We have used several airlines and have had pretty good experiences with most of them. However, there was been several problems over the past year with two different airlines. Just curious which airline you trust?

1) Delta
2) Continental
3) American
4) Other

Not trying to be critical of any specific one but because of MAJOR problems yesterday with one of them we are curious which one is the most trustworthy. Nothing is worse than having to call a puppy buyer and telling them that the airline has lost the puppy. And then AFTER they found the puppy they put it on the wrong flight to the wrong state. 24 hours later the puppy has finally arrived but little in the way of apology from the airline. ugh!

This is a question that I was just thinking about. I've never shipped a puppy except an adult collie to my pareents years ago.

All the puppies we have bought from other breeders in the past 12 years have been shipped mostly on Delta. My puppies always came to me into Seatac in great shape. Crates dry and clean, happy puppies, great people in cargo to deal with. They are very prompt in calling me up to let me know the puppy was ready for pick up at such and such time and there were no delays etc.

I read a list a while back that said Continental had the most pet deaths. It's a statistic they need to report to some governing agency (of course the agency escapes my mind right now )

I've used American & Delta, both nationally and internationally and have no complaints. I travel with my dogs (adults and/or puppies) with only one exception and that was years ago when I had to send an adult dog as freight on Delta.

By far the best dealings I've had have been with Continental. I ship from LAX (Los Angeles Int'l) and the people at the cargo desk have always been more than helpful and have gone out of their way to make sure my dogs were safe and comfortable. When I arrive at the counter, they are expecting me and have all the paperwork ready to sign! Their quikpak service allows them to be able to ship dogs in any kind of weather. The dogs are always the last ones on the plane and the first ones off. Their cargo holds are climate controlled as are the vehicles/area the dogs are kept in prior to going on the plane and as soon as they come off the plane. I've only had one change of plans where the dog arrived on a different flight and that was due to a shipment of dry ice on the scheduled flight. They do not ship live animals on the same flight (and for good reasons!)

I've shipped with Delta a few times and each time I've always had MAJOR problems with them. The last time I was shipping two dogs (one on Delta and one on Continental). The Delta flight was first. I arrived early and stood in line for 1/2 hour before getting to the counter and then given a hassle about the crate size and then being too late! Well DUH they made me stand in line for so long! I got my dog and went to the Continental cargo to ship the other dog. NO line, paperwork ready. I was in and out within 15 minutes! I asked about shipping the other dog with them as well and unfortunately the flights to his destination were full (and btw, they did not have a problem with my crate size!). But nonetheless I had to come back another day (7 hour round trip drive for me), and you guessed it, I shipped him with Continental. I will NEVER attempt to even ship Delta again! Now receving on Delta I've been ok with, but shipping from LAX-NO WAY!! LOL

Dianne

Continental by far!!! Have had problems with Delta and Northwestern.

I shipped an 8 week old puppy to Boston from Mpls/StPaul with Continental, via their petcare shipping and he arrived safe, sound, tidy and on time. I did not have to wait in line, inn fact they called me by name when I walked up. I recently shipped a 14 week old puppy to Vermont via Norhtwest's VIP shipping and that was smooth as well. In fact they made special arrangements for him so he would be in flight 3 hours less than originally planned. So far I am happy with both of those airlines. There was no wait with Northwest either.

I read that exact same thing- this isn't the site I found it on, but it is pretty telling, just the same:

http://www.thirdamendment.com/animals.html

Sure doesn't look good for Continental. I don't think I would ever use them based on these incident reports.

I work at the Mpls/St Paul airport and have seen, more than once, a Northwest employee chasing a loose dog across the airport. How these dogs "escape" from their crates is beyond me.

In one instance someone drove the Northwest pet transport van across one of the runways, without a clearance to do so I might add, as they were chasing a dog that had gotten loose.

Don't think I'd ever use Northwest!

i, retired finnair stewardess, followed long the story of the lost whippet, returning home from westminter show 2006. as far as i understand not found yet. got lost from delta at JFK, a very familiar airport to me....what disturbed me was, the whippet had been chased by several cars, owner not contacted at the airport, who could have assisted in immediate search.
i prefere people to come and personally fetch their puppies, and depending of size/age fly them in the cabin.
just one opinion.

