Not Happy With Dogtainers

[Lyla]

I sent a pup with Jetpets from Newcastle to Tassie, which required a change of flights at Melbourne. As dogs are lowest priority, they booked the Melbourne to Tassie leg with other freight, and made the pup stay overnight in Melbourne because "they had no room for it". Apparently this is standard practice that standard freight takes precedence over animals.

They were nice enough to give "free" boarding for the overnight stay.

[becks]

sounds like they over slept or messed up the time of the flight and so claimed to not be able to find your address for so long and it all just snowballed down hill from there. Shame the pups are the ones to suffer.

[ari.g]

Hope the pups are ok and not too stressed Hogz

[Stitch]

Definitely write a formal letter of complaint!

I have used that company for years but last time things went wrong with their organisation and it was very stressful!!

I will be using another company next time for sure!!!

[Rascalmyshadow]

I have heard a few bad stories about dogtainers I would personaly stick with jet pet. I hope your poor babies are ok, will someone feed them?

[Ravyk]

My sister's rescue cat was coming from Sydney to Adelaide - and ended up in MELBOURNE overnight. I'm pretty sure that was Dogtainers too.

How the hell did that happen?? It's not like there aren't direct flights Sydney to Adelaide.

[Linda K]

glad that the pups were OK, but not a good advertisement for service

[mona]

That is horrid and stressful for all involved.

I agree with Bilbo Baggins .... we have used them several times with no problems.... and I would definitely be writing a formal complaint letter demanding for both an explanation and compensation comensurate with what occurred.

[Genabee]

I'd be absolutely furious. I hope the pups are okay.

This has me worried as I am about to fly from Adelaide to Brisbane with my pup using Dogtainers. I hope they don't screw up

Why do you need to use a transport company if you are flying with the dog? Just take it excess baggage and drop the dog and crate off at the freight terminal before you check in. They will tell you how far before the flight the dog needs to be there. If I fly with a dog I also watch them load it from the tarmac before actually getting on the plane and watch it beign unloaded at the other end.

Not all airports allow animals in the terminal, which means they have to be sent as 'cargo' (ie. via AAE) and not as excess baggage. The time of day you are flying can also make a difference. I had this problem recently when I went to Perth. As no animal is allowed in the Perth terminal, I had to drop her off at AAE 1.5 hours before my flight... both coming and going. In this case, she was given priority to be on the flight, as I was also a passenger. It is still much more expensive to do it this way though, as they have their own mini airfare! That was my worst fear - her ending up in another city or missing the flight altogether!

When I came home, I actually saw her being taken off the plane (before the passengers disembarked!) - she came out the conveyor belt directly beneath my window and the AAE guy picked her up and had a little chat to her! That made me feel so much better, as I had spent the whole flight sobbing (very emotional trip) and all I wanted was to cuddle my dog! Lucky for me she flew fine both ways. If it had been a bad experience, I wouldn't be so open to doing it again.

A tip though for flying dogs, put a frozen water bottle in with them. It does increase the weight a little, but they are able to lick the condensation as it melts. Just don't forget to take the label off the bottle!

[piperspal]

OH Noes........ I have one due to come in on Monday, fingers crossed things go well......

[Bulldust]

JetPets here all the way we tried to fly a pup with Dogtainers once, they booked the flight, we get to the freight company we had to drop the pup off at, only to be told that the airport the pup was going to does not take animals after a certain time, and the flight the pup was just about to go on arrived at his destination way after the accepted time. They said Dogtainers should have known that! We were never contacted by Dogtainers again and the new owner of the pup had to fight them for a refund. We had to drive back the 4hrs home and had to re-book the flight a few days later. With JETPETS... and have never looked back.

[Brennan's Mum]

I'd be absolutely furious. I hope the pups are okay.

This has me worried as I am about to fly from Adelaide to Brisbane with my pup using Dogtainers. I hope they don't screw up

Why do you need to use a transport company if you are flying with the dog? Just take it excess baggage and drop the dog and crate off at the freight terminal before you check in. They will tell you how far before the flight the dog needs to be there. If I fly with a dog I also watch them load it from the tarmac before actually getting on the plane and watch it beign unloaded at the other end.

I just booked her onto my flight, we are hiring the crate through Jet Pets.

[flatchat]

While this wouldn't have fixed your problem Hogwartz, I think the biggest problem is that the airlines treat live animals the same as ordinary freight and if the flight is full, they can get left behind.

