Kero is my dog. He is the most innocent part of my world. He is also my entire world. He came into my life four years ago. He is a rescue and his initial days weren’t very kind to him. The journey towards trust and friendship was a long and windy one. But eventually, we got there. He taught me the lessons of kindness, acceptance, and patience in the gentlest way possible. His unconditional, unnerving, and consistent love stayed by my side through all highs and lows. So naturally, I could not do anything that would cause him the slightest discomfort. So when deciding to relocate to another country, his move was the biggest concern. I started looking at Kero’s move to India. After the initial research, I couldn’t sleep. There were stories of how dogs die during travel and how airlines are extremely irresponsible. It was very hard to come by accounts of people, who had actually flown with their dogs. Most of the blogs were written by travel companies and a lot of answers in online groups came from pet relocation companies. The lack of concise information from official sources and the amount of conflicting information made the process even more difficult than it should be. With a lot of back and forth and even guilt, I decided to begin with the process.
I am sharing my experience of the journey so that it can help others in the same boat.
Flying with pets –
Dogs can fly through 3 modes.
Pets in the cabin – If your pets are below a certain weight limit they can fly with you in the plane’s cabin. They have to be kept in the carrier under the seat the entire time. I thought this was the safest option of all since you can monitor your pet the entire time. I wished I could somehow shrink Kero to be tiny so that he could fly with me.
Pets in cargo hold / excess baggage – If your dog is beyond a certain weight limit, they can’t be in the cabin. They have to be in what’s called Cargo in Hold or excess baggage. Contrary to popular belief, this is NOT the same area as where bags are kept. It’s a separate compartment in the belly of the airplane which is pressure and temperature-controlled. The pet’s crate is strapped down so that it does not move around. The pet can have access to water if you have attached an automatic water bottle. Otherwise they will be given water during the layover(if any) and may be fed (depending upon the length of the layover). For Kero, this is the option I used.
Manifest Cargo – This is where pets fly in the cargo plane. Most pet relocation companies use this option. It’s different from a passenger plane. Your pet won’t fly with you.
There is another option where if your pet is a service dog they can fly with you in the cabin even if they are a big dog. Since Kero isn’t a service dog, I didn’t explore this option for him
Other alternatives
By Ship – It takes around 40 days to reach India and is basically a very difficult process, to say the least.
By Road – Nonexistent
By a group charter flight – This is a private plane where your dog can sit in the cabin with you. You can share the cost of the flight with others flying with their dog. Even with the sharing it is expensive, but nothing beats the safety of your dog sitting with you in the cabin. While I found many charters from the USA to Europe, there were none that flew to India.
Breaking the journey into two halves – Since the journey from USA to India is a long one, taking a stopover in another country for a few days might be a good option. But as I researched, the reality of the extra paperwork for both me and Kero sank in. The rules for transiting through a country versus actually entering into one are very different. I didn’t want to expose Kero to an additional country. Also, his temperament is such that a long journey in one stretch would be easier rather than doing the two check-ins and going through the process of separating from us twice. Also, he is intelligent and stubborn, once he knows what crates and airports mean there is no way he would have gone in as easily a second time around.
Choosing the airlines
1.From what I read, Lufthansa seemed to be the best for air travel with pets (Most of the accounts online were from USA to Europe). They have a pet lounge in Germany with experienced handlers and vets. I called them and got my pet added to the booking. The representative at customer care seemed confident. A few days later I called again just to confirm and they informed me that they have an embargo for pets flying as cargo in hold in all airports of India. They refunded my booking.
2.My next option was KLM. When I called they said the layover for my flight was too short. The only other option was to do 24hr plus layover in which case I would have to enter Amsterdam and satisfy all of their requirements. When I called a second time around, they said they could easily add him. As I got such conflicting info, I decided not to go with them.
3. Finally I booked my ticket from Turkish Airlines. I found a few accounts on reddit that said they are not good with communication but they take good care of pets. The communication with their customer care was a headache. It took a lot of time to explain to them what I was saying. Even after that, they didn’t know the answers to most questions. They were rude (Maybe it was just their manner of speaking in English). While I was still getting conflicting info, the one thing that all of them confirmed was that my pet was added to the booking.
Tip: Turkish Airlines has emails for each of their airports listed on their website. These seem to be different than calling customer care. I emailed my booking details and Kero’s documents to my departing, layover, and destination airports. One of them responded, confirming that he was added to the booking, and also gave me the list of documents needed for traveling to India.
Tip: Depending on your dog’s ability to tolerate weather, book flights. I had initially booked flights from Chicago instead of DFW due to the possibility of extreme heat.
I was still very unsure about my choice of airline but again decided to proceed and see how things go as we get closer to the move.
