Collecting a dog from quarantine

[Kelly Williams]

Hi I need to collect my dog from Melbourne on the 5th September. Please could anyone that has done this please give me their advice and experience? I need transport to Perth. Is it better and cheaper to fly out myself or employ a shipper? I don't know what to do for the best.

[fifi69]

It will all depend on what price you can get the flights for and the weight of your dog.

 

We had to do this 3 years ago with our two labs.

 

First thing is to get quotes from the pet shippers, ie Jetpets, Dogtainers, etc. This will let you know what price you need to better, then head onto the websites to price up flights to Sydney and back. Only Quantas and Virgin will allow your dog on so the return flight will need to be with one of them but you could use one of the cheaper airlines, Jetstar, tiger to get to Sydney .

 

your dog is calculated as luggage, so you only pay for anything over the luggage allowance. Our two combined weight came in over 80kg but it still worked v cheap.

 

You would need to check if you can use the crate that they were in to get here, if not you can hire crates cheaply and the company will bring to the airport for you.

 

You need to book your dog direct with the airline, no forms, just a phone call and you don't pay for the dog until you get to the airport, ie they weight them then tell you the exact amount, although you will already know roughly how much your dog weighs so will have a good idea.

 

So in the end it all depends on what comes in cheaper and if you want the hassle free route and not have to fly over yourself.

 

The other difference is if using a company then your pooch will fly on a cargo plane, obliviously if they fly with you then its on a passenger jet with you (still in the hold though)

[Patphillips47]

We used Jetpets to pick up Ralphy from quarantine and fly him to Adelaide - went without a hitch He is a Shar Pei medium size dog and flew in the same cart that was used to ship him from the uk I think th cost was around $260 so not too bad

[maryannen]

Hi I need to collect my dog from Melbourne on the 5th September. Please could anyone that has done this please give me their advice and experience? I need transport to Perth. Is it better and cheaper to fly out myself or employ a shipper? I don't know what to do for the best.

 

In your case I'd highly recommend employing a pet transport company to bring your dog from quarantine to Perth. I lived in Perth for many years and was born and bred in Melbourne....have not long returned from 12 years in the UK .....I think that by the time you factor in your flight costs both ways, the time the flights will take, plus your dogs transport on the return leg it's going to be cheaper and less stressful to get a pet transporter to bring your dog home.

 

Just a little note to factor in too .....Quarantine is NOT located at Melbourne Tullamarine Airport... it is located on the northern outskirts of Melbourne in Mickleham near Kalkallo ....around a 20-30 minute drive from the airport ....so you would have to have transport for you and your dog when collecting your dog from quarantine and back to the airport as well....if you have no transport or anyone who could transport you all in Melbourne...not to mention get yourself out there from the airport ....It isn't hard to find, when I'm down in Melbourne (live just over the Vic/NSW border now I pretty much drive past Mickleham quarantine on the way in and the way out of Melbourne.... BUT it is a drive from the airport and something to consider when looking at the overall cost.

 

My trio were in quarantine in May and I used Pet Express Transport Services to bring them home by road ....they got out in the morning and were home by lunchtime.

 

Cheers Mary-Anne