piglet20 wrote:Many thanks for the advice. I will keep you posted. Ps. I'm so nervous about doing this.
If you follow the agent/airline advice, you don't need to worry. I know, easy said, but they fly animals all the time. I myself was sick at the thought! Kept imagining all sorts of horrors the little dears would go through but in the end they were perfectly fine. Moaned a lot as usual when first conned into their crates, survived the 2 hour drive to Glasgow with a few loud complaints but by the time they got to the Cargo check in they were just curious and peering around at everything, including having a good look at the cargo check in man.
Will also admit I made a big point ( when I got on the plane myself) of making sure the crew knew the cats were in the plane boot ( I had read a silly scare story on the internet of some poor kitty freezing to death ( in America) because the captain hadn't realised he had live cargo and forgot to turn the hold heating on ( I suspect your imagination tends to that kind of anxiety as well ) but the crew were totally in the picture ( in fact making a fun story out of it ' We have special guests aboard' ) and pointed out to me that the cats were, in fact, positioned in the hold just under where I was sitting.
Had to wait an hour at Alicante for them to come through the cargo bay but when they finally arrived they were fine ( I was up to high dough but they just looked bored. ) . Got them home and as soon they arrived in the house they wanted out of their crates, something to eat and started exploring.
I understand ChrisDee's point about the potential for driving them but I couldn't see that working for our circumstances ( especially travelling from Scotland, a really long haul) , might work well with dogs as you can let them out for a bit of a leg stretch but unless your cats are already trained to harness that's not on for cats. The flight is quick and easy and doing it yourself ( checking them in yourself and picking them up yourself etc) means you are with them until the last possible moment and picking them up again at the first possible moment. And its all over within 8 or so hours.