PILOTS N PAWS

Looking for recommendations for a safe and reliable long range transport service from the New York area to San Francisco. This is a person with a family pet who had an absolutely horrible experience with the airlines who almost killed her dog. Please note that this is not a rescue situation but rather an open inquiry to anyone to offer any suggestions for this kind of transportation need.

Many thanks in advance to everyone on the forum. You guys rock!

How big a dog is it? If it's small, having the owner carry it in the cabin of an airliner would be the safest and fastest solution, though expensive.

If it's too big to ride in a carry-on bag, it's going to be tough. Transcontinental transports are generally not practical via light aircraft due to the difficulty of finding acceptable weather for two or three days in a row -- not to mention lining up and coordinating eight or ten different pilots.

If the dog is well-behaved, perhaps there'd be a way to get him or her onto a charter jet flying a positioning leg? It's a long shot, but maybe worth a try.

-- DJK

I agree with the comments by DJK - probably not practical to expect a small plane, or series of them, to do this.
If the dog is a "service dog", he can fly in the cabin even if he is larger than a size to fit in a small carry-on. I've seen flights like this, with a good-sized dog in the first row bulkhead just sitting quietly at his owner's feet. To get the designation of "service dog" when you're not blind or deaf, you can ask a doctor to certify that the dog is necessary to be with you due to an anxiety or other psychological condition. (This doesn't work in all States, tho.)

Another possibility is to go to Craigslist (or similar) and check the "rides offered/wanted" section. It's possible there might be someone driving a vehicle from New York to the west coast posting for some company, who would be willing to take the dog too.

Good luck,
--Carol

New York to San Francisco is a busy route for private jet and general aviation traffic. I would suggest that your friends begin asking around at the companies that service and support such airplanes to ask about getting a dog taken on board a flight. There are corporate and private planes flying empty all the time.

Start looking at the organizations on the bottom of the AirNav.com page for Teterboro Airport -- (http://www.airnav.com/airport/KTEB) Because the crew on such planes won't want to deal with the dog on the ground, the owner will need to plan on taking the dog to the general aviation terminal at a New York City airport just before the plane's scheduled departure, and having someone else agree to meet the plane on the other end in SF.

Another option would be simply to pay for places on a jet making the trip for both owner and pet. If you are flexible about when to travel, this could be reasonably economical. Check with the charter companies; http://www.jetsuite.com/suiteshare is another approach.

Cheryl
Roads Of Hope

Thanks to everyone for all the great suggestions. We found some ground transport the whole way so looks like we're all set.