I had a big fight with Virgin Blue (the only airline out of Launceston that takes animals), in December last year as I was flying a puppy freight from Launceston to Perth. I booked via Dogtainers. I had him booked on the 6.30 am flight out of Launceston so he could connect with the 9.25 am from Melbourne to Perth and should have arrived there late morning their time. I had to leave home at 3.30 am to get him to the airport by 5am as he had to be there 90 minutes before the flight and I had to drive there. He left Launceston all right and was then left in Melbourne all day as the earlier flight was too full for freight.

Dogtainers took him to their depot to feed, water and toilet him but I was really angry and upset that the airline had done that to him!! I took it up with Dogtainers who basically said that they had no control over it so I then wrote to Virgin Blue suggesting they needed to change their freight policy!!

They must have known the 9.25 flight was full and if they had told me I would have kept him here until there was a flight he could travel on. The poor little mite ended up arriving in Perth at 7pm their time which was 10pm our time. Given that he was on the road by 3.30am that was a bloody long and traumatic day for the puppy, for me and the puppy buyers waiting in Perth as they had been told by Dogtainers he was arriving on the earlier flight and once they had driven to the airport were then told he was arriving that evening.

Live freight is not the same as other freight and should not be treated as such!! Of course Virgin Blue has not changed its freight policy and I hesitate to kick up too much of a stink as if they say no to live animals I have no way of getting puppies to the mainland by air. It just isn't good enough!!

Edited August 27, 2010 by flatchat

[*Bones*]

Terribly careless and inefficient service. Ensure Dogtainers know the depth of your dissatisfaction, and posting it here ensures that "the publc" are aware as well.

Hope the company does the right thing by the pups, and takes care of them overnight.

[indigirl]

When dogtainers is doing a pick up of an animals for me I phone the day before and the morning of the pickup to remind them to do it! I think that one of the ppl who works there has some.. challenges, and as such forgets things constantly. I also phone a little later to ensure the pick up was made, I never assume.

Theres no excuse for thier poor service to you HW, I would be really annoyed if I were you.

I fly dogs quite regualarly and always use dogtainers as I find their prices are the most competitive. I always avoid flying dogs on Fridays if possible as this is the day that dogs are most likely to get bumped from flights if there is too much baggage on the plane. I also always ask how many other animals are booked on that flight. I try to only fly them on flights were they are the only animal.

I will also only use my own crates. I am not convinced the pet courier services properly clean out crates between custmomers so I never risk it. Ive seen a crate being hosed out at the local airport after a dog poo'd in it. They appeared to be satisfied that the hose had cleaned the crate sufficiently.

I think dogtainers is fine to use if you know the precautions etc you need to take with them. Ive never lost an animal or had one not turn up. If the dog is flying to an airport ive not used before I also phone them to ensure they will accept animals at the time of the scheduled flight. The main airports I use are Sydney, Adelaide, Broken Hill and Mildura. Have also had flights going to/from Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane without any problems.

[D & D]

I had two baby puppies to go to Perth this morning, had DOGTAINERS promise they

Hogz

Any news on whether they made it to Perth today?

[Guest Ams]

I have had similar problems with Jetpets bumping dogs from one flight to another and not telling me. In one instance they put the dog on an earlier flight and didn't tell me until the flight landed and they wanted to know why I wasn't there to pick it up! I live an hour and a half from the airport and was NOT a happy camper when I had to rearrange my entire day to go get the dog.

[cassie]

This is horrible, I would be absolutely FUMING! Hoping the pups are ok

[Rottsup]

I sent a pup with Jetpets from Newcastle to Tassie, which required a change of flights at Melbourne. As dogs are lowest priority, they booked the Melbourne to Tassie leg with other freight, and made the pup stay overnight in Melbourne because "they had no room for it". Apparently this is standard practice that standard freight takes precedence over animals.

They were nice enough to give "free" boarding for the overnight stay. :D

That is the exact reason I paid a little extra for the flight and made sure my pup was on a direct flight from NZ to Perth. I was worried that with any stop over she would get "misplaced" and not make the change over in flights.

[Dju]

Another +1 for Jetpets. They give a breeder discount as well, which is useful, and out of all the companies I contacted for a quote to fly my baby over from NSW, they were actually the cheapest too. I didn't really like Dogtainers that much when I called them.. after I let loose a bit of shock that they were the most expensive pet transport company I'd called so far, it got mighty quiet on the other end :D