I only have experience with Delta and Northwest. I haven't had to ship a puppy in a long time, but I've had 3 puppies shipped to me in the last 2.5 years, 2 on Delta and 1 on NWA. Delta was good in the sense that the puppies arrived safe and in great condition. But the wait from the time the plane arrived to the time they finally got my puppies to the Cargo area was extremely long. In one instance, I arrived 30 minutes after the plane landed to give them time to get the pup over to cargo, but I still had to wait over an hour. My pup arrived a little mad, but otherwise fine. I was livid at the customer service I received though. The pup that flew here on NWA wasn't so lucky. They got him to me quickly after the plane landed, but he had a big bump above his left eye and it was significantly swollen. I can only guess that they opened the crate to give him food and/or water, he tried to bolt and they slammed the door on his poor little face. He was fine, the swelling went down on its own within a few hours, but I was still upset thinking about what could have happened.

Here on the west coast, Alaska Airlines has always been super for me, both with the dogs being flown, and customer service.
I have also flown a dog with American and dealt with a lovely woman named Debbie who got me the best price and the best service imaginable. She had worked for American for 14 years and really knew how to treat people! It was actually a pleasant experience, not the nightmare I was expecting!

Putting things into perspective helped me when I had to ship a dog to my daughter a few weeks ago. I checked out Continental, and found their procedures to be very safe. I looked up the stats. While I noted that other airlines showed fewer deaths, losses or injuries, I found that Continental is a very popular airline for shipping animals, and one must figure that if you ship more animals, you're going to have more incidents. I had trouble finding the numbers of animals shipped on given airlines, but finally found this report:

Continental shipped 10,934 pets during the month of July 2006. With 6 incidents total, that is a 0.00054% incident rate.

:) Once I read that, I realized that it is likely that our animals are in more danger driving to the airport in our cars, than they are on the plane. That gave me some comfort (after I safely arrived at the airport in my car, that is!)

My son flew with the dog to Texas. The dog was flying to live with my daughter (he washed out of my breeding program, and my daughter had asked me for him). When my son found his seat, he was immediately informed that Mickey (the dog) was being loaded. He was then told that the pilot was aware of Mickey in the hold, and that he was adjusting the temps for Mickey. This flight had a layover (there was no straight through flight available). Once landed, the dog was removed before passengers, and my son was told he could view Mickey being removed from the plane. When he made his connection, he was again told that Mickey was on the plane, and again was told that the temps were being adjusted for Mickey's comfort.

My son was very impressed with the care, and Mickey arrived happy, healthy, and no worse for wear.

P.s.... grin... nobody asked my son if the cabin temperatures were comfortable for him, so he figured Mickey got better care than he did.

Hope this helps,
Dian

Shipping dogs today is a whole different thing since the whippet was lost at JFK. I would probably say that Continental has the best system now because everything is climate controlled, including the vehicles that transport the dog from the desk to the plane. I've also had very good experiences with Delta. And just like for people, mile for mile it's safer to travel in a plane than in a car.

One thing that has not been mentioned (I dont think) is that Continental also offers frequent flyer miles with puppy shipping!!! Not sure if the others do.

I have a American Express linked to my Delta Skymiles account and they give double points when you use your credit card to fly Delta (human, dog, doesn't matter).

FYI - the problem that we had was with Delta but I have used Delta a lot and NEVER had a problem until now. I hate to stop using them but the mess up was a big one (that meant the dog not arriving until 24 hours after she was shipped).

Guess they all make mistakes and a lot of it has to do with the PEOPLE working for that airline. Human error.

I have had wonderful experiences using Continental's Pet Safe program. The staff has always been great to deal with and there has never been an issue with the dogs.

Yesterday I flew a bitch from Honolulu to Portland via Northwest as excess baggage. It was really the only acceptable option for me personally and things went smoothly. I hope they go as smooth on Saturday when we fly home to Honolulu. I only have 1 other option for flying non-stop from Honolulu-Portland (Continental goes direct to LA but all other flights stop in Houston) but it's via cargo on an airline I'm not crazy about.

Aloha,
Kim

Hi-I can truly recommend Lufthansa-don't know if anyone's shipping overseas, but they do a very good job with animals. The number of dogs per flight is limited, though, so one must inquire quite a bit beforehand to assure "getting there".