pet logistics services, pet airline restrictions, international pet travel airlines, pet travel airlines, pet shipping airlines, pet travel airline requirements, pet travel requirements, pet shipping requirements, pet shipping restrictions, pet transportation logistics, pet shipping logistics, pet travel logistics, pet air travel logistics

Top 5 Pet Airline Carriers & Restrictions

Preferred Pet Airline Carriers & Their Requirements

Click on the pet airline carrier's logo below to review general pet shipping information for the top commercial airlines frequently used by The Pet Porters. Why? They are the best at proper handling and care of our client’s pets while in transit. Each listed below follows the guidelines of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in the Live Animal Regulations (LAR). The LAR, published annually, must be followed by all involved as it specifies the shipper's and carrier's responsibilities, container requirements, labeling and handling procedures, etc. The Pet Porters team holds an IATA LAR certification for continuous learning of new rules and regulations issued by IATA.

Domestic Pet Airline Carriers & Pet Airline Restrictions

Preferred Domestic Pet Airline Carriers for pet air travel across the US

Alaska Cargo Pet Connect™

minimum age requirement of 8 weeks for cats and dogs and healthy to fly; cargo 100-500 kennel sizes accepted on most aircraft with the XXL or 700 kennel accepted on freighters only.

Breed Restrictions

Brachycephalic or “short-nosed dogs and cats are not accepted in cargo – no exceptions. The following breeds may still travel in-cabin as long as the pet meets the minimum age requirement and fit properly in the accepted pet carrier under the seat.

Restricted Breeds: Dogs

Boston Terrier, Boxer (all breeds), Bulldog (all breeds), Bull Terrier, Brussels Griffon, Chow Chow, English Toy Spaniel, Japanese Spaniel/Japanese Chin, Mastiff (all breeds), Pekingese, Pit Bull (all breeds), Pug (all breeds), Shih Tzu, Staffordshire Terrier.

Restricted Breeds: Cats

Burmese, Exotic Shorthair, Himalayan, Persian

American PetEmbark™

Confirm eligibility to fly in cargo.
1. Over 8 weeks and healthy to fly.
2. Confirm route and aircraft.
3. Confirm temperatures are forecasted to be 85°F or below.

Breed Restrictions

Brachycephalic or “short nosed dogs or mixed breeds of snub-nosed dogs and cats are not accepted in cargo – no exceptions. No breed restrictions for in-cabin as long as the pet meet the minimum age requirement and fit properly in the accepted pet carrier under the seat.

Restricted Breeds: Dogs

American Staffordshire Terrier, Affenpinscher, Boston Terrier, Boxer (all breeds), Brussel Griffon, Bulldog (all breeds), Cane Corso, Chow Chow, Dogue de Bordeaux, English Toy Spaniel, Japanese Chin, Lhasa Apso, Mastiff (all breeds), Pekingese, Pitbull, Presa Canario, Pug (all breeds), Tibetan Spaniel, Shar Pei, Shih Tzu.

Restricted Breeds: Cats

Burmese, Exotic Shorthair, Himalayan, Persian

International Pet Airline Carriers: British Air, KLM and Lufthansa

Pets traveling internationally most often must fly as manifest cargo in the belly of the airplane. This can be a scary thought for many pet parents. While selecting the shortest route for your pet is essential, choosing the right pet-friendly airline with team members trained to manage your pet is also at the top of the list! Pets should always be “last on” and “first off” to minimize the time spent in the aircraft. Climate-controlled pet cargo receiving areas and ground pet transport to and from the plane are also necessary. Every pet move is unique! Working with the top industry commercial pet-friendly airlines only adds to the peace of mind we strive to give to our clients. NOTE: Due to Covid 19 situation, pet airline carriers have drastically reduced pet flight travel schedules and have enacted shipping embargos periodically due to staffing shortages.

British Air

The only way for pets to enter the U.K. is via manifested cargo unless pet is an approved service or emotional support animal. BA does not accept pets in-cabin or as excess baggage. Minimum age for travel to/from the USA is 10 weeks for dogs and cats.

