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Wander the World: Travelling with pets on a plane · Wander the World with Pippa Hudson

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Right now it's time to talk travel, and today we're
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: talking again about travel for pets, and this is a
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: conversation we have touched on before. What happens when you
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: need to move a pet by air in particular, You know,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: when we travel by plane as humans, we kind of
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: know roughly what happens through the process. You arrive at
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: the airport, you check it and drop off your bags,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: you go through security, you get on the plane, you
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: pick up your bags at the other end, and off
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: you go. But what happens when the passenger doing the
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: traveling is one with four legs at a tail and
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: no idea where you are going, or where they are going,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: or suddenly who these strange people are in this very
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: foreign and noisy environment. You can imagine the stress for
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: the animals, but it's equally stressful for pet owners having
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: to put their trust in somebody they don't know, handover,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: often a very much beloved pet to be put into
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: an aeroplane, and then just have to go on trust
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: that they will arrive safely at the other side. And sadly,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: they don't always arrive safely at the other side. And
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: that is why we're actually talking about this today. Before
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: I introduce our guest, who's going to explain how the
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: process is meant to work, I want to share with
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: you a voice note that came in from a listener
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: who had an absolutely awful experience around pet transportation by plane.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: Let's take a listen.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: As the found in the owner of the Thomas Jackson Foundation,
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: an animal rescue organization based in Gordon's Bay in the
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: Western Cape, I have been asked to assist with searchers
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: for cats that have gone missing from Cape Town International
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: Airport before. In Kat's case, I was made aware that
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: the kat went missing, contacted his owner, and I have
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: been involved with helping the searches the day after he disappeared.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: He is now the third cat missing at the airport
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: that I've personally been involved with. The family was only
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: aware that he was missing when the carrier arrived in
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: joe Burg with no cat and no front door. You know,
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: we've searched extensively for Kat for three weeks and we
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: are still searching. We're still creating and distributing posters walking
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: searching the airport grounds, and I use a recording of Levny,
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: his owner's voice, to actually call for him. At this point,
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: all we can do is keep looking and hope and
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: pray that one day he disappears and shows his little head,
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: and we hope that that's going to be soon.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: Can you imagine being that owner, so having handed over
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: your cat into the care of an animal transport service,
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: seeing that crate arrive at the airport on the other end,
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: and then realizing the front door is missing and your
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: cat is not inside. I was hugely concerned to hear
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: that it wasn't the first time this had happened, So
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: I thought we should talk today about what could have
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: gone wrong, but more importantly, what is meant to happen,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: and how the pet transportation process works when it is
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: run correctly. It's a huge pleasure to have with us
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: in studio, Elsiby Ridley, who's the general manager of Global Pause.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: They are a company that specializes in pet transportation and relocation.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: It's great to have you with us today.
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: Welcome, Hyperpa. Thank you.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Have you heard of cases where animals disappeared mid transit?
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: I have heard of cases. I think it's important to
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: note that the specific case, the client checked their pets
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: in themselves. The pet actually travel does excess luggage, and
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: I think The big problem or the main thing that
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: happened here was the crate wasn't secured. The crate wasn't
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: There's a lot of a lot of crates where if
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: you walk into a pet shop or even even a
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: vet then it would say airline approved or IATA approved.
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: And that is a big problem because of a lot
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: of those crates are in fact not.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: Suitable.
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: They're really not suitable. Another thing, very important thing is
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: that Ayata doesn't approve travel crates.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: Okay, so i claiming it's IATA approved, that's already a
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: red flag, correct because IATA actually doesn't approve travel it's
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: the travel creds need to be AYATA compliant.
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: Okay, So there is. Ayata has got a course they
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: call it a law course, a live Animal regulations course,
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: which we we have the basically the course is valid
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: for the certificate is valid for two years, so every
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: two years you have to fresh follow basically exactly because
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: the regulations change. So for example, a create that might
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: have been compliant five years ago is not compliant anymore.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: So that's that's very very important to take note of.
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: So mainly we deal with pets. Traveling is cargo and
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: we manufacture our own compliant wooden travel creates. We we
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: can also supply compliant plastic travel creates should clients wish.
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: We however, prefer wooden crates because they are a lot
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: more secure, okay, especially for bigger dogs, for stronger dogs,
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: even even for cats. Wooden crates are just a lot
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: more secure.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: Okay, let's maybe talk through the process from start to finish.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: If somebody knows they're relocating, or they're going on an
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: extended holiday from Cape Town to Joe brig and they
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: want their animal to go with them, and they're not
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: going to drive, they are going to fly, so they
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: want the animal to fly as well. Do you want
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: to maybe just walk us through the steps involved. From
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: the time that somebody reaches out, whether it's to Global
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: Pus or another company that specializes in this kind of transportation,
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: what should you be expecting to see happen?
