Dogs On Planes

[mmoon]

Glad to hear it...just make sure your health certificate is still valid before you fly. Not sure what the exact rules are now for US-Arg, but coming back from Europe, it was only valid for six days.

 

[bobsnowpuppy]

Cert is valid for 10 days for Argentina

 

[Noruega]

Glad to hear it...just make sure your health certificate is still valid before you fly. Not sure what the exact rules are now for US-Arg, but coming back from Europe, it was only valid for six days.

Mmoon, do you know if the health certificate can come from any vet, or does it has to go through the authorities in the country? I am asking for a friend flying in from Europe. I read the Senasa website but it only says health certificate, nothing specific from what I can see. On the way out, he used Las Lunas but they don't do incoming it seems, and it doesn't really seem necessary. (They gave me the name of a forwarder in Europe, though.)

 

[mmoon]

Hmm, I think it depends on the two countries. We were flying from Italy to the US, and we had to get a good health certificate and rabies vaccination certification through the official Italian authorities. Both certifications only were good for six days, so we had to time everything at the last minute in case the temperatures on the east coast went up (thankfully they didn't) and we had to delay our flight back. Interestingly, the complicated certification paperwork had to be done to get our dog out of Italy (even though she is an "American" dog), but all they needed in the US were health and rabies certificates.
Hope this helps somewhat. I got all of the up to date information on the Department of State website. The Italian websites had conflicting information.

 

[Noruega]

Hi mmoon, thanks for this!!

 

[kaeris]

I just flew to BA direct from Houston a couple of weeks ago on United with my dog in cargo. While I don't think any U.S. airlines are that great anymore, United does have a PetSafe program where you drop off your dog at their cargo facilities before the flight. The facilities and vehicles used to transport the dogs are all climate controlled and the dogs are the last items to be loaded on the plane. So, this allayed a lot of our concerns about the weather in Texas at this time of the year.

The flight to BA was uneventful, but be aware that it will take several hours to get your dog through customs once you arrive in BA. It took us about 4 hours of going from office to office at the BA airport getting stamps and signatures before we got our dog out. There are some pet import fees and cargo storage fees so have some pesos and USD available. Speaking some Spanish will be helpful since most of the offices at the BA airport won't be able to speak English.

Also, be sure that you have a USDA health certificate endorsed by the USDA dated within 10 days of travel and the dog's rabies vaccination certificate.

 

[bobsnowpuppy]

Kaeris,Thanks so much for your post. I had kind of forgotten about how long it can take to clear pets through customs - I will have my ride come later. Also, do you remember how much you needed for fees in pesos? I have 2 dogs so I suppose it will be twice as much. I got lucky and a cold front came in through the middle states, so I get to fly as planned on Saturday through Dallas. I am flying AA as I had miles I needed to use. I have all the required paperwork.

 

[bobsnowpuppy]

Kaeris, did you have your health certificate transflated into spanish for Argentina?

 

[bobsnowpuppy]

And, did you have to have the translated documents stamped by an Argentine consulate in the States before traveling?

 

[bobsnowpuppy]

Got in this a.m. on American. Paid $540 pesos total for 2 dogs and zoomed right thru Ag counter and customs to load car in less than 40 minutes from touch down. I also had 4 overweight bags fully loaded with goodies and was smiled and waived thru. Some comments: my dallas flight beat the miami flight AND i came in on sunday, i butcher spanish, but they seemed pleased i tried, i have bichons - kind of cute, a security guy stuck with me to help til i walked out (tipped him VERY well), single blond woman traveling alone...damsel in distress?!