My Dog’s Temperament and his training
Crate Training – Kero is currently 6.5 years old. He is a 48-pound mixed breed. He came to me when he was 2.5 years old. He didn’t trust humans and showed signs of fear-based aggression. As years went by, we identified most of his triggers and turned them around. The one thing that he came with was crate training. He saw the crate as a safe space from day one and retreated to it whenever things became too overwhelming. As I realized that, I cozied up his crate even more and built upon an already existing strong foundation. He went to his create when there was too much noise around. He went to the crate when there were thunderstorms. I always kept the door open so that he didn’t feel forced or confined to it.
Sounds – Kero is scared of sounds and by extension thunderstorms. Each hair on his body shakes. He stays in the crate for even upto 24 hours without eating, drinking water, peeing or pooping. While I was able to remove other fears of his, this one has stayed. It has improved over the years but he is still very scared. I knew the plane sounds would be too much for him. Leading up to travel I conditioned him with the following playlists to get him used to sounds. I increased the volume and duration of the sound, when he was in his crate, till he saw it as static noise and could finally sleep through it.
Automatic water bottle – I wanted him to have access to water all the time. I used this bottle. I trained him to use it by applying some peanut butter to it. He didn’t love it, but did use it when that was the only water source.
Health – Kero has stayed fairly healthy since I got him. He does not have any health issues apart from occasional seasonal allergies. He loves car rides, does not get motion sick and goes on long hikes with me. He does not chew on foreign objects.
Commands – Kero is well trained in basic commands like sit, down, go, come, leave it. Apart from this to deal with his fear based aggression I have also trained him with words which let him know that he is safe, like friend, its okay, fine, go on, big sound, little sound etc. These surely helped navigate the airport and also after landing into India.
Food and Water – I was not worried about him not having food for the duration of the entire journey. On occasion (specially during thunderstorms) he doesnt eat for an entire day and is fine later. While not ideal, him not having food did not bother me. In fact I felt better since, he wouldn’t have to interact with a stranger opening his crate. Also, the chances of him puking on a full stomach are much more if he did face some kind of motion sickness. Water was a different story. He overheats quickly and needs water immediately. Hence having the water bottle attached to his crate was needed.
Barking – If he feels threatened he will bark his wits out. He barks at people with uniform, specially if he is confined and they come near him.
Timeline and documents
- I got all of Kero’s vaccines done almost 2 months before travel. For India I needed to get
- Rabies certificate(3 yrs is accepted if its done within the last one year )
- DHPP/Lepto vaccine records
- 7 days before travel I got his final health check done. My vet got the USDA endorsement on the same day.
- Sent to India on the same day for getting NOC. Got NOC within 2 days.
Sent a copy of all the 4 documents to Turkish airlines via email.
Services used:
Vet in DFW to get his final health check and USDA endorsement – https://airvets.com
Agent in India to get the NOC done and AQCS appointment – https://furryflyers.com
Crate setup
- Petite kennel bowl large – https://a.co/d/a8B5KDT (Cracks when freezing water in it. Keep extras. Fed my dog through this in his crate to get him used to it)
- Dog flight bottle – https://a.co/d/57UDfwz (Secure with extra zipties. He was trained to use it. But I don’t think he did. )
- Regular pee pads at the bottom of the crate, stuck to the bottom with double sided tape (my dog doesn’t chew any foreign object, so I used tape)
- On top of 3., washable pee pads. – https://www.chewy.com/caldwells-multi-purpose-quilted/dp/802662 (These were thick and formed good absorbent cushioning. Absolutely loved these as bedding)
- Blanket – I put his blanket in the crate with him, thinking he could move it around as needed, if he is too cold or it gets wet. In hindsight it was not a good idea. That was the only thing which was soaking wet in the entire crate maybe through water spillage or peeing.
- Crate 40” – https://a.co/d/3C0N74Y – My dog is 48 pounds, mixed breed. He was able to comfortably sit up and move around in this crate.
- Accessories Kit – https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/everyyay-going-places-air-travel-dog-kennel-kit read somewhere that plastic toppers to the screws are not allowed for the crate so got these metal ones. But it was not needed. I stuck the live animal stickers from the kit on the crate and used the zip ties.
- Tip: Don’t zip tie the door shut till TSA check is done, I did this and had to cut the zip ties off.
- Tip: Keep a pair of nail clippers in your carry on, so you can cut the zip ties and get your dog out as soon as their crate arrives.
- Flyer – Made a flyer with the cutest pic of my dog, his flight details, my details and wrote in big lettering “Please fill my water bowl”. Taped it to the top of the crate with heavy duty clear tape.
- Documents – Put 2 sets of documents in 2 different ziplock bags. One was taped to the top of the crate and one attached to the side with zipties.
- Food – Kept his food in ziplock and attached to the crate.
- Leash and collar – They let him be with his collar in the crate, so I kept it on him. Leash was attached to the top of the crate with a ziplock.
