British Airways Airline for Pet Travel

Your pets are part of your family, so it’s important that they get to travel in style just like you. When you’re travelling overseas, you need to ensure that your pet is completely comfortable on a plane. British Airways is the United Kingdom’s national airline, it was formed in 1974 by merging of the then two largest UK airlines, British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) and British European Airways (BEA).
British Airways has a good reputation for pet travel.
In most cases, your pet will be asked to travel in the hold, where they’ll be allocated to a special compartment, just like a doggy VIP lounge.
Recommendations
Preparing for Hold Travel
British Airways works with IAG Cargo to support the safe and secure transport of animals overseas. They’ll be accompanied to the airport and throughout the check in process by us, to escort and make them comfortable on the plane. It’s essential that British Airways is notified a minimum of 7 days prior to your departure to ensure they’ve got all of your documents in order and to correctly accommodate your pet on the flight based on their individual needs.
British Airways accept: dogs, cats, birds, small mammals, small reptiles and tropical fish. Larger animals such as cattle and horses, will need to be accompanied by an agent in the hold at all times and may require further documentation for this.
You’ll need to ensure that your pet has had their vaccinations for the country that they’re travelling to at least 10 days prior to your flight. Your veterinarian will provide forms to state their legitimacy and their state of health. These forms will need to be provided to British Airways prior to travel. If your pet doesn’t pass a full health check, they may not be allowed to fly. (This includes certified assistance dogs – if your assistance dog doesn’t pass a health check, this may also delay your travel plans). Some vets provide housecall services to make this easy on the export schedule when you will likely be very busy. A good example of housecall only vet is www.homevet.com.hk and this (our sister company) we often work with.
Once you’ve checked in your bags, you’ll need to report to the IAG Cargo desk as soon as possible. Ideally this should be 5-6 hours prior to international flights and a minimum of 2 hours before domestic flights. This is when the team hand over your animal and ensure they’re in a secure carry cage for travel.
Because of where your pet will be held in the aircraft, extremely low or high temperatures can have negative effects on their health. If you’re travelling to or from a place where the temperatures are lower than 7 degrees Celsius or above 30 degrees Celsius, then your pet may not be allowed to travel. You’ll need to consider this when travelling to countries with extreme weather conditions and plan your journey seasonally where possible.
Travel cages must be IATA compliant to be allowed on the aircraft. You will need to ensure that:
If your pet carrier doesn’t adhere to these instructions, your pet may not be allowed to travel.
Cabin Travel
There are certain rare circumstances where your pet may be allowed to travel in the cabin with you. This is beneficial to them as they’re constantly reassured by your presence and it’s also great for you because you won’t need to worry about them for the whole journey – they’re your babies, after all. In most cases however for BA, they need to travel in the hold, but don’t worry, hundreds of thousands of pets travel like this annually.
If you have a registered assistance dog, British Airways mayallow you to travel with them alongside you in the cabin. You’ll need to contact British Airways prior to your flight to arrange this and discuss with them well in advance. This is because they may need to limit the number of dogs on board to avoid issues with other passengers with allergies or dog phobias.
You’ll need to ensure your dog is officially qualified as an assistance dog to help with a disability. To do this your dog will need:
Unfortunately, emotional support dogs aren’t able to travel in the cabin as an assistance dog unless they’re medically certified by Assistance Dogs International or the International Guide Dog Federation. This is because, without proper certification, they’re still officially classed as house pets. They will need to follow the pet conduct instructions for hold travel.
Other Travel Restrictions
There are a few other reasons that your pet may not be permitted to travel.
Summary
British airways are great for pet travel as they recognise the anxiety that you’ll have with your pets travelling alone and will support you in any way they can. If you do have any special requirements or your pet has any medical issues, make sure you contact our customer service team ahead of time to ensure the airline can accommodate them comfortably.