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: Okay? I think first of all, the main thing, especially
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: that we often see with people traveling locally with their
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: pay's that pets are not up to date with their vaccinations.
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: So that is a very important thing to make sure
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: that your pets are up to date with their rabies
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: and annual vaccinations. The vaccinations has to be at least
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: firsteen days old before the pets can travel, and in
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: some cases thirty days old. So that is that that
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: hinders clients, especially if they've got last minute travel, then
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: the pets can travel because the vaccinations aren't up to date.
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: So that's the first thing I would say. Another important
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: thing is South Africa's Arabist country. So three arabis vaccinations
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: are not accepted in South Africa, so arabis vaccination must
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: be under a year old. Okay, okay, so yes, So
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: the first step would be make sure your pets vaccinate
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: vaccinations up to date. The next step would be a
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: travel create. Make sure that you have a airline compliant
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: travel create. We do supply loan travel creates between Capetain
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: and Johannesburg and Johannesburg in Cape Town. I know a
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: lot of the or there is one or two airlines
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: that also provide loan travel creates to clients. Alternatively, if
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: you are booking your pet in yourself and then make
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: sure that you've got to secure travel create. Another thing
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: that I think is really important and people don't always
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: think about it. When the pets travel locally is great
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: it's also a great idea to create train your pets,
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: make them used to a travel.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: Create.
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: Especially with cats, they can be very skittish, so make
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: them used to their create. The sooner you start, the better.
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: I've even had clients who said to me lessen Year,
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: I played YouTube airline noises for my cat or my dog,
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: or forkliff noises or airport noises so that the pets
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: can kind of get used to it so it's not
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: that daunting for them when they're actually traveling. So basically, yes,
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: so once once we receive an inquiry, we will send
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: a quotation through. Once the quotation has been accepted, our
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: consultants will start working on the booking. One of the
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: first things they asked we asked clients is please send
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: us copies of your pets vaccinations documentation. Then we would
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: book the book the local flights pets for local flights.
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: Flights specifically, we book pets in at the airport two
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: hours before the time. Okay, so once we once we
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: go to the checking point, when we check pets in,
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: they put them in a in a room. Yeah, and
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: until it's time for the aircraft to be loaded. So
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: the pet airport launch it's like an airport launch, yes, okay.
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: So specifically, if pets travel as excess baggage, that is
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: something we don't get involved with because it is connected
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: to the clients or the owner's ticket. They check pets
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: in at a separate window at the airport. They basically
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: get checked in where they check in the.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: Surfboards, boars and the normal excess baggage window. And then
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: where does that from there? Do they go into the
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: cargo hold as well, or do they go somewhere else
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: in the plane? Would they travel in the same part
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: of the plane.
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: They would travel in the same part of the plane,
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: but they will obviously not be transported with the other.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: Pets, okay, but they're still going to end up in
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: the same they will go okay.
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: So basically, if you if you look at a body
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: of the aircraft. Also very important, not all aircraft can
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: take live animals because not all aircrafts are pressurized and
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: temperature or the cargo holds are pressurized in temperature controls,
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: especially temperature controlled, so there is only and also another
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: important thing is if there's flowers on aircraft dry ice
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: human remains, they will not try sport pets with that
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: therefore there's actually there's only a few floods, especially domestic
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: floods that can tack live animals. And if you look
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: at the cargo hold of the aircraft, basically there is
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: a forward and a back of the area, and the
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: pets are generally put in the forward at area very
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: important as well. When pets travel as cargo, we issue
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: an air raaball and we call it manifested cargo. So
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: basically what that means is the pets are manifested and
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: they put on the pilot's documents. So the pilot will
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: get onto the aircraft and he will look at his
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: at his manifest and everything that's on the plane, basically.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: All the number of passengers.
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: Number of passengers, the goods, and he will see, oh,
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: therese live animals on the flight, and he will switch
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: on the temperature and he will regulate the temperature to
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: the correct temperature for the pets.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: Okay, there's a lot more to it than you might
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: know if you're not involved, and there is, yeah, just
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: for anybody who's coming in to this conversation midway with
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: me and studio El Sabi Ridley, who's the general manager
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: of Global Paws, who are specialists in pet transportation and relocation.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: Billy asking, is it any different on international flights? I mean, el, obviously,
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: then you've got a much longer period that the animal
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: is going to be in that cargo area. Does that
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: bring different I mean, obviously that brings different challenges in
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: terms of management of the pets experience during the flight.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: I would imagine correct.
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: Yes, Again, with international pet travel even more so, it's
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: really really important to train your pets beforehand, make them
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: use to their travel creates. I always say to my
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: clients that, and I mean I see in my own
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: pets as well. I've had pets over the years who
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: were great trained, and I've had pets who went great trained,
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: and my pets who were great trained, they love their creates.
