Pet Shippers [Archive] - EverythingKMC

JOFTAA

June 15th, 2012, 02:32 PM

When we left Germany this past week, we went non-stop between Frankfurt and Miami International.

I know you said you can't, but what have you tried to get onto Lufthansa? All we did was call SATO Travel and tell them that we could not possibly handle all of our luggage, as well as pets and make the layover they originally scheduled. We were supposed to be on Patriot Express from RAB to CONUS, and then change planes. But, the layover would have been overnight, and there was no place to stay overnight that would allow our pets. I told SATO Travel that staying overnight at the airport with my pets was not going to happen. SATO changes us to Lufthansa, non-stop to MIA.

You just have to be a bit persistent with SATO Travel.

I have no problem with them flying Luftansa or United but we can't ship them ourselves as we have no way to get them to the airport. They are big dogs with big crates too. The AF is flying all 5 of our family out of Frankfort at the same time on American (3 kids, 3 car seats, 6 suitcases, you can see we will need a bus ourselves for the trip lol). We don't have anyone who can pick the dogs up Stateside either to ship them early. Thus we have to go with a shipping company $$$$ ughhh.

We used Rita's Airport Shuttle (http://www.airport-shuttle-ramstein.com/). They picked us up in a van that was plenty big for all of us. We are 2 adults, 2 kids, 1 small dog, and 1 cat. Granted, our pets are not as big as what you describe for your furry family members, but perhaps you could get two shuttles from Rita? You and a pet go in one shuttle, your husband and the other pet go in the other shuttle. You can work out shuttle custody of your kids :D

This would allow you to get everyone to Frankfurt, and possibly not have to deal with a pet courier. Since you only get reimbursed for one shuttle, you will have to pay for the second shuttle, but this surely beats paying for a pet courier service. Once you get to your final destination, you can rent a vehicle(s) large enough to transport everyone.

Rita's was great. They showed up exactly when they were supposed to, got us to the airport without any other stops to pickup other people (you have to ask for "exclusive" service, and it costs a little more, but is worth it), and we got to the airport as promised with plenty of time to get our pets checked in, and have some leisure time to relax before the flight. Our shuttle driver was very nice, avoided traffic, and helped us with our luggage and pets.

The only complaint I have about the driver, which is very minor, is that he used his Bluetooth headset to talk on his cell phone. For some reason he thought that in order to use the headset, he had to talk really, really loudly. It was annoying having to listen to the driver yelling while driving, and during one phone call he got way too close to the car in front of us to be safe.

I've only dealt with one shuttle service, and have only had one experience, however I can say from this experience, I would recommend Rita's Airport Shuttle.

Tephanie

June 15th, 2012, 06:21 PM

That's a really valid option, but the way this move is going I honestly don't care how much it's going to cost lol. (I hit crazy about 2 weeks ago as we just got a port date yesterday and are leaving in 2 weeks...) The dogs get carsick but not airsick so will have to drive up the day prior so their stomachs can settle down. I'd really just like to not deal with it and have a cocktail while dealing with the 3 spawn I'm going to have to corral for 15 hours. :heh: I was originally going to fly out a day or two prior on United with the dogs and my husband was going to fly back with the kids. SATO couldn't book us on United b/c they were out of the military discounted tickets for the entire week we have to get there.