Do your own pet relocation from US

[NewtoSing]

We are moving from US to Sing next Jan 09. My 4 legged family members are a cat and a flat coated retriever. I have gone through the pet-related threads and got loads of information, thank you. I have also contacted pet movers, they quoted me close to USD7000 for the total cost, air fare, quarantine, etc. Since I do not have that much of money , I was wondering if anyone has ever move from US continent to Singapore and transport the pet as an excess baggage? How much does it cost for the air fare and what other fee we have to pay other than expense incurred in Singapore (import application form and quarantine fee)? I am considering do the ground arrangement with Pet Hotel Singapore once we arrive in Singapore. There is no non-stop flight from Atlanta, so I have to do a stop over. Any advise would be much appreciated.

[road.not.taken]

Excess baggage is definitely a viable option. We've done it. The pets fly with you, on the same flight instead of separately. Quarantine is 30 days, not sure the cost -- the company picked up the tab. Good luck.

[luvnyc]

I have three cats to move, the company is not picking up the tab, but I can't see Singapore Airlines allowing me the luxury of all three on my flight as excess baggage?

We have contacted a relocation service and it is a cost we will have to bear - I guess about USD5,000 per cat.

[NewtoSing]

We are not sure if the company will pick up the tab or not. I am just wondering if there is a more economical option than go with the full package quoted by pet mover companies. I have conctacted PetHotel Singapore or Pet Mover Singapore, they can assist with the import with much lower cost than the full package for Atlanta. However, we do have to pay for the flight and made arrangement from the US end ourselves. I have no problem with that.

luvnyc, you might want to contact Pet Movers, they quote me roughly around US3000 per pet for full package. They will assist with everything in US and pickup arrangement in Singapore.

[Capex101]

We are also moving to Singapore in January. Last month we were in Singapore and we did a bit of house-hunting and researched the details of bringing our pets (5 cats/2 dogs). It all seems pretty straight forward and by our calculations we are looking at about $1000 per animal. However, this is based on bringing them on the plane with us as excess baggage. Shipping them on their own is much more expensive. We were also told to negotiate with the airlines on the cost to bring them on the same plane - seems this is common - but I have not looked into it yet.

[eramie]

I just completed my move from Houston to Singapore with 2 small dogs. I did not use a pet mover on either end, but it was very time consuming! Regardless, I would do it again. I was quoted about $3000-5000 from moving companies just to get them here and ended up moving them over here for around $300 doing it myself. They are in there 5th day of quarantine now and I am hating every minute! Your vet in ATL may not be happy that you are doing it yourself (mine wasn't) but I found even with the pet movers they still had to fill out all of the paperwork themselves, so I don't know why they really care. If you need any additional info feel free to PM me. You may want to double check with Singapore airlines. They did not take pets as excess baggage in Houston and at LAX you had to be with a commercial pet moving company.

[Capex101]

I have not posted enough to PM - so hopefully someone will read and give a bit of advice. We are moving from Florida to Singapore with 5 cats and two dogs. My plan was to take our pets on SQ but you are correct - they do not accept animals. CO can get me close (HK) but not all the way. I really don't want to just send them as cargo and much prefer they are on the same plane as me (may have to make a few trips...). Any advice/thoughts will be appreciated.

[eramie]

That was a problem that I had as well. Most carriers will not allow you to transfer your animals between other carriers. I travelled on Air France. I was able to get a flight from Houston to Paris and then Paris to Singapore. You are only charged the fee once so it's $150 per pet for the entire flight. The thing to note with Air France is that
1) You have to pick up your pets in Paris from baggage claim and recheck them (they will check you baggage all the way through, but not your animals). I actually liked this, because I was able to check on them myself and see that they were fed and able to use the restroom.

2) Which leads me to my problem, there are not any pet relief areas in the entire airport. The people that you can find that do speak english (there are very few) will tell you to just go outside any of the exits and your animals can go there. The problem with this is that is is all concreate. No grass what so ever, and it's all rental car parking lots.

