing in Los Angeles to be picked up by my friend and driven up to Northern California where I now reside.

I was pretty nervous about this flight since I could not be there with the piggies, but the Pet Airways staff were friendly and provided excellent customer service. I called their office in Chicago to update me on how my piggies were, and one of their staff called me back pretty quickly. They knew that I was nervous and gave me detailed descriptions of how my piggies were, and what they fed them etc... I really appreciated their help in keeping me sane! (I bet they were wondering why someone would get so nervous about a couple of guinea pigs!)

There was always a staff member watching over the pets during the flight and while staying overnight at Chicago. The pets were checked on every 15 minutes by the pet attendants.

Overall I am very satisfied with Pet Airways. The airfare is a bit pricey, but having a living person watching over my piggies while they flew in-cabin was a huge relief. I wish that they would fly to more cities. Los Angeles is the only city in California they fly to. I heard that they are looking into establishing flight to San Francisco, which would be awesome. I understand that they have added 3 more cities since my piggies flew with them (Atlanta, Omaha, and Phoenix).

Oh and their flight tracking system on their website isn't very up-to-date. It updates about 2 hours after an event (landing in a city, lift-off from a city). It also said that my piggies landed in L.A. when in fact there was still about 30 minutes before they would actually land. It didn't really take anything away from the full experience, but it would be nice to have actual live flight updates.

I would recommend Pet Airways if you must fly and can afford it. They aren't piggie experts, but definitely have a animal-loving staff who will pamper your piggies per your instructions.

If you have any questions about my piggies' experience with Pet Airways, please feel free to ask!

Thanks for reading :)

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Hunybee

Post   » Wed Jan 13, 2010 6:30 am


But how were the piggies when they landed? And did you friend take good care of them?? How was the transition to your new home?

Finish the story, :) pleeeeease?

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zazzified

Post   » Thu Jan 14, 2010 11:23 am


Thanks for the update! Very good to know. Communication goes a long, long way and it sounds like they're good about keeping you informed if you call. How'd the pigs take it?

kyleila

Post   » Fri Jan 15, 2010 1:12 am


The piggies were a bit nervous on the flight as expected, but they were did eat their food when they stayed overnight in Chicago.

My friend said they were a bit scared because he's a stranger but they were responsive and alert when he picked them up :)

I saw them 3 weeks later and they were well adjusted in their new home and popcorned as usual :)

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Hunybee

Post   » Fri Jan 15, 2010 5:00 am


Awww. I love happy endings. That would have been so hard for me because no one can take care of my babies like I do. I'm glad everyone is all together now.

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LynnK

Post   » Fri Jan 15, 2010 11:18 am


This is great news, happy endings are so special, I'm glad they are happy in there new home!

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