United Kingdom

After a massive volcano eruption in Iceland, pet friendly travel to Europe and the UK has been affected due to volcanic ash dangers.  We have been monitoring all of our pet friendly airlines to make sure that arrangements are being made for pets in transit or due to depart.

The latest updates include:

UK Pet Travel

Heathrow and all UK airports will remain closed for most inbound and outbound traffic until 19:00 Friday night.

However, not all outbound UK flights are cancelled.  Glasgow Airport had a departure this morning to Toronto. Belfast, Edinburgh and Glasgow look as though some flights my resume a little later, as there is a corridor of airspace which is free of ash at this time, allowing flights to Canada and North America.

Netherlands Pet Travel

Amsterdam Airport will stay closed until tomorrow, Saturday, April 17, until at least 6:00 AM. 
Pets in transit are being kenneled at the KLM Pet Hotel in Amsterdam.
To the right is a photo our agent in Amsterdam sent us of the skies over Netherlands.  Apparently it is so dark, it looks like it could rain any second but it doesn't.  It is just the ash in the air.

France Pet Travel

All PetSafe flights operated by Continental Airlines have been canceled to Paris for today.

We will continue to keep everyone posted on the status of flights to and from Europe in the UK.  If you have any questions about pet travel to these destinations, please don't hesitate to call our offices at +1-512-264-9800.

We moved these pups to the UK through the Pet Travel Scheme

Meet Lenny!  Lenny is a Persian cat moving from Vancouver, BC to London, UK.  He has one amber eye and one blue eye and is GORGEOUS!  He left tonight for his flight to the UK.  We're looking forward to getting some pictures of Lenny when he arrives in the UK but until then, he's going to nap and enjoy some Vancouver Olympics before his big flight to London!

Lenny is ready for his big trip to the UK!

Today we got a request for shipping a micro-pig from the UK to the US.  While these little guys are a whole lot of adorable in a tiny package, they're not easy to move. 

Because of swine flu (H1N1) concerns, shipping pigs (no matter how small) requires the shipper to fulfill all of the import requirements for importing swine in to the US.

This includes a sixty-day isolation period prior to export, an import permit from the US, and thirty days' quarantine upon arrival in the US.  Several tests are also required after entry, including tuberculosis and brucellosis tests.

The USDA has a full list of import requirements for shipping pigs to the US.

Or, if you're just here for the micro-pigs, check out this adorable video of Squeaky, a micro-pig at the Little Pig Farm in the UK!

One of the attendees at today's Social Media Breakfast event asked us if we'd ever moved a unicorn.  While our CEO finds himself hauling his daughter's stuffed unicorn around, PetRelocation.com mainly sticks to horn-less equines.

We're currently working on the logistics for a horse move from our hometown of Austin, Texas to the United Kingdom.  Horses can be complicated creatures, particularly due to their size and their very delicate personalities which can make them difficult to ship.  For these moves, it helps to have a former barn manager on staff (me!) -- I can answer all of the tricky hosre-related questions like "What's a Hanoverian?" and "What does 'hands' mean?"

Horse transportation to the UK is a pretty specific process.  The following steps are typically required:

Yesterday we wrote about the potential British Airways strike for next week.  The strike has now been prevented by an injunction in the courts, so if you're traveling on British Airways, you should be fine.  We'll keep you posted!

More on the strike from ABC News here.

If you are traveling with pets to London during the holidays, you'll want to avoid using British Airways.  A strike of their cabin crew from this upcoming Tuesday through January 2nd means cancellations for the entire fleet.  The UK's Telegraph has more:

The vast majority of BA flights are likely simply to be cancelled - with passengers facing a fight to make alternative travel arrangements in time. British Airways said it would offer customers a full refund, or the opportunity to travel at a later date. It will not, however, offer to pay for passengers to travel on another carrier. And compensation will only be paid after it has been confirmed the flight has been cancelled - something that could be decided at a few days' notice.

So what to do if you are needing to fly your pet to the UK sometime in the next two weeks?  Continental is a great pet-friendly alternative offering pet flights to and from London but you'll want to book early -- space for pets is filling up fast because of BA's limitations.  Or feel free to give us a call (877-PET-MOVE) and we'll make sure your pets arrive safely in the UK in time for the holidays!

Last week, OK! Magazine reported that Russell Brand, a British movie star (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) wouldn't live with his girlfriend, American rockstar Katy Perry, in the US because "someone has got to feed" his cat.  OK! went on to quote Brand as saying, "I am getting him a pet passport which means he can travel around as much as he likes."  He also quipped a bit about the funny thought of pets having passports, sounding much like the pet shippers around here.  "Unfortunately, they don’t do photos," Brand told OK! "I was really looking forward to that.”

If you're moving pets to the UK, you'll need to comply with the Pet Travel Scheme (or PETS).

However, what hapens if you are only having a layover with pets in the UK?  Do pets need blood tests or to be quarantined?  Where will your pet stay during the layover?  This is normally known as a "transit" or "transhipment" and the rules are a little different.

DEFRA, the organization that oversees all of the UK pet import/export legislation, asks that people transiting with pets in the UK in under 48 hours to follow these rules:

If an animal comes into and leaves the UK within 48 hours from the same port or airport this is called a transhipment. If you need to tranship your pet in the UK, you must arrange this before your pet leaves the country of origin. You must ensure that, while your pet is in the UK, arrangements are in place to hold and transfer it from one plane/vessel to another for export. The travel agent/airline/ferry company should be able to arrange this or, if your pet needs to remain in the UK for between 4 and 48 hours, provide you with the contact details of temporary holding facilities at the port of transit. No licence is required if such arrangements can be made.