Cargo Restricted Breeds

No dangerous dogs, Bulldogs or pugs. Heat embargo above 75°F for snub-nose breeds such as the Boston Terrier, Boxer, Brussels Griffin, Chow Chow, English Toy Spaniel, Japanese Chin and Pekinese.

KLM Airlines

KLM is a member of IPATA and requires customers to book travel for pets through an active IPATA team member. KLM follows the minimum age travel requirements for dogs and cats of the destination country.

Restricted Breeds

Dogs: English Bulldog, French Bulldog, Boston Terrier and Pugs. *Other snub-nosed breeds, except the four mentioned above, can be accepted but the kennel size must be one size larger than normally required.

Lufthansa Airlines

The minimum age for travel to/from the USA is 16 weeks for dogs and cats. Lufthansa normally does not enforce temperature restrictions except on snub-nose breeds of dogs and cats. Please follow this link for breed restrictions and additional details.

Cargo Restricted Breeds

NONE (however, must be mindful of destination country restrictions)

Restricted breeds for In-cabin travel

Dogs: American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Bull Terrier, American Bulldog, Dogo Argentino, Karabash (Kangal/Anatolian Shepherd), Caucasian Ovcharka (Caucasian Shepherd), Rottweiler

International Pet Air Travel

We specialize in domestic and international pet transport with the safety and well-being of your pet as #1 priority.

C Kemp
C Kemp

Just left us a 5 star review

When I moved from California to Texas, I sent my pets, Turbo and Duke, to Texas ahead of me. They stayed at The Pet Porters' beautiful location in Crowley. Jelena gave me updates and was very accommodating when I had to extend their stay. I had enough to worry about with my move, but I didn't have to worry about Duke and Turbo at all. The Pet Porters were excellent.

C Kemp November 21, 2022
google

The team at pet porters could not have been more helpful. My dog moved from Dallas to Sweden in September 2022 and even tho we had a few hiccups with the airline petporters looked after us all. Kept me up to date during my dogs flight, took him in as one of their own during boarding and overall lovely. Recommend 10/10. Thank you!

Emilia Almkvist November 11, 2022
google

Aloha, When you have a family of 6 (yes-six!) Aussiedoodles heading to Oahu from Texas, you MUST use the professionals at Pet Porters to navigate Hawaii’s stringent pet transport program! Jen and her team coordinated the entire process with minimal delays and even boarded our clan until airlines opened up for pet travel…… after nine weeks apart (waiting onTiters and temps to drop), we were reunited and the family is whole again! Mahalo Nui Loa and Thanks for the ride- Luna, Dida, Mercedes, Shadow, Leo and Kona

Joseph Pizzimenti October 27, 2022
google

Couldn’t have been happier to have worked with the Jelena from the Pet Porters! Our 11yo pitbull mix made it well to Germany and is enjoying his new home. We highly recommend working with the Pet Porters, saved us a lot of stress!

Hervé Fehrenbach October 4, 2022
google

When my brother decided to move to Australia from Los Angeles one of his biggest concerns was his Bernice, his cat. We looked at many different pet courier services and decided on Pet Porters. We could not be happier with our choice. Jelena was with us at each stage, solving problems, keeping us in the loop and following through on the dozens of details. Now Bernice is here with us after a long process and journey, she has settled in beautifully and Phil is very happy!

Greg tzinberg September 28, 2022
google

We moved cross country and had our dog relocated by Pet Porters. Jelena and Jen were great! Communication was frequent and helpful. Our dog was safe and happy and we loved getting pictures and updates as he road tripped to our new home. Their boarding facility is clean and spacious and we would definitely hire them again for help transporting or boarding our pup!

Becky & Jarom Wren August 1, 2022
google

A truly incredible service for people moving intercontinental and unable to move their pets themselves. Excellent communication the entire way and door-to-door delivery.