If you have the option to stay overnight I would do that. It would make the layover a little better. If not, it can be done. I had two very active dogs and an 9 hour layover (the only flight from Paris to Singapore via Air France is at 11:15 pm). If you have any other questions I would be happy to answer them!

[Capex101]

eramie,

Thanks for that. After a bit more checking I found out that SQ does allow animals in the hold - but only on the 747 route via Frankfurt. That's okay but they also require that I use a pet transport company - they suggested Air Animals out of Tampa - never heard of them. I have also requested door-to-door quotes from Pet Movers and the Pet Hotel. What I would really like to do is handle everything myslef from here - and have a local Singapore company handle the clearance into SIN and the transport to the quarantine. One question for you - you say you picked up your dogs up in Paris - then "rechecked" them. Does that mean you cleared customs with the dogs - esentially brought them into France? And if so, did you need paperwork for that as well?

[eramie]

If you use pet movers here in Singapore I think it's around $379 SGD for the first animal and $179 SGD for all the others (this is a round about guess). Not really a bad price and they handle everything from the time you animals land in Singapore till they get to the quarantine station. In Paris the only requirement is that they have a health certificate stating that they are in good health and an up to date rabies shot (which if you get your shot once a year you are within the time frame). Singapore is a lot more strict so you should be fine. Not to mention, no one every asked to see my paperwork. I walked straight from baggage claim out of the airport and no one ever said anything. I didn't go through customs at all. It's there, and the guards are there, but they don't say anything. One thing they did ask for each time I checked in was my import permit. At first they would say that animals can not be flown into Singapore, but then they would make a call and ask for my permit. As long as you have that, you're good to go.

Oh, one more thing I did not know. You can put more than one pet on the import permit. I was under the impression that each animal had to have their own. Not sure how you estimated your cost but if you do that you only have to pay the $50 SGD once instead of for each animal.

[nassaugirl]

Hi,

I am in the process of moving my cat over to Singapore (from Canada). As we are already over here, we are using a pet transport company to ship him and do all the pre-departure health checks/requirements. (CAD 1850)

But if we had been in Canada, we would definitely have brought him over as excess baggage. (CAD 650!)

It is a long flight and we have been advised that they will use KLM as it allows the animal a 4hr layover in Amsterdam to get fed/watered etc.

With regards to the paperwork on this side, it is rather easy and you do not need to pay anyone to do this.

1) First contact the AVA (Agri-Food and Vetrinary Authority) here in Sing and book a place for your pet at the quarantine station. If you know your dates, its worth doing this in advance.

see here: http://www.ava.gov.sg/AnimalsPetSector/ ... uarantine/

2) Within 30 days of the pet's arrival, you can apply online for a import permit to bring the pet into Sing. (takes 2 days to get this). The airline will need to see this as will the quarantine station.

see here: http://www.ava.gov.sg/Services/Licenses ... logics.htm

3) As we are not using a local clearing agent, we will need to go to the airport, sign the forms and hand the cat to the quarantine folks who will then take him to the quarantine facility.

I know it all seems really complex when you are trying to do this from abroad but I have found our contact person at the AVA very helpful.

[Capex101]

After considerable research I believe we will bring the pets over on Northwest via Tokyo - as excess baggage. About $600 per dog, $130 per cat. A question for anyone - did you have a letter from your landlord stating that they allowed pets? Is this really required? Did anyone ask during the import process?

[NewtoSing]

After considerable research I believe we will bring the pets over on Northwest via Tokyo - as excess baggage. About $600 per dog, $130 per cat. A question for anyone - did you have a letter from your landlord stating that they allowed pets? Is this really required? Did anyone ask during the import process?

Do you know if we are allowed to see them during transit in Tokyo? I was just wondering how they are going to relieve themselves.

[Capex101]

The flight we have booked on NW only has 1.5 hours on the ground in Tokyo. So I suppose no - don't get to see them. I suspect they will be a bit messy on arrival in Singapore.

[sandrassm]

i am in the process of moving one dog from greece to singapore, but hey you cannot move 5 cats and 2 dogs, you are only allowed in private aparts or landed houses 3 pets...