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For those of you considering an overseas move, as noted in part 1 of this post, pets can make the process much more complicated. Even though we are going to Culebra by boat and don’t have to deal with the airlines, it was only four short years ago when we came to the British Virgin Islands (BVI) from American Samoa and had to have our dogs fly quite a distance to get here.

When we left American Samoa, which according to Animal Help has a severe dog overpopulation problem, there was no question that our dogs were coming with us. It was our first time flying with pets and subsequently, along with all of the logistical chaos associated with moving ourselves overseas from the South Pacific to the Caribbean, there seemed to be an insurmountable amount of details and information that we needed to keep track of before we could fly with our dogs.

So, where do you start? For anyone looking to move overseas with a pet I would first enquire with your local state authority to discern if there is any standard paper work that you need to fill out in order to get your dog or cat on a plane and out of the country. At the same time (this should be done months in advance, not weeks!) I would call or go online to review the pet travel policy for the airline you will be flying on. The airlines sometimes enforce a “no pet flying” embargo and they typically do this to protect the animals during times of extreme heat or cold. In fact American Airlines has a policy whereby if it is 85 degrees or hotter they will not allow animals to fly in the cargo hold.

In closing, I cannot stress enough the importance of checking on required health certificates (both departure and arrival), airline pet travel policies (e.g. embargoes), cost, and quarantine requirements. For some additional resources have a look at:

Airlines:
American Airlines Pet Travel
Qantas Pet Travel
British Airways Pet Travel

Cost:
http://www.allpettravel.com/_Fees+and+Discounts.html
http://www.pettravel.com/0001216.cfm

Embargo:
http://www.delta.com/help/faqs/pet_travel/index.jsp
http://www.mauihumane.org/Adoptions/AirTravel/TipsAirTravel.asp
http://www.wellpetusa.org/airline_policy_on_traveling_with_pets.htm

Quarantine:
Hawaii Quarantine
Britain Pet Quarantine