Moving to Hawaii

[Pickle's Mom]

Hello, We are moving, in early Dec., from the PNW to Hawaii. We are of course bringing our boy with us. He is a 6 year old male Eclectus. We are currently trying to navigate through the gauntlet of paperwork and requirements, and are nervous if we are doing everything correctly and also if anyone has advice on how to keep him the most comfortable during the actual cargo flight. I am considering the Wingabago crate, but would appreciate any feedback on what others are using that has worked out for the best? We have found an Avian Vet who can do his quarantine, paperwork, but I won't be able to speak directly with vet for about another week. My understanding is that he is responsible for the misquito proofing prior to us picking up for airport. Does anyone one know if that is how it works? Thank you.

 

[SailBoat]

Hawaii. has very restrictive Import laws and from what Countries they are open to receiving Avians from and which species.

Your Airline of choice can be very helpful as the last thing they want is to have your Parrot rejected and not allowed off the aircraft. So you should be working with them starting now! They commonly know the required paperwork.

Since you are moving from PNW you could be faced with very restrictive laws on exporting Avians!

The Avian Vet will want to know the requirements that your Airlines will require so that he can provide proper quarantine documentation. Commonly, quarantine time lines can be from 30 to 60 days.

You need to be really digging deep and fast as you are nearing very specific dates in which are must hit dates. You have started late and need to really up your game. I do not know what PNW nor Hawaii require, but I do know they are among the most restrictive in the World.

Proof of ownership could come-up and your having purchase information that is better than: Purchased at Market is likely an issue. May want to consider having your Parrot Microchipped, which will likely help.

Best Luck!

 

[Pickle's Mom]

Thank you. He is already microchipped. There is a 7 day quarantine period prior to travel, that his vet must do in misquito proof area here. So much to navigate on figuring out....it's a permanent move though, so going to have to just get him through the process just the one time, thankfully.

 

[texsize]

Does PNW stand for Pacific Northwest?
Like Washington state or some other country?

If you are going from one U.S. state to another U.S. state why is all this necessary?

If I move from California to Oregon (something I hope will happen in future) I don’t have to do anything special.

Hawaii needs to get over itself.
IMHO.

 

[Pickle's Mom]

Yes, Wa state. I know, it is turning into an even bigger deal than when my husband was active duty and we flew our dog that we had over back and forth to Europe multiple times. That was a pretty simple process. It involves not bringing in diseases that they don't currently have on the islands. I understand it, but a more clear step by step guideline would be so helpful through it. I think I am getting it, hopefully, but not for sure. Pretty worrisome when it's your big guy. I will keep everyone updated in case anyone else asks for their bird....

 

[GoldenDaysAz]

Hello, We are moving, in early Dec., from the PNW to Hawaii. We are of course bringing our boy with us. He is a 6 year old male Eclectus. We are currently trying to navigate through the gauntlet of paperwork and requirements, and are nervous if we are doing everything correctly and also if anyone has advice on how to keep him the most comfortable during the actual cargo flight. I am considering the Wingabago crate, but would appreciate any feedback on what others are using that has worked out for the best? We have found an Avian Vet who can do his quarantine, paperwork, but I won't be able to speak directly with vet for about another week. My understanding is that he is responsible for the misquito proofing prior to us picking up for airport. Does anyone one know if that is how it works? Thank you.

Aloha! We went through that process a couple times to Honolulu in 2008 on a military move. We got through it, but it’s crucial that you make sure you’ve double checked everyone’s requirements, even with in processing at the Honolulu Airport Animal Quarantine Holding Facility. Make sure everyone is holding hands because you’re putting your team together. It’s been a while since we went through that so I wouldn’t assume anything is the same today. The biggest holdup I remember for one of them was the vet had buried the paperwork under the mass amount of mosquito netting and the holding facility in Honolulu couldn’t find the paperwork. It was a ridiculous hours long delay that caused an unnecessary amount of stress on my part because I didn’t know what to do being that I hadn’t seen what the vet did. The apathy at the holding facility was frustrating. Ultimately, they found it. Make sure you know what the vet did and where that paperwork is located so there are no surprises when you get to your final destination.
Micro chipping is extremely helpful now also. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I was the go to when people lost their birds on the island. At the time, craigslist was used a lot. There are probably many other ways to stay connected now. Hope that helps. I wish you the best! Lou

 

[Pickle's Mom]

Aloha! We went through that process a couple times to Honolulu in 2008 on a military move. We got through it, but it’s crucial that you make sure you’ve double checked everyone’s requirements, even with in processing at the Honolulu Airport Animal Quarantine Holding Facility. Make sure everyone is holding hands because you’re putting your team together. It’s been a while since we went through that so I wouldn’t assume anything is the same today. The biggest holdup I remember for one of them was the vet had buried the paperwork under the mass amount of mosquito netting and the holding facility in Honolulu couldn’t find the paperwork. It was a ridiculous hours long delay that caused an unnecessary amount of stress on my part because I didn’t know what to do being that I hadn’t seen what the vet did. The apathy at the holding facility was frustrating. Ultimately, they found it. Make sure you know what the vet did and where that paperwork is located so there are no surprises when you get to your final destination.
Micro chipping is extremely helpful now also. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I was the go to when people lost their birds on the island. At the time, craigslist was used a lot. There are probably many other ways to stay connected now. Hope that helps. I wish you the best! Lou

Thank you for sharing your experience on it. May I ask what airlines you guys ended up using for the trips? Our go to for flying is normally delta, but I have to tell you, they are a mess on trying to arrange for our bird, and I am so hesitant to trust them to give same answers at airport. Yesterday one person was very helpful, said he can't fly there, but can fly back from Hawaii though. Seriously. Our vet also said another person had problems with Alaska. So I am going to call Hawaiian today and see if they are a little more concrete on things. Did you modify a crate for your bird, or use one already made for birds? We are considering the Wingabago, which is FAA approved. He is thankfully already microchipped. It is becoming a full time job to coordinate this over one little bird lol, but he is family. Did you live on post over there? My husband is retired, but we are eligible to live on post over there, and plan to. Housing has said no problem with him being there too, but I was curious if you had any experiences on it? Thanks so much.