- AirTag – Kept the AirTag in the same ziplock as his leash and attached to the top of the crate. The AirTag gave me a lot of peace of mind knowing that he was at least in the same airport as me.
Experience of flying with Turkish airlines
Flight details
DFW to Istanbul – 11 hours; Istanbul layover – 3hours; Istanbul to Mumbai – 6 hours
I called customer service multiple times and got conflicting information. I had gotten his final health check done 10 days before departure. Something was gnawing at me and I decided to go to the airport and see if I could get some concrete information. That was the best decision I made for my pup’s travel. The staff at the airport was much more confident and knew all the rules. They told me that I needed to get the health certificate 7 days prior, not 10 days. I also saw another dog traveling in his crate the same day. This boosted my confidence quite a lot. They reassured me that a lot of dogs fly regularly and we take the atmost care. I also emailed them all of my pups documents 4 days before travel and they got the necessary approvals for both legs of the journey in advance and confirmed.
On the day of travel
I had been adding more hydration to kero’s diet for the entire week before. I wanted to give him a lot of exercise before we left. Unfortunately it was raining that day. We did what we could playing fetch indoors. The flight was at 8:40 pm and we were called to the airport at 4:40 pm. I reached at 4 and assembled his crate at the airport. With him in the crate we reached the check in counter. There was already a line. There was no separate line for dogs to check in so we had to stay with kero in his crate in the line. Once we reached the check in counter, he was weighed along with his crate. Once that was done we were asked to come back at 7pm. I had some more time to walk him around the airport. Finally at 7 I ziptied his crate door shut and took him to excess baggage area. Two TSA agents came in. They told me to remove the zipties and Kero out of his crate. They inspected the entire crate. They then asked me to put Kero in and put the zip ties in. The moment kero saw the TSA guys he started barking a lot. I was scared that they would not take him in. But they seemed unfazed and finally asked us to place the crate in a lift. I could hear Kero barking from inside the lift. He realized that this was the moment we were getting separated. I finished my security check and at the boarding gate requested the staff to inform me once he had boarded. While I was boarding they gave me thumbs up and showed his picture. My AirTag confirmed the same. I was relieved. At Istanbul airport I had a 3 hour layover. My airtag showed me that he was at the same airport as me. I again asked the staff at the boarding gate of my next flight. They rechecked my papers and confirmed once he had been boarded. At Mumbai airport I was asked to go directly to baggage claim area. I was so anxious that I blurted out at the staff ”Where is my dog!!?” They said to collect my bags while they bring Kero. Within 10 mins they brought his crate out. He was very excited to see us and just wanted to snuggle. I snipped open the crates zip ties and petted him. I gave him some water and a treat which he quickly lapped up. He seemed tired but apart from that his health seemed fine. The front of his crate was wet but nothing was soiled apart from that. We went to through customs, where they asked for all his copies and copies of my passport. They didn’t look at him or checked the crate. We were free to go out after that. The next day we had an AQCS appointment in Mumbai. Here, they checked all of his original documents and scanned his microchip. We were then given a stamped NOC and Kero was officially imported into India.
Tip: If possible go to sales counter of your airlines at the airport and talk to them before your flight. They have much more up-to-date information.Putting a face to a reservation surely helped me on the final day of travel.
Tip: Dont zip tie the door shut till the TSA check is done.
Tip: You will have plenty of time after the initial checkin. You will most likely be among the first to check in and among the last to actually go in. You can use this time to exercise your pup.
Tip: Keep a pair of nail clippers in your hand luggage so you can remove the zipties as soon as your pups crate arrives at the destination.
Tip: Be proactive in checking for an update with the airline staff. They don’t give it unless you tell them to.
Tip: They do know it, but I asked the air hostess to remind the pilot that there is a dog in the cargo hold and to keep the area temperature and pressure controlled. They reassured me that they knew, there was no need to remind and this was a part of their regular protocol.
Tip: Keep multiple copies of the documents and make sure to keep the original documents with you.
Medication – Kero was on 50mg of vet-prescribed Trazodone before the flight. He is used to this medication and has been taking it since last 4 years when the thunderstorms get really bad. So, I knew the dosage/impact on him. This didn’t knock him out, he went in barking. But it helped with navigating the airport and check in process.
Post travel
Kero is back to his happy self. He is very excited by all the new sights and sounds and just curious to be in a different place. There is no difference in his eating and drinking patterns. I had thought he wouldn’t go back in his crate but as I assembled his crate again he went right back into it without any hesitation. I think that the flight itself was not so traumatizing for him. The one thing that did change though, is his separation anxiety. He is very scared when we leave him and wants to go with us everywhere. I am hoping that it will reduce with time, but for now am spending most of my time making him comfortable. Nothing apart from that has changed in his temperament.
Overall, my experience was a positive one and my pup has adjusted much better than what I had expected. Consistent training and double-checking all the documents were a big part of our successful trip.
