Flying to Paris
 

Hello Yorkie friends!

I was wondering if anyone here has recently flown from USA to Paris with their Yorkie; what steps did you have to take, etc? How long do you think it will take me to get fully prepared?

I'm asking for the year 2011, apparently international laws are always changing.

Also, did you find Paris to be pretty pet-friendly in terms of restaurants, hotels, etc.?

Any tips to make this process easier will be appreciated immensely! Thanks so much...

Bump! I hope you get answers and have a lovely time on your trip. :)

Remy has flown internationally to a French collectivity (IE - Same laws as France)

My first suggestion is to research the laws of your destination country and make sure you have all requirements addressed.

A few of the requirements I am aware of include:
(1) Requirement that the pup has an EU-compliant microchip (ie - 15 digits) some of the US microchip products are only 9 digit and do not comply. If your pup is already chipped, you need to ensure it complies and functions.

(2) Updated veterinary exam, possibly with a signed certification from your vet. In our case, it had to be completed within 48 hours of our departure.

(3) Current rabies shots and paperwork documenting the rabies vaccine / date

This list is not exhaustive, and is what I recall from our trip last year.

Second, research updated laws regarding US re-entry. The biggest requirement was rabies vaccine documentation, as I recall. You need to double check this.

Third, make sure you have all of your pups documentation and paperwork with you (I also included his picture with this), similar to how you carry your passport.

Get to the airport extra early. We had to go the desk for the airline personnnel to review all paperwork prior to security.

Good luck and enjoy the trip. I found international travel with Remy to be fairly easy!

Hope you have a CALM trip, truly sometime that's all we can hope for, I do not know about flying overseas, only here in the states, but, you might check out the web site for www.dogjuant.com they have lots of ideas and some pretty good stuff. Hope this helps. Flying is always hard but this might help, oh, and good luck.

If you are flying in 2011 as you stated, you only have about 10 weeks of travel time available to leave & return in this calendar year...as you will need prior immunization & blood tested proof of such you should get on the ball and talk to your vet, asap.

You will need to have your pet microchipped with a 15 digit ISO compliant chip first, and then vaccinated at least 30 days prior to travel, but not more than 1 year prior to travel. Within 21 days of travel, your veterinarian will complete the EU Form 998 for France and attach the rabies certificate to be sent to the USDA for certification. When this form is returned to you, treat it like pure gold, cos you cannot enter the country without it.

I've flown alot into France and then taken the ferry over to England as dogs are NOT allowed to fly in cabin with you into the UK. I know DEFRA rules are changing for the UK as of the 1st of 2012, but I'm not sure about the rest of Europe. If by chance you don't leave the States until after the new year, I'd contact French immigration.

I love Air France and they are my first choice when flying to Europe with a pup. They allow a dog under 6kg or 13lbs to fly in cabin with you :)

We had to have the USDA form as well. However it did not have to be sent to the USDA for certification; one vet at our vet office is qualified to execute the USDA form and certify it. As a result Remy's pre-trip vet visit and medical review HAD to be scheduled with this specific person in order to get the USDA form completed. I do not know if this is the same at other practices, or if you may have to send it off to the USDA. You will need to call your vet, discuss your travel plans and see what their input is.

Wow thanks everyone for the wealth of information.

Otis is 12 now, and although he's still young at heart, I'm really concerned about unneeded stressors on him at his age, keeping him in a bag all that time, so I was also planning on upgrading to business class on Air France. Then I realized it's an EXTRA $600 RT to have Otis fly with me, on top of upgrading! I'm not quite certain if it's worth the stress on him plus another $2,000-plus to take him....I could take two trips to Paris for that amount.

I still have two months for my travel plans. Will keep you updated.

a bientot!