Long Flight - Crate or Carry-on

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TripleD

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Nov 14, 2012
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Location
Nanning, , China
Fufu, my rabbit, is currently with my wife in China. We are planning on bringing him to Canada. Here's the problem: the shortest possible flight I can get is 19 hours (with crate) or 20 hours (as carry-on).

Which do you think would be less stressful? Most of the guides regarding travel reccomend taking them as carry-on, but I get the feeling they are talking about short domestic flights (4 hours or less). I'm worried that he'll get even more stressed out if he's stuck in a tiny carry-on bag and unable to stretch out and sleep (his preferred position).

That's leaving aside the fact that United (as far as I can tell the only airline that lets rabbits travel in-cabin internationally) only flies out of Beijing and Shanghai, which means we'd have to travel there first, adding another 4 hours (by plane) or 10-15 hours (by train) of travel time.

Does anyone have experience with long international flights? Any recommendations?
 
Have you talked with United to see what kind of conditions he would be in if he flies in a checked on crate? https://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/travel/animals/petsafe.aspx

Here are some great websites that could help with suggestions:
http://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Traveling_with_a_rabbit
http://www.rabbit.org/journal/2-12/to-fly-or-not-to-fly.html
http://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/International_import_regulations_for_pet_rabbits
And this important link talking about what you can bring into Canada with the rabbit because it looks like you will need to apply for a permit and do some other things:
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/animals.../pets/rabbits/eng/1331850639367/1331850850188

Good luck!!!
 
Have you talked with United to see what kind of conditions he would be in if he flies in a checked on crate? https://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/travel/animals/petsafe.aspx

Here are some great websites that could help with suggestions:
http://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Traveling_with_a_rabbit
http://www.rabbit.org/journal/2-12/to-fly-or-not-to-fly.html
http://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/International_import_regulations_for_pet_rabbits
And this important link talking about what you can bring into Canada with the rabbit because it looks like you will need to apply for a permit and do some other things:
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/animals.../pets/rabbits/eng/1331850639367/1331850850188

Good luck!!!

Thank you very much for that advice. Sorry for the delayed reply; I called CFIA that afternoon and they told me they could do a quarantine inspection the next day. I had to get the room ready so this is the first chance I've had to sit down.

No word about the airline yet; I'm going to contact United and Air Canada to see what there exact policies are. But I did find some info about importing rabbits that may be useful to anyone that finds this thread while searching:

1. In Canada, rabbits need to be quarantined for 30 days. Luckily you can do this at home if you can set aside a room for that long. You do have to have a CFIA officer visit your home and approved it though, but that can be arranged by calling their office.

2. There's a page, not linked to in the "import" section oddly enough, on the canadian government website called "AIRS" that lets you search the diseases your rabbit must be inoculated against.

http://airs-sari.inspection.gc.ca/AIRS_External/english/decisions-eng.aspx

The subsection is "live animals -> other live animals -> rabbits and hares -> rabbits -> (continent coming from) -> (country in said continent) -> travellers and personal use"

Will keep updated with crate/cabin choice and results.
 
where does the crate travel? hopefully not in compartment that is not heated?

I would also do carry-on. are you allowed to have him in a carrier with increased size? I know it means more weight for you to carry so this all isn't easy.

Maybe a train to the capital sounds like a good idea but i am not sure (that means more time)
I would say, if the bunny left alone for such a long time in a crate (and he won't know what going on in checked luggage), I wonder if there is even a possibility to loose him because of the stress?
In a carry on, you can at least check on him and talk to him.

Good luck! (int travel is a big pain in the butt even without bunny, I hope you don't need to change planes in Paris)
 
I wonder if you can get him out of the carries during layover. Like hold him on your lap and pet at least.
Where are your landing points?
 
I wonder if you can get him out of the carries during layover. Like hold him on your lap and pet at least.
Where are your landing points?

Hopefully it will be a direct flight Toronto.

If not, Chicago and then Toronto. I have no idea if I'm allowed to (I should look this up), but I'm going to bring him out of the carry on during the layover. I figure the worst that could happen is one of the airport security guys tells me to put him back in.

where does the crate travel? hopefully not in compartment that is not heated?

It should be in the same compartment as dogs and cats. That is, heated and pressurized. Airlines have been known to screw up though, so this would worry me.
 
With that long of a flight, I'd vote crate. Fufu wants to stretch and hop around a bit. A whole day contained in a tiny carry on would be brutal. Id be sure to pack the crate with towels with your scent and hers too, so she'll have some comfort during that long flight.
 
I personally would not do it anyway but carry on. Heard way too many horror stories on what happens to animals completely in airline care.
 
Sorry for the long delay, but I felt I should update this in case anyone else is in the same situation.

