Traveling by air with my bird

Every year I spend part of the summer in Alaska . Even if I drive, I can only do it most of the way. At some point I have to get on a plane or a ferry. Has anyone travelled with their bird on a plane. Any tips, or information would be appreciated.

I have travelled birds all around NZ, they are only short flights as its only an hour to the top of the north island and 2 hours to the bottom from where i am, but the way i set up the cages was simple.. just a cat carrier and a towel i used to cable tie shade cloth on the outside of the carrier bars and door just to keep things dark, if it was a prolonged flight i used to just put some fruit in a bowl, gives both food and liquids instead of havingbwater slosh around in the crate

I started a thread on this not too long ago, Im not sure how to find it to link it here, but its in the Poi forums I think. Ask your airline if there are specific requirements for the carrier. Im travelling in a few days with my bird and I had to buys a special carrier to meet the needs of Westjet. A regular cat carrier will not be accepted by that airline as a carry on. I also had to inform them ahead of time and pay an extra fee. In addition, you may want to make sure that there isnt any paperwork you need for this. To leave the country you may need to have proof that you own the bird, or proof that he/she is healthy.

Just an FYI, flying from Arizona to Alaska isn't really leaving the country unless you have a lay-over in Canada! ;-)

Littlebird2 said:

Every year I spend part of the summer in Alaska . Even if I drive, I can only do it most of the way. At some point I have to get on a plane or a ferry. Has anyone travelled with their bird on a plane. Any tips, or information would be appreciated.

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Depending on which airline you use, I would call them and ask their requirements. They will tell you which carrier you can use as a carry on, and if you need a health certificate.

YEARS ago I flew overseas (Germany) with my cockatiel in tow, and it was quite easy.

I have been debating traveling to St. Thomas Virgin Islands and spending any where from one to two years there. My wife was raised on the island and has family there. But my major problem is my birds. I have done quite a bit of research on this for that particular area though.

Alaska doesn't need a health certificate since it's part of the US. BUT, you will have to check with the Alaskan agriculture Department to see if they require something. Your avian vet should do a health check within 10 days of your flight. This you can verify with your airline. Some airlines allow birds to travel in the cabin and some do not, like American Airlines, some have a limit of pets that can travel in the cabin under the passenger's seat, Delta I think is like 4 if I remember correctly (this is for the whole cabin) so you MUST contact them before hand and get to the airport at least 4-5 hours before your flight.

Yes, you will have to pay extra and it averages about $125.00-$150.00 The carrier must be airline approved and it has to be small enough for it to fit under the seat, but large enough for your bird to be able to stand up in. There is also weather restrictions or time of year. Most airlines will not allow birds to travel as cargo in the summer months.

Now at the airport, you will need to be there 4-5 hours ahead of your flight for security check points and to make sure and check in early in case that there is an issue. The number of animals allowed per flight is a first come first serve basis. So the earlier you go the better off you are. Liquids are not allowed. So you will want to freeze grapes or fruits that the bird can get liquid from. This is a biggie here: MAKE SURE YOUR BIRD IS USED TO THE CONTAINER, this is very important to keep your bird from stressing out and becoming noisy and also because you will more than likely be required to remove your bird from the container. They can remove you from line when they see that you are carrying a pet container and take you to a nearby room where they will ask you to remove your bird so that they can inspect the container. So you must be very comfortable with handling your bird. I read one article where this happened to a traveler and he had a heck of a time getting his bird back in the container after the inspection because the bird was soooo excited he kept wanting to bite him.

You also might be required to show ownership of the bird once you get ready to return from Alaska to ensure that it was bred in the US and not imported. So that is a major issue to find out about like how would you go about doing this unless you have the birth records, sales receipt or so forth.

I hope this helps you out, if I left out anything, I'll add to the post. Good luck with your trip.

I traveled across the States with a bird (California to New Jersey). It cost $250 for the ticket (they attach a little paper to your own ticket), you need to make the reservation for it asap because they only carry one or two animals per cabin and it's first-come-first-served. You also need to go earlier than the other passengers and have the bird in an approved air travel carrier. This carrier needs to be a certain size and completely transparent because you can't put the bird through the X-Ray machine so you need to go to the desk where they do manual checks when you go through security and they need to be able to see through it.

And you do need a veterinarian health certificate because even though certain states don't require it for birds, you never know if the plane is going to have an emergency landing in a state where it is required and you don't want to get stuck there because you don't have one.

If the flight is long, make it a red-eye so the bird can sleep through it but, if this is not available, make it with stops so you can take the bird out (that's what I did, I stopped half-way for a few hours so she could come out -I did it in a bathroom stall so she would not freak out from all the traffic, noises and people). Put some millet in the carrier and some very juicy fruits (in case it gets thirsty), like orange slices or grapes.

I've not travelled by air with a bird in Australia (and we can't take birds in or out of the country by any means due to quarantine restrictions) but I have spoken to breeders who send birds inter- and intrastate and they use cat carriers with cotton wool soaked in water placed in the recepticle provided in plastic cat carriers. They don't generally put much food in as it's messy and the birds are too stressed to eat anyway. I've not seen or heard of animals of any kind being carried in the cabin on Au domestic flights.

Thanks guys. Really good information. There is only one airline that flies into Juneau so that should make it easier