Procedure For Collecting Pet From The Thai Cargo Facility

[pwllgrgn]

Hello

I am bringing my pet dog Marco with me later in 2007 we are going to be living in Chiang Mai. I have been in touch with Thai Airways Cargo at Heathrow who have advised me to take him as cargo on the same aircraft that I will be travelling on. Apparantly there is a weight restriction with Thai Airways if I take him as excess baggage. 32 Kgs is the maximum amount which can be handled if I were to check him in at the passenger terminal.

I am rather concerned as I have read that if I take Marco as cargo even on the same aircraft as myself that it would take several hours before he is cleared on arrival at Chiang Mai and this will cause him a great amount of stress, as opposed to 15 minutes if he is taken as excess baggage.

Before I start sending letters to the Cargo Manager (the only person you can get any sense out of) or looking for a alternative airline, I was wondering if anyone has any experience of collecting their pet from the Cargo facility.

Thanks

[Sheryl]

You can try other airlines if you like. It is indeed easier if you can check the pet on board as accompanied baggage. In that case customs usually takes no interest at all. You are supposed to stop at the Animal Qarantine station to get an import license, which is a pretty painless and quick matter as long as it is staffed. I heard of one case where they arrived at night and no one was on duty...to be on the safe side arrive during the day, preferably on a weekday.

If the pet goes to the cargo terminal then it does indeed take longer, you'll still need the import license plus a duty may be levied. Unless the dog is an obvious pure breed, declare him as "mixed" and bargain with them.

Whichever route you go, be sure to bring certifiaction of rabies vaccien.

[pwllgrgn]

Hello

Thanks for the reply. I believe that you have to clear your pet through customs at Bangkok even if that is not your final destination. I am having trouble finding an airline which flies to Chiang Mai without stopping a couple of times to switch aircraft, which I don't think would be very good for him. Thai Airways charge £37 per kilo but apparantly have a weight restriction of 32 Kgs for health and safety reasons.

[tommy6566]

my golden retriever will be going into the cargo hold as well.. we will be arriving 4pm.. if there are tax or other fees to be paid, anyone know how much it cost?? and what about this import license? can you please tell me more.. we will be flying Thai Intl. from JFK..

if there are anymore advise i would love to hear them.. i'm just worry about my animals..

thanks..

[Priceless]

My wife and I arrived in Chiang Mai in October, together with our four cats that travelled in the cargo hold. (Four BIG cats plus cage weighed around 30 kgs.) The cage with the cats appeared on the regular cargo carousel, actually before any of the checked luggage. From our limited experience I would consequently say that there will be no need to go to the Cargo Facility. You will however be required to go through the "Red channel" as you have to pay import duty. For cats, and probably for dogs as well, the duty is 30% of the the animal's estimated (by you) value, so be prepared to come up with a reasonable value (i.e. taking into account that it is second hand equipment, possibly high mileage, any defects etc ).

Best of luck!

PS If you need any more specific details about our experience, Health Certificate etc, feel free to PM me. /Priceless

[pwllgrgn]

My wife and I arrived in Chiang Mai in October, together with our four cats that travelled in the cargo hold. (Four BIG cats plus cage weighed around 30 kgs.) The cage with the cats appeared on the regular cargo carousel, actually before any of the checked luggage. From our limited experience I would consequently say that there will be no need to go to the Cargo Facility. You will however be required to go through the "Red channel" as you have to pay import duty. For cats, and probably for dogs as well, the duty is 30% of the the animal's estimated (by you) value, so be prepared to come up with a reasonable value (i.e. taking into account that it is second hand equipment, possibly high mileage, any defects etc ).

Best of luck!

PS If you need any more specific details about our experience, Health Certificate etc, feel free to PM me. /Priceless

Hi

Thanks for the reply. My dog plus his crate will weigh approx 70 kgs so don't know if they will put him on carousel?

I have been told to list him on the paperwork as mixed breed - do you think that this will this make any differance to how much I can say he is worth? If customs duty is expensive would it not be cheaper to send as excess baggage?

[Sheryl]

The import license is only 50 Baht.

If the animal is delivered to the Cargo terminal then you will have to deal with customs, and the duty will be 30% of the pet's value as assessed by you, or whatever value you can convince the customs guy of. Assuming the dog is not an obvious pure breed of any sort, you should get by with a modest amount.

If the animal is delivered in the main terminal (where the luggage comes in -- whether by the carousel or elsewhere, but in that terminal) then technically you are supposed to go through the red channel but in practice people go through the green channel all the time with obvious pets and are just waved through. If you're worried about it you could inquire of the customs officer, but if I were you I'd just go through green and if challenged, offer up the import license, and if they want you to go through red, they'll say so. Just act dumb and don't make any effort at concealment.

I don't really understand the implications of the dog being shipped as "cargo" as opposed to accompanied baggage (excess or otherwise), i.e. I'm not sure if that means he'll be delivered to the cargo terminal instead of the main terminal where the baggage comes in. Maybe the airline can tell you.

Officially there is no difference in the duty due whichever way the pet comes in, but in practicality, nothing gets through the cargo terminal without charge whereas most things a foreigner brings in with them through the main terminal get through unchallenged; the customs people there aren't inclined to bother unless it looks like there may be something of significant value involved.

[Priceless]

Arriving at CNX in October we WERE waved over. However, all they wanted was the customs duty. Nobody asked for, or was shown, the Health Certificate. Customs duty is based on estimated value so, as Sheryl implies, you shouldn't exactly go around bragging about your animal being a pedigree show champion etc...

