General flying with guinea pigs

[peanut&bingo]

We are moving to Alaska from Texas, so our pigs will need to have their first flight! They can not fly with me carry on, so we are paying $125 per pig to fly with the other pets. My question- Has anyone flown their pig before? Any issues I should be aware of? Thanks for any help!

 

[lmarieaa]

I have always been curious about this too, as I may someday be in same situation.
I would not feel too comfortable with my piggies in the luggage compartment with all the other pets...I assume that this airline has the pets kept in the luggage area?...Just because I have heard many bad experiences from other people on how the carriers with animals inside are thrown and tossed around as any other piece of luggage would be.
But I really do not have any personal experience to speak of.

 

[trump_cinnamon]

The one time I traveled with my piggies on a plane, I was allowed to bring them on carry-on. So, I'm not sure.

 

[sealion]

I have the same concerns as you. This summer the piggies are going to travel a lot. They are going to fly from here (US) to Paris, take the train to go the my grandparents where they will stay during the summer, then they are going to take the train (or car) for 4 hours to go back to Paris to then fly to Tunisia where we are mooving...
I am taking them with me in the plane, I would never put my piggies in the luggage compartment. Luckly small animals are alowed on carry-on on the plane I'm taking. Are you sure they don't allow piggies to travel with you ?
They should have a comfortable pet carrier (not the ones for guinea pigs sold at most pet store, they are usually too small...) but a small cat carrier would work, and don't forget to put plenty of fleece in there because it does get cold on a plane.
I heard that giving them plenty of cucumbers is good for them since they would get plenty of water from it...
Hope is helps !

 

[fieryone]

Are you sure they won't allow you to carry them on? If you haven't booked your flight yet, here is a link to airline pet policies. I didn't click on them all, but the ones that I did click on DO allow pets in a small carrier as carry on luggage.

(broken link removed)

 

[hydrohoki]

I have the same concerns as you. This summer the piggies are going to travel a lot. They are going to fly from here (US) to Paris, take the train to go the my grandparents where they will stay during the summer, then they are going to take the train (or car) for 4 hours to go back to Paris to then fly to Tunisia where we are mooving...
I am taking them with me in the plane, I would never put my piggies in the luggage compartment. Luckly small animals are alowed on carry-on on the plane I'm taking. Are you sure they don't allow piggies to travel with you ?
They should have a comfortable pet carrier (not the ones for guinea pigs sold at most pet store, they are usually too small...) but a small cat carrier would work, and don't forget to put plenty of fleece in there because it does get cold on a plane.
I heard that giving them plenty of cucumbers is good for them since they would get plenty of water from it...
Hope is helps !

Are you sure they won't have to be quarantined when you go through customs?

 

[lissie]

Fieryone, Thanks for the link. I don't have any plans to travel with my pigs, but it sure would come in handy if I ever get laid off and have to move back to Asia.

 

[fieryone]

You're welcome. We don't have any plans to fly with the pigs either, but if we ever had to for some reason I'm glad there's a pretty easy way to find out the policies of each airline. I know that it can't be avoided with larger dogs and such, but I don't like the idea of any pets traveling in the cargo area. It must be terribly frightening for them.

 

[Ilovemypiggies1]

I agree Fieryone, i don't travel that much so thankfully i don't have to worry about bringing my pigs on an airplane, maybe a car though. It probably is very frightening to these little sweethearts in the cargo area because there would be other animals too like big dogs barking etc. and they are probably thrown around just like luggage too like some of you said.