Well, friends. It has been a wild and tumultuous journey that took months of planning and effort and money and stress, but our Luna has finally joined us in the UK! Here’s how we were able to fly Luna from the US to the UK, not just safely, but like a goddamn queen.
Back in June when I was accepted into my master’s program in Scotland, I had 3 weeks to decide to accept the offer. So Chris and I had a family conference to weigh our options, thinking through what it would look like to pick up and move for a year. There was a lot to be decided, but we knew one thing for sure: we wanted the three of us to go together. Mostly so we could take pictures of the three of us walking in single file lines all over the world a la Simba, Timon, and Pumba.
So I began researching how to get our dog to Europe, and friends, the options are pretty bleak. The most common option is to fly them as cargo (I won’t get into the details here, but this is a pretty dangerous and scary option for your pet and the ASPCA and the Humane Society urge people not to do it). There is only one transatlantic cruise that allows pets (The Queen Mary II), but it books out a year in advance, and it wasn’t taking dogs during Covid anyway. Plus I’ve since learned from other pet travelers that it isn’t a great experience. It’s a long 7 days for your dog that is mostly in a kennel that you visit a few times a day. So I did some digging and found a whole community of people on Facebook looking for the same thing: a safe way to travel where their pets aren’t given the same level of care as an overstuffed duffel bag.
There are 2 Facebook groups I became connected with, US/UK Dog & Pet Repatriation Charter Group and Chartered Air Travel with Pets. These groups are for regular folks to be able to come together and fly like rich people do, avoiding the commercial airlines pet requirements because if The Wedding Singer taught us anything, it’s that rich people get to do pretty much whatever they want. I found a group to split the cost of chartering a private plane 15 ways. To have the shortest possible flight that also worked for the highest number of people, we would fly from NYC to London.
For Luna to go through pet customs, she needed an up to date rabies certification and a Great Britain Health Certificate (basically a doc that says she’s healthy to fly, signed by a vet and certified by the USDA). I did so much research on this part of the process, since incorrect paperwork could get her held at international customs, kenneled for 2 weeks, or possibly even put down if she wasn’t behaving during the quarantine. And all that research said we should be good to go! So we took her to the vet, got her paperwork ready, and started on our road trip to New York.
Similar to humans who have to take Covid tests within a certain timeframe before their flights, dogs also have to get their documents certified within 5 days of flying. This meant we were already driving into New York when we got the bad news: Luna’s rabies certificate would not be accepted and she wouldn’t be able to fly. You can imagine how devastated we were, especially after all the time and effort that went into getting it right. What we learned is that the state of Minnesota certifies rabies differently than the rest of the country (and the world). They allow for a 4 week buffer in between shots and still consider dogs fully vaccinated, while the rest of the planet considers a lapse in vaccinations a lower dose and is only valid for one year, not three, making Luna’s vaccine from 2019 invalid for her 2021 flight. So we got her re-vaccinated for rabies, made a plan for her to join us in the UK on the September flight in one month, and started our overseas journey without her. Just two heartbroken Timon and Pumbas without our sweet little Simba.
I was really excited about getting to ride in the private plane, jet setting around the world with Luna like a celebrity, drinking champagne in fluffy bathrobes and smoking cigarettes through 8 inch holders like Cruella Deville (typical rich people stuff). But the September flight was right at the start of my classes, so I couldn’t be the one to take her. It is with a heavy heart that I now hand this over to Chris to tell you a successful story about how he rode in a private plane with Luna like a goddamn celebrity.
IT'S CHRIS TIME. I feel like Katie is downplaying how hard we got BONED (no dog pun intended) by our MN vet. On their recommendation we moved forward with the August flight despite our hesitations as they insisted we would be fine. We were, of course, not fine and had to do two back to back roadtrips and cancel every Edinburgh flight, train, hotel, and overall joy in our original plans and redo everything. Luckily, we were able to get her furry ass onto the next flight so she could do that Lion King dance to which Katie keeps referring.
So after about a month of bopping around Edinburgh, I flew back to NYC to meet Luna who caught a (third) cross country ride with Katie’s parents who moved their NJ anniversary road trip for us. Surely a romantic time for all three of them. (Honestly we could not have done this without them and are so grateful for their hospitality to our girl for a surprise month.) Now that we had the correct rabies shot in place we decided to skip the local MN vets and have all of our paperwork processed at the ARK at JFK, which was unbelievably easy and I highly recommend this for anyone else doing the same.
We brought Luna to the ARK, they filled out a few forms, and then a day later they sent the papers to our hotel. Simple. We shot the forms to our flight leader (shout out to Rose!) and she sent them to Sky Pets, a UK based animal custom agency, and they pre-approved all of our animals for entry before we even took off. It cannot be overstated how crucial Rose and the US/UK Dog Flight Group were to getting Luna over here safely.
The flight itself was at 9PM so the dogs would be encouraged to sleep on their normal routine and, ideally, not fight or pee everywhere. We had the dogs all meet each other beforehand so they would get along, and with the exception of a few dogs, everyone was pretty chill together. The owners of the aforementioned vocal dogs ended up building a small barricade on the flight so their pups couldn’t see anyone else and that worked perfectly. Luna also got her own seat so she had her own space and had a perfect view out the window.
It was a private plane, but imagine Katie’s earlier description of her Cruella celebrity flight and remove the fluffy bathrobes and replace them with ONE DOZEN DOGS. We did get cushy seats and fancy drinks and a *ridiculous* charcuterie board, but the main appeal of the flight was getting Luna to the UK so there wasn’t a ton of luxury. Most leg space or lap space was shared with your pup or the occasional neighboring dog that was stretching out or briefly exploring the area.
The flight took 7 hours and we landed at London Biggin Hill where a UK Sky Pets officer came onto the plane, scanned all the dog’s microchips, and then immediately welcomed us to England. It was absolutely worth the money to bring this integral part of our family here and see her flourish in Scotland.
Love,
Chris and Katie (and finally, Luna)
I love this post, I am also in the FB group hoping to fly soon with mine!! Thank you for such a fun read!