As I stated in my previous post, I am flying down with my Dog, Dezzie...a Westie. He is a little too big to go in cabin, so off to baggage he goes My question to all of you is what is the weather like in late October? I ask because airlines won't fly him if any leg of the trip is 85 degrees or higher. I was there last October, and it was right after like three weeks of rain. It was pretty cool. Do you think I may run into an issue? They don't make a decision until that day, so this could really put damper and alot of confusion on my day. :cry:
Tori - Have you checked with Continental Airlines? That's what we have used, and continue to use! We have tons of friends who've done it as well all months of the year....
Hey new BFF!!!! :lol: Since Dezzie can't go in cabin, Continental doesn't offer Pets as Baggage, so he would have to go Cargo, and it is REALLY expensive. Almost $600. YIKES!!! So for that reason, I decided American Airlines as it's only $125, but there's the Temperature issue. We have a layover in Dallas, and that is 10-11:30AM, and I am thinking it's not above 85 at that time that late in October. We land in Cancun at 1pm...that is my concern.
Unfortunately no one can predict weather that far in advance , so yes, you are taking a small risk ,it is possible for Cancun to have temps in the 80s during October. Good luck. Tracey
LOL - New BFF!! I'm so excited! LOL! I will be waiting for you at 1pm then! Not sure how bad the temps are going to be - I can't believe they won't allow you to have him in the cabin? Kiara goes right under the seat with me!
Tori - The average high in October in Cancun is 87 degrees F...avg low is 74 degree F...so you may have a problem. We fly rescued street dogs out of Cancun all the time so we've done this a lot, but going the other way. The best way to plan is to fly on a direct flight first thing in the morning or even overnight, so when you land it's still not hot yet here. American is good, but like you said, if it's hot they won't let the dog on the plane. And if they wreck your plans then you will wish you'd gone with Continental. Continental is expensive but they have temperature control in their cargo, so that's good. Continental can't fly animals into Cancun on weekends for some reason. Also SAGARPA, the Mexican govt agency that is in charge of examining all animals that enter the country, don't work on Sundays...or maybe not on weekends, I'm not sure. If you try to bring a pet in when there's no SAGARPA agent on duty you and the pet will have a tough time, they are not nice about it. So check on that too. Best is to check with an airline rep HERE, since the airline reps in the States don't seem to have full info on how things work in Mexico. When I flew my pets here the airline reps in the US kept changing the rules and the price...then I got here and found out they'd done everything wrong. We had a big delay and I wasn't even allowed to give my animals water for two hours. It was horrible...and it was a Sunday...so definitely find out from someone HERE what you need to do. Don't trust the airline reps there to get it right. This is a great introduction for you to Mexico's bureaucracy! Good luck.
Dezzie is a little to big to go in a crate small enough for in cabin. I tried and he FREAKED out. The large on for baggage is posing a real pain too. He's spoiled, but I will get him in there. RG - Thanks for all that great info. There are two airlines running non stop to Cancun from Philly, USA 3000 doesn't allow animals in any capacity, and US Air only accept in Cabin. I tried every which way to do this to accommodate everyone, and my only option was AA with the connection in Dallas. I guess I will just have to keep my fingers crossed and hope for the weather to be overcast and on the cool side. Continental was way out of my price range with the cost of everything else that needs to be taken care of. We are flying on a Monday so I hope I don't run into the issues with SAGARPA. But I will look into that a little further. Luckily I do have someone here that doesn't want Dezzie to leave, so if I need to leave him for a month or two, as much as it will pain me, I will have that option. I really hope this all goes as planned, but what ever does.
I just moved here from Philly...feel free to private message me if you want, but here are the details... I moved down here at the very end of July. After a lot of research, the only airline that would take my dog (22 lb. poodle mix) as checked baggage at that time of year was Mexicana, so I made the decision to fly out of JFK, as they had an early morning flight that left at 8:55 and arrived here at noon. They didn't have the same restrictions as the US carriers regarding temperatures upon departure or arrival...in fact they didn't have any restrictions. They assured me the compartment for pets was pressurized and air-conditioned. It cost me $90 to fly him as checked baggage. Everything went smoothly...Henry arrived on the carousel at Cancun in great shape. I had to be at JFK 4 hours early (although 3 would have sufficed...I had to wait an hour for the ticket counter to actually open). Even more important...the dog documents!!!! Make sure all your dog shots are up to date ONE MONTH before you leave. HAVE PROOF of rabies, dhpp, lepto AND MAKE SURE YOU HAVE PROOF OF A HEARTWORM/PARASITE TEST. You will need one piece of paper saying all those have been done 30 days before entering Mexico. You will also need a paper within 3 days of entering Mexico stating that the vet certifies your dog is in good health. I didn't have the heartworm test, and once I got to Cancun, it was a problem. They had to call a local vet to come and do a housecall (to the airport), and give him a heartworm shot and fill out some papers. It cost me $50US, and took about an hour...not a big deal but you can avoid it. The people at Customs were very nice, but we couldn't get out of there until the vet came and made everything official. It wouldn't have happened if everything had been in order...but nothing on any website told me exactly what was necessary. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE HEARTWORM/PARASITE TEST, and that it's included in the paperwork that you bring for the dog (I had triplicates of everything). Any questions, let me know...happy to help and best of luck bringing your pooch.
I once flew a Golden Retriever from MT to MN and he hated the crate so we got a "doggie downer" (for lack of a better term) from the vet and that relaxed him for the flight and he was fine for the trip.
Tom..I send you a PM...great information to have. Thank you!!! Gonzo..when i go to the vet I will ask them about about something I could give him. But i hear alot of Vets are against meds...even some airlines won't fly the animal if it is sedated. I will check with American Airlines about it