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: They basically, after a while see their creates as their
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: safety place. Whereas if you don't pet and you put
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: them in a travel crate, all of a sudden, it's newreaking.
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: I think something else that's also very very important. Yes,
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: it's stressful. As a pet owner myself, My animals are
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: my children, so I fully understand. I've shipped my own animals,
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: so I understand their emotions. You go through and it's
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: not just about the pets. You're moving countries a lot
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: of time, you're moving homes, so there's a lot of
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: emotions going on. You need to find schools for kids,
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: you need to find a house, you need to find
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: a pet friendly house. So there's a lot going on.
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: And our pets are very in tuned with us, and
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: they feed off our emotions. And if clients are really
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: really stressed, their pets are really stressed, their pets feel
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: it as well. So when clients ask me or tell
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: me I'll bring my pet to the airport, a lot
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: of times I would say, no, don't do it. Let
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: somebody else do it. Let us rather collect your pet
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: from home and we'll check in because those pets, as
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: soon as they're out of that situation, they're different animals.
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: So it's better to not check your own pets in
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: at the airport. And just to realize, you know, yes,
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: we supply coming colors to our clients as well. Comic
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: colors are great. Any herbal comic products great to use
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: before travel. But get yourself a herbook target as well,
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: you know, or value milkshake if you need one, just
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: to you know, because yes, our pets are very sensitives.
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: And it's an interesting point, especially cats, they can be
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: very sensitive. Okay, I mean, I'm learning so much else
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: it's such a valid point you make that if the
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: pets is going to pick up on your stress, and
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: you're aware of the fact that you're going to be
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: anxious and emotional, rather let somebody else just oversee the
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: entire process. Having said that, then obviously you have the
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: worry of the kind of situation we heard in that voice.
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: Note where where here is it's all gone wrong? The
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: animal is missing? What what are sort of the accountability
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: measures here? I mean, are there you've mentioned a specific
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: air wayble it's you know, an animal is on the
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: manifest of the airplane, you know their checks and balances.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: One assumes to make sure that animal is then you know,
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: logged in at the other end of the flight, et cetera.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: But cases where where animals have gone missing or where
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: things go wrong.
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: We haven't. I mean, yes, you know we've we've never
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: had a case of animal going missing. Yes, sometimes things happen,
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: but I mean we can get on a flight and
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: something can happen as well. I read an interesting article
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: recently that said in America that it is study and
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: zero point zero one pets post awe on a flight,
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: on a cargo flight, whereas there was a lot more
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: human deaths on a flight. You know, So you know,
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: it's if you make sure your travel create is compliant.
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: Make sure you're prepared, make sure you prepare your pet.
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: If you're worried, definitely speak to your vet about it.
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: If you've got any health concerns, speak to your vet.
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: Have your vet do X rays if need be. It's
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: not a requirement, but if there's anything you worried about,
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: have a proper health check down on your pets. If
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: your pet is healthy and fit, yes, by all means
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: they can travel if you do your part and prepare them.
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: We often have clients we call it a traveler comfort
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: pack where we delivered pre delivered that pets travel creates
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: before the time so that they can get used to it.
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: And we've had circumstances where I mean even I went
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: with one of the animal handers and we get to
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: the house and you can see those crates were still
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: standing where we drop them off, which is sad because
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: you know, once you put those pets in that crate,
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: then it's nerve breaking for them.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: It should have been an opportunity to make it a
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: comfortable and recognize.
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: Space exactly, the stress exactly, you know. And also the
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: other thing is when the credits stand at home, you
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: can pitch up bith bedding in there and the credit
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: starts smelling like home as well, Yeah, gets home smiles
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: in it, which calms them down.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: Also, you've given us a lot of food for thought
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: here and obviously what I should have said at the beginning,
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: we really really hope that that missing kitty from the
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: Sunday morning flight is fund safely and reunited with its owners.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: But I mean a lot to learn from this experience,
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: and you've really emphasized how important it is to make
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: sure that the crate you are using is not just
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: any old crate. And don't just believe what it says
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: on a sticker that tells you it is approved by
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: somebody who sounds official. Do your due diligence and make
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: sure what you are using is compliant for proper travel
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: in terms of current regulations. If somebody wants to reach
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: out to Global Pause for an inquiry or for to
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: ask a follow up question based on this interview, what's
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: the best boat A way to reach you.
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: They can log onto our website, or alternatively, they can
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: email us at travel at Global Pause dot co dot.
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: Travel at globalpause dot co dotzeter. And obviously that's the
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: pause as in the end of the animal's feet, not
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: the P A U s E. Globalpause dot co dot
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: setter also be ready. Thank you so much for joining
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: us this afternoon.
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: Thank you