[John]

I will be taking a trip out to the North West to visit my family near Olympia WA end of June early July and would love to take Boo with me. Because I only have 10 days for the trip this year I will be flying instead of driving so I am a bit apprehensive about bringing her. I was wondering if anyone else here had experience flying with their lab that they could share.

I have already been reading up on it on Continental's web page. They do not say anything about an embargo on pets other than bulldog breeds but I am still a little concerned with heat since the flight back will be early to mid July.

 

[imported_Ninemiler]

I've flown with the girls in the past. My brother in law used to work cargo for AK Airlines, and he suggested the following:

On a piece of bright tagboard, - write something similar to this, "Hi. My name is Boo and I'm x years old. I am friendly, but this is my very first flight so I'm also a little scared. If you want to be my pal, please give me a snack. And if you have time, would you check my water and see if I have enough? When I'm nervous I get thirsty. Thanks for being so nice to me." Then tape the tagboard to the top of the crate. Also tape a baggie of small doggie snacks to the crate.

My BIL said the cargo handlers are always checking out the travelling dogs and they really do take the time to sweet talk and dispense treats/re-fill water bottles if the owner has tagged the crate.

You can also tell the flight attendant that you're flying with a pet and ask him/her to please verify that your Lab has been loaded. This info is really helpful and will put you at ease.

Also - I have never sedated my dogs during flights. They were nervous and happy to get out at the destination, but they flew quite well. And - the airlines will tell you when flight are off-limits for pets based on temperature extremes. Still...use your best judgement.

Have fun!

 

[nick_charles1]

You need to check with the airline, during the summer months some carriers will not allow animals in cargo.

 

[canadianlablover]

I have only flown my dogs once and I don't think it was a good experience for them. ONe thing that you might want to check is their policy on where the dogs stay before you check them. A good friend of my mom lived in Whitehorse, very cold up there and in the middle of winter, she looked out onto the tarmac where she saw her dog sitting out beside the plane in the middle of winter, snow blowing and him freezing to death. She freaked and it took her a good half hour to get him indoors until they were ready to load him up. A lot of companies have fixed their policy on this but find out if you need to check them a bit later than the rest of the luggage or what.

 

[Felix]

The Labrador of my sister has a trip last christmas from the Netherlands in to Spain by airfreight ;D

They've buyed a crate suitable for flying, and the total costs was some thing like 200 a 300 dollar

And Dunk (her Labrador) loved it!

 

[Trickster]

The only dog I have ever flown was my old Springer girl but that was a LONG time ago.

I know some of the breeders (labby?) have flown puppies out to their respective homes. You might want to try PM'ing her.

 

[imported_Jenica]

We have flown with Jenica once and overall she did great. She was not too impressed when the last few pieces of luggage were loaded in and during takeoff and landing, when she barked a little (yes, we could hear her in the passenger area). But other than that she did great.
We taped a sign with her name, picture, breed and phone numbers (cell phone numbers for departure and arrival cities and a local phone number at the arrival city) to he top of her crate. We also checked with the flight attendants when we boarded the flight that she was loaded in. She was not sedated, but she had a lot of exercise before the flights so that she was nice and tired. When we checked in with her, we asked at what time she would need to be handed over at the latest, so that we could limit her time in the crate to a minimum.

 

[jzgrlduff]

I wouldn't do it unless absolutely positively necessary. I don't like the idea of my boys in the cargo area, scared and alone.

 

[blacklabelias]

I wouldn't do it unless absolutely positively necessary. I don't like the idea of my boys in the cargo area, scared and alone.

me too

 

[DFWLab]

yea, i'm taking a trip later this summer, and the GF was wanting to take ours, but no way... i'm just not comfortable either letting them ...wheel off my dog, to sit god knows where, then stuffed into a cargo hold for a 5 hour flight....

if you end up doing it, please be sure to update us on the experience please...