The transportation fee ("ticket") for our panthers was the same as for excess baggage, i.e. from Sweden to Thailand (ARN-CNX) it was 335 SEK/kg, approx 48 USD or 1600 THB per kg. This is calculated on gross weight, i.e. including the cage/crate, any food or water, bowls etc. Rather hideous but apart from that it was a straightforward procedure.

/ Priceless

[paulsmithson]

Hi Pwppgrgrn and other dog lovers

Here is a copy of a complainy I today sent to Lufthansa--wel I am trying to send I should say

We love our dogs but are now resigned to the cargo route although we know this is not the best thing for our dogs-never mind our pockets

copy follows

We are emigrating to Thailand and taking our two dogs with us

We had thoroughly researched the air shipment of pet dogs and even telephoned the vet in Thailand who would be dealing with our pet import. He strongly suggested that we take our two dogs as excess baggage rather than as cargo saying that this way was less stressful for the dogs and far easier for all concerned when we arrived in Thailand.

We telephoned Lufthansa at Manchester airport on 14th February 2007 and spoke to a Luftahansa staff member asking her if it was possible to take our dogs as excess baggage as the Thai vet had recommended . She advised us that the dogs could be taken on board the aircraft as excess baggage and accompany us on our linked flights to Bangkok. She also stated that the 90 minutes on the ground at Frankfurt was adequate time to allow transfer of our dogs to the connecting flight.

We accordingly booked our flights on line for 13 March flights then again telephoned Lufthansa at 2pm.14th February wishing to ensure the dogs were allocated travel space as excess baggage.

We spoke to a man identifying himself as Felice who asked us the overall weight of the dogs and their respective containers . We told him that the dogs with containers weighed 31 kg and 38.5kg respectively and the cages measured 40” x 27” x 30” high.

Felice advised us that the dogs could be taken on board the aircraft as excess baggage and accompany us on our linked flights to Bangkok. I enquired about payment for the dogs and Felice told us that this would be taken when we checked in for the flight and would be £20 per kilo.( £1390).

Today ( 26th February) I again telephoned Lufthansa at Manchester to confirm that our dogs had indeed been booked onto our flight. I spoke to Marjorie who checked and said that they had not! She then asked for weights and sizes and when told advised us that the dogs could not be taken with us as excess baggage as their weights were over 20kg.she advised us to contact Lufthansa cargo

I did this immediately and spoke to Fay who advised me that Lufthansa would not accept a cargo booking from me and that they would only deal with pet travel agents.

I have now had to rebook our dogs through a pet travel agent at a cost of £2356!!!!!!!!!

The additional costs are annoying however had we not rechecked with Lufthansa today we would have arrived at the airport for our booked flight with our dogs and no flight for them!!!! This would have been very expensive for us and been a total disaster.

I shall be publicizing this disgusting fiasco on the world wide web and contacting IATA to ask why you will only accept dogs as cargo when booked through pet travel agents who are shipping animals at cargo rate costs and marking up 200% for their overheads and profit.

This is my third attempt to contact you via your web site-every time the complaints form is completed and sent the message that this service is not available is returned-so maybe your website is as poor as your customer advice?? Could It be that you discourage any complaints?

Regards

Paul Smithson

[pwllgrgn]

Hello

Sorry to read about your situation. I know it must be very upsetting and stressful for you. It is difficult enough moving if everything runs smoothly without this extra hassle. Doesn't sound as if Luthansa are very efficient. I think that BA might have the same policy as if you telephone Worldcargo, you get a recorded message with a list of of pet relocators. You have just made my mind up to go with Thai Airways and Marco as cargo on the same flight as myself. The cargo people at Heathrow and Bangkok are very helpful especially the Manager and they only charge £12 a kilo.

[Amonik]

Hi Paul,

I'm sorry that you have to deal with all this.....

From my experience, I don't know if things have changed so much, but we bring our dog into Thailand in 2003, she was a Siberian Husky who used a cage like yours. I checked many times with airlines (all by phone) and finally we traveled with Lufthansa. We issue a dog ticket as excess baggage (180 U$S at that time from Argentina to Thailand) but.... when we were at the check in, someone told us that we should have paid also a fee that include her weight plus space at the hold...... we discussed because no one told us that before...... finally, they didn't charged anything, just the ticket and my dog plus cage was pretty over 20 kg.....

When we arrived to Thailand, our dog didn't appear ! we asked and asked and nobody know where she was..... she then arrived at the baggage claim area but her condition wasn't good, she was very depressed, very stressed, didn't respond to anything. We were very scared, it was a long trip. At Frankfurt we took her to a hotel (8 hours of waiting), she was fine and happy. I don't know if the condition of the second trip were different..... check all !

Nobody told us to go to the red line, we showed her papers (health, export.....) to someone there and that's all. When they saw the thai embassy seal, everything was ok.

Gook luck !

[tommy6566]

i just talked to the JFK airline personel from my airline and he gave me the good news.. i told him how i hate to have my pet checking in at the cargo area, and he understand how i feel.. he then told me that i do not need to goto cargo terminal to check in my dog anymore, just come directly to the regular terminal.. he then told me to not worry about it and to come and see him when i'm about to check in.. needless to say i'm a happy camper, i'm sure my casey is too..

lesson i learn today.. call up the guy at the airport to find the real scoop.. not from a customer service which is based in another city.. afterall, the guy at the airport will be the one who checks you in, not those customer service rep..