PetAir UK – Using your own crates or not?

Own crates or not – that is the question!

Many clients call us to arrange the movement of their pets and advise us that they have their own crates, which is perfectly fine. Using your own crate saves our clients the cost of buying a new crate, but most importantly means that your pets are going to be travelling in something which is familiar to them, so all in all if the pet travel crate can be used then fine.

Quite often a pet has flown in to UK in the crate and now wants to fly out again. The problem with this is that the airline check in staff in UK seem to be much more strict on deciding if a crate is adequate of not. So even though your pet has flown perfectly well into UK, we may get to check in and then be refused travel out of UK. Then there are all sorts of last minute dramas trying to get things arranged and planned, which is not good for the pets or the owners.

We know it seems like we are being overly pedantic in checking that crates are adequate, but the main reason behind it is to try as hard as we can that there are no last minute dramas. PetAir UK team are just the messengers in this and we are trying to predict and solve a problem before it becomes unsolvable, so please don’t get cross with us – we are trying to help. Many other pet shippers don’t bother to check this and put in their terms and conditions that if the crate is not adequate then you will need to pay for a whole new flight. Which adds to stress and cost at a time when you really don’t need any more stress or extra costs. PetaAir UK takes the pro active stance that we investigate and check the potential problem before ti happens rather than react to it once it has happened.

The rules regarding if a crate is adequate or not tells us that the pets must be able to turn around in the crate, lie down on their fronts with their legs stretched out (in the “sphynx” pose) and stand up in a “natural” position without their heads touching the roof. The easiest and simplest way to check if a crate is going to be adequate is to measure your pets head height from the floor to the top of the head and then measure the internal crate height. If your pet is taller than the size of the crate then it is not going to be adequate.

The team at PetAir UK help with around 2500 pet moves each and every year and we will do all we can to help and advise on what is going to keep your pets safest and most comfortable. But also we want to give the very best advice to try to reduce the chance of any last minute hiccups in the very difficult and complicated process of flying your pets abroad.

Fri Jan 29 2016