Before anything else could happen, I had to wait for an import permit from the CFIA. This could only happen after the vet had done his wuarentine inspection of the room Fufu will be staying in.

On my wife's end, she had to work on getting his export certificate. Basically a written confirmation of your pet's health, immunizations, etc. The exact means of getting this vary from country to country. For my wife and I, we hired someone from a pet export service to make sure we were getting the right thing.

As for travel, here is what has happened thus far:

Day 1: My wife flew with Fufu to Shanghai. Because no Chinese domestic flight would allow rabbits in cabin, he had to fly in crate. They went to a hotel near the airport where my wife created a play area for him. He had a food bowl, water dish, and the "toilet" (plastic tray) from home. He ate and drank well, and seemed relatively unfazed. Total travel time: about 3 hours.

Day 2: I arrive in Shanghai. We spend the night.

I'm writing this from our hotel room. Fufu is on the floor, happily destroying the cardboard box his travel bag came in. The next steps are:

Day 3: We stock up on fresh vegetables and head to the airport. The woman who arranged Fufu's export certificate will meet us there to hand it off to us. Last minute I know, but there was just a national holiday in China, so this was the best we could do.

Because United is letting us travel with Fufu in-cabin, we are ditching his hard crate for the biggest "soft" bag we could find that fir the requirements. The great thing is that it includes an expandable end. One the flight takes off my wife and I are going to stretch it out to give him a bit of room to hop around under our feet, with periodic bathroom trips to clean it out. Total trip time: about 12 hours.

We land in O'Hara and have a three hour layover before our flight to Toronto. Because it is a transfer we don't need to provide any documentation beyond our Canadian import certificate (for America at least; transfer policies vary by country). I'm going to find the pet area and, if no one is letting their dog out for a run, I'm going to let him out on his harness for a bit.

The flight to Toronto is only two hours more, but it is the moment of truth. At customs we have to declare we have an animal with us. Fufu will be examined by a CFIA approved vet and, if he is satisfied by the paperwork and our credentials, Fufu comes into Canada.

There are no flights going out of Toronto that night, so we have to spend the night in an (animal friendly) hotel.

Day 4: Last step. A two hour flight to my hometown. Fufu's room is all ready to go. With any luck he will take to it with his usual unflappable charm.

Advice thus far:
- Make sure you call all airlines at least a few days ahead of time. They will mark your reservation to show you are travelling with a pet. There will probably be a fee associated with this.
- In Canada you need to call the CFIA office closest to the airport and let them know ahead of time when you are arriving. For Pearson, this would be the Mississauga branch.
The CFIA has vets on call, so you don't have to arrange for a vet to come to the airport, but there will be a fee to pay. This fee increases if they must come in after hours or on holidays.
- Air travel makes everything, pets and humans, very thirsty. Make sure you have water and a dish/bottle on hand.
 
Its good that United is letting him fly with you. I flew my dog from Virginia USA to New Zealand. People told me horror stories about dogs in flying with luggage being left out with luggage during hot summer months on the tarmac and dying or trying to people trying give them food or water in their crates and dogs escaping when they opened the cage. Luckily my dog made it to NZ ok.
 
@squidpop

Glad to hear your dog made it okay. Those kind of travel stories are why I didn't want him to fly in crate.

Sorry for the late follow up; this last week has been crazy busy with forms, groceries, etc.

Fufu made it just fine. He didn't drink much (or possibly any) water on the long flight from Shanghai to O'Hara, but he was happy to munch on greens that we had brought with us. U.S customs basically waved us through (rabbits in transit face few if any restrictions). The vet was waiting for us at Canadian Customs and was very professional. The customs agent was even a fellow rabbit owner and happy to talk about Fufu.

The only tricky part was that we had to discard our food (greens, pellets, etc) before entering the country, and it was too late at night to buy new ones. Luckily the pizza place next to the restaunt was willing to give us some lettuce butts alongside our pizza slices.

Fufu has been enjoying his new room, new toys, and (surprisingly) new food brands without a hitch. I think it's clear sailing from here.

More travel advice
- "Petsfit" makes what is possibly the greatest carry on bag ever created. It's default form is regulation sized, but it can also "unfold" into a larger shape to give your pet more room. Great for if you are stuck in the airport for an hour or two, or if you want to give your rabbit more space when they are under the seat.
- Fufu would not poop or pee in the bag. I brought his "toilet" (plastic tray) from home and set it up in the bathroom for him to use. Add "shared an airplane bathroom with a rabbit" to my resume.
- To keep his digestive system moving, I tried to keep things on a schedule. Every hour I rotated between leaves, water, or bathroom break.
- with all this shuffling, there really isn't much difference between aisle or window. Closer to the bathroom is better though, and preferably as far away from the engines as possible.
 

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