Traveling To Thailand With Pets?

[bcoughlin]

Hey folks,

I hope everyone who reads this is doing well! I have a few questions about moving to Thailand with my pet dog.

For starters, I am Canadian, living in Canada. From what I can gather, I cannot find a direct flight to Bangkok or Thailand from Ontario, and as AirCanada and most other airlines won't accept pets on flights that use codeshares (different airlines working together). So I have to take direct flights.

The only solution I have seen so far is to flight to Hong Kong, which has fairly accepting policies for importing a dog. I can almost 100% avoid quarantine there. So I was thinking I could then take another flight from Hong Kong to Bangkok, with another airline that also allows dogs. However in reading the Thailand Importing of Live Stock policies, it says the animal must be from the country of origin for at least 6 months. So that wording is my dilemma, and here's my question:

If I have a same-day flight out of Hong Kong to Bangkok, with the stopover only to get permission from Hong Kong's authorities that my dog is in the clear, do you think I could then board my next flight and all would be OK? Or do you think the immigration officials would see that I had a temporary stopover and change of airlines for the 2nd half of my journey, and deny my dog entry? Obviously this is something I must avoid.

Does anyone here have any similar experiences?

[necronx99]

You may want to look at having a specialist company do this for you rathe than take your pet as baggage, of course this will cost..

They usually do a door to door service and take care of paperwork.

http://www.ipata.org/for-pet-owners/search-on-line-for-a-pet-shipper/

[scouser1892]

To fly from Canada to HKG with pets, you need to send the pet as cargo, even if it's for transit only. Cargo cost is around $700 for one way.

I suggest you check the hong kong agriculture, fisheries and conservation department and request proper documentation and information from them.

You can also check with Health Canada or another federal organism that can provide you with exact information on what's needed to export a pet from Canada, whether to HKG or else.

You can also call 1-800-O-Canada, explain to them your situation, they'll tell you who you need to speak with in beside Health Canada.

You also may want to consider flying to Korea, then Thailand. If I was you I'd avoid HKG.

[CharlieH]

There is more information on this and probably more help in the PETS forum

[jalansanitwong]

The last thing we need in Thailand is another dog.

[WilliaminBKK]

From YYZ you may also want to check into Emirates and Etihad and see what their pet policy is, remember it is hot as hell at the connecting points. Qatar now flies from YUL depending where you are in Ontario. Cathay will also carry pets, but they wont take what they call snub nose dogs, at least with CX it is same airline. Korean serves Toronto daily and connects to BKK. United last option but you would have to travel via the USA which is a pain but at least they fly YYZ-ORD-NRT-BKK and taking a pet via USA is easy as long as all of the shots are up to date. Going via Europe wont really work as the layover is usually pretty long.

Now I am a little surprised AC wont take pets via NRT as they code share with ANA/TG and those are AC flight numbers.

A stop in HKG would be a pain in my opinion as the flight is 15 hours non-stop from YYZ and you arrive late afternoon, you would have to claim your pet do all of the customs crap and then re-board, your baby may be totally stressed going back into the cage for another 3 hours plus the paperwork in Thailand, not forgetting you will be exhausted.

I've heard of people using 1/2 50mg of gravol, but I am really not sure if drugging is the right way to go.

Getting into Thailand is straight forward - paperwork and more paperwork but I have read many times that people are able to do it without too many problems.

Last point, be sure to purchase those flea drops and collars, you can purchase them at Siam Paragon but they are expensive (ye old dollarama will do for collars)

[FritsSikkink]

.

You also may want to consider flying to Korea, then Thailand. If I was you I'd avoid HKG.

Going to Korea with a dog? They see the dog as food.

[Nerone]

maybe doing a stop over in europe could not be a bad idea, Expecially if you can book both the routes with Thai airways, which is still one of the most open minded for animals. Regarding the fact that we don't need another dog in Thailand, well we don't need any more buffalos as well...

[scouser1892]

.

You also may want to consider flying to Korea, then Thailand. If I was you I'd avoid HKG.

Going to Korea with a dog? They see the dog as food.

in Guangdong ( Former Canton ), is where they consume cats and dogs, not saying elsewhere it don't happen... so chances are the dog is seen as food in hkg is much greater than korea. ( Chinese in Hong Kong are cantonese).

[Nickkbh]

have your paperwork in order, and thb 1000 for the airport vet, just in case. he only looks at the vet paperwork from wherever you come.

In my case he wasn't iterated in my flight no, just that i came from cp.

[FritsSikkink]

http://www.dld.go.th/webenglish/movec1.html