Jet Settin' Piper

The last time I flew overseas was back in 2009..and that's when I was returning from watching my cousin graduate from high school. Keep in mind, I had moved to Belgium two and a half months earlier, so I had just gone through the whole process of moving my entire life from California to Europe. When we moved, we had four dogs moving with us: Cali the Boxer, Izzy and Cole the Dachshunds and Macie the Dachshund / Beagle mix. Luckily, we were able to take all of 'em over there since Cali was considered "check in" baggage while the other three were allowed to be carry on. Might I add, we flew with Delta Airlines (which is in partnership with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines) and they even gave us a fat discount on all the dogs since we were military. Here's my post about what I dealt with in terms of Cole and the whole process of having a dog as carry on.

Now, I have Piper. So, I get to do this process all over again when it comes to bringing her back to Belgium with me. With the way my flight is scheduled, I'd be flying from Monterey to Los Angeles, Los Angeles to Heathrow (London), then Heathrow to Brussels. All of those flights were booked through British Airways, but apparently the flight from Monterey to Los Angeles is through their partnership with American Airlines. Shouldn't be a problem, right? Welllll it is. The little puddle jumper flight won't allow me to take Piper as carry on, and they don't have a cargo area that'd allow her to go in as checked baggage. So, I asked if I could skip checking in at Monterey and just go straight to Los Angeles (which is about a six hour drive from here) to get my connecting flights there in which I was told "NO". If I don't check in at Monterey, all of my other flights will be cancelled. Fabulous. I'm rather miffed considering this particular *snag* is really irritating (and expensive) because it basically boils down to: going from an American Airlines flight to British Airways doesn't work in terms of transporting a dog, even as carry on. So, British Airways..and American Airlines, you lost a customer. For life. It's great to know I spent $1k on my flight and you can't accommodate a 10lb dog for a 40 minute flight in order for me to reach my other connections. Seriously, you're fabulous. Keep up the great work.

After doing some research, numerous customer service calls to various airlines and talking to my father, it's been decided that I'll be flying on KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. He actually flew with them back in 2010 when he visited us and raved about how amazing their in flight service was. I ended up talking to their customer service line (they were SO nice!) and found out that there's room for Piper to be checked in since she wouldn't be able to fit under a passenger seat to be considered carry on. Even though I'd rather have her in the cabin with me, I'm just happy there's room .So, that's all taken care of, new tickets are taken care of and I'll be taking a straight shot from San Francisco to Amsterdam. In the long run, this is better anyway since that flight will only be ten and a half hours verses the original seventeen and a half hours I was gonna deal with between Monterey/Los Angeles/Heathrow. 

Now comes the fun part of getting Piper all set up for her flight. Since I've done this whole song and dance before, I know what I gotta do. She has to have a "Puppy Passport" (mainly a health certificate ) that's valid between 2-8 days before flight, all her shot records available, her hard shell carrier has to meet airline regulation..blah blah blah. Luckily, I know what I'm doing, lol. Even though she's a little 10lb dog, her height is what killed the notion of her being carry on since she's the actual height limit, not including the additional height of the soft carrier. After everything is all said and done, the soft carrier would've been 28 centimeters and the limit is 20 centimeters. Airline regulations state that the animal in the carrier should have enough room to fully stand up, turn around easily and is able to sit down comfortably under a passenger seat. If I crammed her in a small carrier (according to the weight specifications), then she would've been denied access cause it wouldn't have been comfortable for her..especially for ten and a half hours!

Luckily, I'm really familiar with an awesome Vet place in town called Romie Lane Pet Hospital .

My family has used them for YEARS (grandma, mom, me, etc), so it's not a shocker that I took Piper there to get a file started. She's only been there a few times, but the staff seems to really like her alot..mainly because she's really well behaved. Plus..no one can resist her little beard, lol. After doing a lil bit of research, I found the official forms that I'll need to take with me when I fly into the Netherlands as well as when I bring her over to Belgium. Just to play it safe, I'm getting a health certificate done for both countries because I REALLY don't want to deal with any little snafu's since I'm landing in one country and driving into another. Ahhhh the joys of traveling. 

I went over to PetSmart and picked up a hard shell case (the same type we used for our Boxer) since I knew that particular style was airline approved. You CANNOT use a hard shell carrier that has the snap sides! It has to be assembled with stainless steel screws (to connect the top and bottom of the kennel) and heavy duty zip ties. So, this is the one I got for her:

There's a company that I HIGHLY recommend when it comes to prepping a carrier for a flight ...I actually used 'em when we transported the other dogs during the move and they were FANTASTIC! It's called "Dry Fur" and they actually sell a variety of  "Pet Airline Kits"  ...mines the Small / Medium kit which includes:

• 1 Set Spill Proof CLEAR Kennel Food & Water Cups (Size Small Holds 1.25 Cups)
• 1 FULL Set of REFLECTIVE Live Animal Stickers/feeding instructions (5 Labels)
• 1 Set of Solid Metal Kennel Securing Nuts & Bolts  (8 each)
• 1 Set Cable Ties for securing snap latch & dial-latch
• 1 set of Hand Releasable Cable ties for securing door
• 1 Temporary Pet ID Tag
• 1 Laminated Kennel Tag for Pet’s & Owner’s Name
• 1 PET Airline Check-List & do it yourself instructions
• 1 CLEAR Document Storage Zip Pouch
• 1 CLEAR Reinforced Dry Food Storage Zip Bag

Here's how it looks when it shows up: All the contents that are listed are in the plastic baggy..I ordered the extra set of metal pieces in pink because I wanted to re-enforce the extra screws. 

It actually includes a "checklist' that you can follow to help finish prepping everything you'll need to do prior to the flight:

Here's how Pipers carrier looks once I switched out all the plastic screws for the metal ones, in addition to slapping all the stickers on...it's VERY solid and secure now! That's for sure! :

So at this point, I'm pretty much waiting for my final vet visit where they'll check her over one more time, then sign off on all the health certificates so she's clear for take off. Then the day before we head out, she has one last grooming appointment so she'll be all pretty since her scruffyness (wire hair) tends to get outta control fairly fast . 

Gee. Can you tell I'm a sucker for furry things or what? Piper is quite possibly the most expensive shelter puppy I've ever encountered, lol. Oh well, that's what I get for being an animal lover!