 

[Pickle's Mom]

Thank you for sharing your experience on it. May I ask what airlines you guys ended up using for the trips? Our go to for flying is normally delta, but I have to tell you, they are a mess on trying to arrange for our bird, and I am so hesitant to trust them to give same answers at airport. Yesterday one person was very helpful, said he can't fly there, but can fly back from Hawaii though. Seriously. Our vet also said another person had problems with Alaska. So I am going to call Hawaiian today and see if they are a little more concrete on things. Did you modify a crate for your bird, or use one already made for birds? We are considering the Wingabago, which is FAA approved. He is thankfully already microchipped. It is becoming a full time job to coordinate this over one little bird lol, but he is family. Did you live on post over there? My husband is retired, but we are eligible to live on post over there, and plan to. Housing has said no problem with him being there too, but I was curious if you had any experiences on it? Thanks so much.

Also, how many layers of misquito netting did you end up going with? We are thinking 3. The vet said anything above 2 should be okay.

 

[GoldenDaysAz]

Thank you for sharing your experience on it. May I ask what airlines you guys ended up using for the trips? Our go to for flying is normally delta, but I have to tell you, they are a mess on trying to arrange for our bird, and I am so hesitant to trust them to give same answers at airport. Yesterday one person was very helpful, said he can't fly there, but can fly back from Hawaii though. Seriously. Our vet also said another person had problems with Alaska. So I am going to call Hawaiian today and see if they are a little more concrete on things. Did you modify a crate for your bird, or use one already made for birds? We are considering the Wingabago, which is FAA approved. He is thankfully already microchipped. It is becoming a full time job to coordinate this over one little bird lol, but he is family. Did you live on post over there? My husband is retired, but we are eligible to live on post over there, and plan to. Housing has said no problem with him being there too, but I was curious if you had any experiences on it? Thanks so much.

It was so long ago I can’t remember which airline. Also, we were already there on the receiving end. I have a breakdown of expenses, but I think you already know it’s a small fortune I have had excellent experiences using Delta carrying on my birds in domestic travel. As far as the crate, we have always just modified travel carrier/crates and zip tied the doors. Yes I agree. They are family! We jump through many hoops for them. I am well aware that we are in the minority when it comes to the lengths we go through for our birds. We are retired as well. Our last duty station was Oahu after six years we tried to stay, however just didn’t work out for many reasons. Expense, family, etc.. with all branches of service there are many bases over there and they vary a lot. There was so much remodeling going on when we were stationed there. We lived in three different houses in six years on Hickam AFB because of housing renovations. I say living on base is hands-down, the most economical. But it really depends on where you want to be of course. We recently just went back to visit in May and there were so many changes, I can’t possibly even make a recommendation after all the changes we saw. thankfully, it appears all the base housing has been remodeled since we were there. Lou

 

[Pickle's Mom]

It was so long ago I can’t remember which airline. Also, we were already there on the receiving end. I have a breakdown of expenses, but I think you already know it’s a small fortune I have had excellent experiences using Delta carrying on my birds in domestic travel. As far as the crate, we have always just modified travel carrier/crates and zip tied the doors. Yes I agree. They are family! We jump through many hoops for them. I am well aware that we are in the minority when it comes to the lengths we go through for our birds. We are retired as well. Our last duty station was Oahu after six years we tried to stay, however just didn’t work out for many reasons. Expense, family, etc.. with all branches of service there are many bases over there and they vary a lot. There was so much remodeling going on when we were stationed there. We lived in three different houses in six years on Hickam AFB because of housing renovations. I say living on base is hands-down, the most economical. But it really depends on where you want to be of course. We recently just went back to visit in May and there were so many changes, I can’t possibly even make a recommendation after all the changes we saw. thankfully, it appears all the base housing has been remodeled since we were there. Lou

Thanks so much Lou! Yes, definitely a small fortune for sure! Spoke with Hawaiian Airlines and got straight forward solid answers from them, so Hawaiian Airlines is who we are going to go with if all goes as planned. Totally get it on the moving back issue. We are nervous about that part too, but everything seems to be lining up for it. We have spent quite a bit of time over there when he goes for work, so have an idea of what we are getting into, but you still just never know. We are just getting back from 6 weeks over there and already miss it. We both love being in water, I snorkel and husband dives, and we are thinking Pickles will love the sunshine. Wish you well on your end too!

 

[GoldenDaysAz]

Thanks so much Lou! Yes, definitely a small fortune for sure! Spoke with Hawaiian Airlines and got straight forward solid answers from them, so Hawaiian Airlines is who we are going to go with if all goes as planned. Totally get it on the moving back issue. We are nervous about that part too, but everything seems to be lining up for it. We have spent quite a bit of time over there when he goes for work, so have an idea of what we are getting into, but you still just never know. We are just getting back from 6 weeks over there and already miss it. We both love being in water, I snorkel and husband dives, and we are thinking Pickles will love the sunshine. Wish you well on your end too!

That’s wonderful! Glad you’re figuring it out. It will all be worth it. and Ahhhh the diving. We miss that so much too. Fortunately, Southwest Airlines now goes direct from Phoenix to Honolulu. We are glad to have an easy nonstop flight now.
It’s definitely a paradise for people and birds when you appreciate all the islands and culture has to offer.
Aloha, Lou