Caleb Sherstad July 30, 2022
google

Highly recommend! The owners are very trustworthy and caring, and always send cute and funny photos of our 4 fur babies having fun!

Laura Fewell July 7, 2022
google

We had been dealing with American airlines to transport our two larger dogs to El Salvador from Miami and I had a bad feeling about to situation. With our flight leaving in a week I found The Pet Porters online. I was put in touch with Jen on the Thursday, morning a week before our flight and by the end of the day she had the girls booked on a flight landing two hours after us in El Salvador. I can't thank her and her crew enough. I highly recommend them. Gary and Yvonne, Bonita Springs, FL.

Gary Tiedemann July 6, 2022
google

The Pet Porters are amazing! Your pets are in great hands with them! They are professional, kind and knowledgeable. I really appreciated all of the updates and photos along the way and could relax knowing my pets were safe and in very capable hands. Highly recommend!

Amy Romero June 27, 2022
google

It’s absolutely wonderful to have a company such as this to help with my relocation Thank you Pet Porters

Michael Devitt June 5, 2022
google

The best friend your loved pet(s) will ever have. I've been using The Pet Porters to take care of my fur babies for about 4 years and would never use anyone else!!! The Pet Porters is the real deal - if I could give 100 stars, I would.

Jennifer Holtan May 21, 2022
google

Jelena was outstanding! She is warm, friendly, funny and very knowledgeable about dogs. She transported our dog Miles from LA to Chicago, which took four days. She sent the most incredible photos of Miles at different sites across the country and kept in touch with us via text every few hours. We felt so comfortable with her taking care of Miles and we would absolutely recommend her. He had the best time! In fact, she is taking Miles on his next trip in a few months.

samantha wolinsky May 12, 2022
google

Pet Porters moved my pet from Texas to Colombia and they were able to make the process simple and a nice experience for my dog. They took care of all the paperwork necessary and kept me informed during the whole process. Their local agents were also awesome, and we're able to accommodate to all my needs. I will definitely repeat with them if I have the need in the future. Thanks

We had a wonderful experience with Jelena and her team. I would highly recommend them to anyone making a complicated international move. They took care of every detail competently and quickly and were very reassuring throughout the entire process (we were completely stressed about the whole thing, and we really appreciated their calm and level-headed advice and quick responses to emails and messages). Thanks Jelena and team, we appreciate you very much!

Vanessa Peters April 21, 2022
google

The pet porters went out of there way to make our move easy. .... my pups are very important and they were lucky to have the pet porters help the fly and travel safely to Germany. I would recommend the pet porters to anyone in a second. Thanks pet porters more than you know!!!

Devon Bullock January 22, 2022
google

Our dogs were absolutely spoiled by this cross country transport. We received multiple texts a day with updates and pictures from various sites and play time. Our dogs saw Graceland, an Air & Space museum, and the Grand Canyon! The 2,700 mile trip was safe and fun. It also helps that the price was 20% less than the bigger company our relocation service directed us to.

Mike Brown January 13, 2022
google

Helped us get our 75 pound staffy mix from Houston, Texas to Milan, Italy. Was very involved with the process and felt comfortable shipping him here! I would plan for the final quote being more than the initial just based on different circumstances that can happen.

Jazmin Zayas December 8, 2021
google

If you need help moving your dog, I highly recommend The Pet Porters. We recently moved internationally and needed to get our two large dogs overseas. Jelena took care of all the details and made the trip as smooth as possible. Neither of my dogs had ever traveled like this before and they were treated like royalty. Through out the trip, i received photo updates about how they were doing and constantly knew were they were. Moving is stressful on it's own, add in moving dogs and I was overwhelmed. The Pet Porters took away all that stress and made it feel effortless. I highly recommend them!

Erin OLeary November 22, 2021
google

Jelena was incredibly helpful and very responsive throughout the entire process. Our vet almost messed up in the end but Jelena sorted it all out.

Mannan Qazi November 17, 2021
google