Flying A Dog As Excess Baggage

[Jsk]

Ok I am looking at going and collecting my puppy from interstate myself.

I am trying to find out what is involved in flying your dog as excess baggage.

If I do this I will only have an overnight bag which will be a carryon so will only have the crate and puppy as checked baggage.

Anyways can someone please explain it all for me??

Thanks

*If it happens it will be from Tasmania to Brisbane and the crate and puppy will be under 10 kg.

[Pockets]

If your flying with Qantas, you get 23kg of excess baggage, so assuming pup plus crate doesnt weight more than that, then it would cost you nothing

[FranVT]

Yep that is what happened with Atlas and I! It was great! Virgin is a whole different story

[ellz]

If your flying with Qantas, you get 23kg of excess baggage, so assuming pup plus crate doesnt weight more than that, then it would cost you nothing :D

Actually...what you should put here is that it SHOULD cost you nothing! I'm afraid that Qantas/AAE here in Tasmania are very prone to making up their own rules on the day, depending upon who you get booking the puppy in at AAE (dogs don't go through the airport for excess in Tasmania, they go through freight).

[Pockets]

Gee that sux, then I would definately double check prior to going, they SHOULD fly for free

[ellz]

And something else that is worth knowing about is that if you book an animal to fly on a mid morning flight from Hobart, it is VERY likely that it will be bumped off the flight for foodstuffs that have come in from New Zealand for onshipping.

Oh AND I forgot to mention that Qantas are very prone to changing their planes with no notice as well so you might think your dog is booked on ok but you may get to the airport and find that it can't go because the plane has changed.

BTW Pockets, double checking before going is no guarantee unless you luck into speaking to the person on the phone who will be doing the booking-in over the counter...it can be THAT variable!

Edited August 2, 2010 by ellz

[oakway]

If your flying with Qantas, you get 23kg of excess baggage, so assuming pup plus crate doesnt weight more than that, then it would cost you nothing

Actually...what you should put here is that it SHOULD cost you nothing! I'm afraid that Qantas/AAE here in Tasmania are very prone to making up their own rules on the day, depending upon who you get booking the puppy in at AAE (dogs don't go through the airport for excess in Tasmania, they go through freight).

Aint it the truth.

[Pippa]

Qantas let you take the dog as excess baggage and anything above your 23kg is charged at 10 dollars per kilo. They also let you take the dog to the special baggage counter in the terminal, rather than as freight, which means less time in the crate, but this only applies to certain cities.

Info is on the website

http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airlines/t...-pets/global/en

Virgin Blue pets go as freight at a cost of 150 dollars.

I don't think Jetstar take animals.

[wintacove]

last time i flew a dog, it was with qantas going from mackay to sydney, when i booked with qantas over the internet it said that if a dog was going as baggage i had to ring qantas after making the booking and lodge it with them. Did all that, then when i got to AAE in mackay to put the dog on as baggage they said that was fine, but i still had to pay $55 for there time, so i got ripped, so much for it being free, other people i know up here have had the same happen even if they had no other checked baggage, so yep i think it is up to AAE what they do, whether to charge you or not.

[shazlm64]

Brought a puppy from Hobart to Perth back in May with Qantas. He had to be booked through the freight dept, even though I only had hand luggage and no other checked baggage. Freight costs were $50 as he and his crate were under 10kg. I also purchased a crate from them for $60 as I had heard they can be quite fussy about the type crate they allow. I had organised this from Perth and found the people in the freight dept. at Hobart to be very helpful. He arrived in Perth, no problems, but because he travelled freight I then had to go and collect him from the freight office in another part of the airport. I believe between Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane they can travel as excess baggage and can come out with all of the other baggage so you can collect them as you get your other stuff and go on your way. Hope this helps.

Edited August 2, 2010 by shazlm64

[Jsk]

And something else that is worth knowing about is that if you book an animal to fly on a mid morning flight from Hobart, it is VERY likely that it will be bumped off the flight for foodstuffs that have come in from New Zealand for onshipping.

Oh AND I forgot to mention that Qantas are very prone to changing their planes with no notice as well so you might think your dog is booked on ok but you may get to the airport and find that it can't go because the plane has changed.

BTW Pockets, double checking before going is no guarantee unless you luck into speaking to the person on the phone who will be doing the booking-in over the counter...it can be THAT variable!

You have scary info!!

Brought a puppy from Hobart to Perth back in May with Qantas. He had to be booked through the freight dept, even though I only had hand luggage and no other checked baggage. Freight costs were $50 as he and his crate were under 10kg. I also purchased a crate from them for $60 as I had heard they can be quite fussy about the type crate they allow. I had organised this from Perth and found the people in the freight dept. at Hobat to be very helpful. He arrived in Perth, no problems and because he travelled freight I then had to go and collect him from the freight office in another part of the airport. I believe between Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane they can travel as excess baggage and can come out with all of the other baggage so you can collect them as you get your other stuff and go on your way. Hope this helps.

Didnt know this!

In all reality I will prolly not fly down there myself because of the costs, the cheapest I can find is $457, where as just to freight puppy I have been quoted $150 plus crate.

[wayrod]

Virgin Blue Passenger Livestock rates are:

For bookings made ON or AFTER 24th September, 2009

Size Weight Fee (AUD) *GST Inclusive

Small Pet 0 - 10 kgs $55.00

Medium Pet 11 - 20 kgs $75.00

Large Pet  21 - 30 kgs  $100.00 

Extra Large Pet 31+ kgs $100.00 + $4.00 for every kilogram over 30 kgs 

with VB you require an airline approved crate which has a minimum of 4 nuts and bolts to hold both top and bottom sections together. If they do not have the 4 nuts and bolts then they can not travel with Virgin Blue, as baggage or as freight unless you use an approved wire crate (purchase or hire), which normally does not afford much protection for a young puppy.

Add to this your airline fares and possible accommodation, sometimes unless you are wanting a holiday and a couple of days break it is not worth the transporting as passenger baggage.

As a guide: Hobart Airport to Brisbane Airport (Airport to Airport) for (10kg pup and crate) around $140.00 plus price of crate.

I always have puppies transport in new crates, this way you can ensure that you pup has the best, no damaged crates, clean crates, less biosecurity concerns.

As Ellz has mentioned from Hobart you normally have to be at the airport early as later flights (late morning) normally have food Product from NZ; and pets are offloaded.

Qantas rates seem to vary from staff member to staff member.

Jetstar and Tiger Airlines do not carry pets, planes are not equipped with heating in cargo holds.

Edited August 2, 2010 by wayrod

[Monah]

everything ellz has posted I've found the same. I've flown animals from melb, bris, adel, and darwin and never found it any different. Always with qantas. aussie airfreight can be a rip off and I found that even though flying WITH the animals, I was better off booking through dogtainers, even though all animals leave from airfreight depot (where I dropped them, I did not have to go to dogtainers)

When leaving darwin I made a huge fuss about them not being on tarmac etc., I would be watching (they went with son) and all hell would break lose if I saw them left anywhere. It was very hot, november.

The cost of an animal travelling with a person is an awful lot less than the animal travelling alone, but of course then you have to buy your own ticket.

[ellz]

And I will add that I have availed myself of Wayrod's services a couple of times now and he is a dream to work with!