Flying with or shipping questions

[Blue]

This is a probably a long shot but I'm currently in NY, flying back to Portland tuesday. I looked African greys up on pet finder and found one here... at the shelter I used to volunteer at. What is involved with flying with a bird? Will a grey fit in the cabin, seems like a pretty small space to cram a bird into or would it need to be shipped as cargo, would it be able to fly on the same flight as me if it is cargo.

I'm getting ahead of myself I dont even know if he's still available or not, but figured I better find out about it before I call about him

 

[henpecked]

I'd use Delta or Continetal, you'd have to check if they could fly on the same flight. Or get a carrier that fits under the seat. I'd adopt a bird in your home town.

 

[Blue]

Thanks,yeah I probably should just wait... I just feel bad for him, in his picture he has a bowl full of seed and he's right off an army base and would hate for him keep getting bounced around, a lot of animals get dumped when soldiers leave. I cant tell you how many times when I was there "what do you mean you cant take him, we leave tomorrow"

 

[mtdoramike]

I would adopt the bird and check out Delta airlines. A lot of breeders use Delta to transport their birds and have great success. I know there are special rules for travelling with your bird. They would be the best ones to answer that for you. I think they usually charge like $125.00 + what ever the cost is for the carrier. I know some airlines will allow you to carry them on the plane with you as long as they can fit in a carrier that will fit under the seat. But the bird must be able to move around and stand up in the carrier without the top of his head hitting the top of the carrier.
There is also certain times of the year that they will not allow birds to be shipped as cargo or checked baggage due to the heat since they can be sitting on the tarmack for a bit before loading.

But it is possible and it can be done. It just depends on how much your willing to spend and how much trouble your willing to go through to get it done.

 

[mtdoramike]

I've been wrestling with the same issue myself. I live in Florida, but have been contimplating relocating to St. Thomas VI for a while since my wife is originally from there. That means either making the 6-8 hour travel by plane with the two birds, or having to rehome them. I'm not keen on either. But I would rather try and fly with them.

 

[Blue]

I'm flying United... and it would be $75 to ship a bird in cargo. I called the shelter and there was already a name on him to be adopted which didn't surprise me when I asked his adoption fee, it's only $450 and he's only a year old. Hopefully I can find one like him near Portland.

 

[WannaBeAParrot]

I flew with Pritti a few weeks ago, cherry-head conure, Jet Blue airline. It might be a tight fit for the bird you are thinking of transporting. He flew in the cabin with me. I checked several different airlines with flights to my destination. Each one had a DIFFERENT size criteria for the pet carrier. In fact, one of my options was a connecting flight and each of the flights involved in that single trip had different size requirements. The first flight was a larger under-seat size than second. I would have been so screwed because they DID NOT tell me that when I phoned and the carrier I would have bought would not have fit second flight. I actually researched the aircraft on my own and found this out. Anyhow, the carriers that you would usually see cats and dogs in are not good options because most of them are 10.5" high or more -and- I found that 3 out of 5 aircraft I looked at had a 9" max height. I found a great carrier for Pritti. It's pretty spacious inside if the height is good. You can find it in the conure forum here, just search my name wannabeaparrot and you'll see the posts if you would like more info. It is a great carrier for a great price and worked out very well for Pritti.

Security was a bit of a pain, but that's the way it is. I wrote about that too. Be sure to leave an extra 30 minutes for checking through security. I had to go in the little room and take him out so they could take the carrier away and put it through the scanners without him in it. One TAS person told me that an African Grey had gotten loose and they were chasing after it for an hour, some weeks prior. But, all the others seemd totally stumped about how to handle screening a bird.

Call a bird breeder or large bird only store and ask abou the shipping. There's one in Deerfield Beach, Fl and another in Delray Beach, Fl - I won't list names because I don't know if it is permitted on this site. Just search for bird store in those areas. They both ship and know what airlines will do it. I recall that there are two airlines, Delta and possible American that ship the birds with special care. So maybe you can fly home and then have the bird show up the next day. It's lovely that you want to rescue him and not leave him/her behind.