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Hello, travel newbie here. I need to get me and my cat from the Cayman Islands to Bangkok. He’s a bit older, hates flying cargo, but is comfortable in the cabin with me and has done that before.
But for this journey I’m having trouble tying up the right flights. Anyone fancy a project to try to help me out?
Month: June or July
Leaving GCM to BKK
Carriers that allow cats in the cabin = Air Canada, Air France, KLM, Korean Air, Lufthansa.I would really like to check in once, hand my bags over, get all my boarding passes and forget about it. With a cat under one arm, and the pet paperwork needed, everything needs to join up so that I don’t have to arrive at one place, go right through arrivals and then pick up luggage, and then have to check in all over again. To do that he would need a whole new set of vet paperwork from the transit country, and that’s not possible without a 7-10 day layover. But if I book a series of 3 flights with different airlines, I don’t know how I could get it all to join up by only checking in once.
Can someone help please?
I was thinking Air Canada from GCM to Toronto to Paris. In the cabin, that all works. We’ve done that route before.
Then from Paris I can take an Air France to Bangkok, with puss in the cabin.
But as I don’t have a boarding pass for the Air France flight, I’d need to fully ‘arrive’, pick up luggage, exit…then go to departures, check in again at Air France etc…but now I am departing from France so I would need French vet paperwork which I wouldn’t have.
You can’t check in online with a cat.Wow, this sounds a bit of a tall order, Cayman isn’t the best-served destination!
Does Delta allow animals in the cabin (I know AA does, at least on US domestic)? One possible route would be GCM-ATL then onward to AMS or CDG on KLM/Air France.
Presumably there would be some kind of bureaucracy for each different country you land in though, with an animal?
Are you on Facebook? There are several groups for Cayman and quite often you see people posting about transporting animals via the US and Canada.
I don’t know if it would be possible to go the “other way”, e.g. Cayman Airways to Panama or Honduras, then somehow onwards from there 🤷♀️
I hope this is a permaant move and not just for a couple of weeks vacation as the latter would be very unfair on the cat.
What you want to do won’t be as easy to arrange as you think. Countries may have rules re vet exams etc even for animals in transit flying in the cabin. And airlines may also have their own rules. You many not simply be able to present yourself at the gate and assume all will be well.
You mention Air France but they don’t permit pets in Business Class. Other airlines may not permit pets on specific plane types or at specific times of the year. They may also restrict numbers so what will you do if your preferreed flight already has it’s pet allocation taken up or is the wrong plane type?
You need to do your own research on this closely checking each airlines and airports policy on transporting pets.
I hope this is a permaant move and not just for a couple of weeks vacation as the latter would be very unfair on the cat.
Yes this is a permanent move, and no, I can’t afford business class so that’s not a concern. And no I don’t expect to just turn up at the gate. I know it needs an insane amount of planning. That’s why I’m starting 6 months out. Thanks for your reply.
Presumably there would be some kind of bureaucracy for each different country you land in though, with an animal?
If I’m in transit, its OK. Like when I fly GCM to Toronto and then to Paris, I need an export permit for GCM and an import permit for Paris, but Toronto doesn’t need anything because I don’t leave and come back in again. It’s proper transit without passing out of security.
I think I’m going to have to make a 10 day layover in Paris to get new paperwork done there, and then fly direct Paris to Bangkok. A bit of a pain but I can’t work it out otherwise. Thanks for the alternatives for me to look at.
I think you need to speak to a travel agent to book what you want. If you book the flight from GCM to BKK on one PNR it should mean that even with two stops you will be a transit passenger and not need to go through immigration other than leaving GCM and entering BKK.
I just searched Google flights and came ip with the routing GCM-JFK-HND-BKK with the first flight on Cayman Airways and the second and third flights on JAL.
I know JAL allow cats on board kept in a suitable pet carrier. What I don’t know is whether Cayman Airays allows cats in the cabin and whether you can transit JFK and HND with a cat.
I know that Qatar Airways allows cats and even falcons (not the best combination you’d think) in the economy cabin but they won’t accept pets from connecting flights with other carriers.
I’d have thought via Canada and then either Paris or Amsterdam. You won’t encounter any checks on airside transits that way. I wouldn’t go through US as you’ll have to clear immigration
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