Yesterday we were travelling from Frankfurt to Buenos Aires.
With us, our 8 year old former shelter dog Rocky. As you may imagine we were pretty nervous about that part, since he is too big to fly with us in the cabine. We had to put him in a IATA (important if you are considering buying a box) travel box and he was brought in the lower part of the airplane – in a room next to the luggage.
Beforehand we did try to inform us as much as possible how it works and which papers you need for your dog. Nevertheless we were told some new information during this first big adventure. So in the following we will share our experience with you concerning our flight from Frankfurt to Buenos Aires with Lufthansa.
Last dog meal:
We were leaving from my hometown by car around 9 am, at that time we did a short morning walk with Rocky and he already had his breakfast - last meal before departure. (I was told to give him his last meal about 12 hours before departure due to “his needs”)
Last dog walk:
We did a short morning walk. A semi-long midday walk. A long, calm one-and-a-half-hour-walk through the woods 4-5 hours before departure. After that Rocky stayed in his Box – super chilled.
At the airport:
When we entered the airport – we kept Rocky in his transport box – since he feels most safe in there. We arrived and directly went to the “excess and special baggage from Lufthansa. Even though we were too early they attended us quite well and prepared the papers. I was surprised. – they did not even look either at the health certificate nor at the pet passport. I needed to fill out a paper for emergency cases (if the flight is delayed – when does the dog need some food etc) and they checked our normal luggage in as well. Since we were too early to already leave Rocky there – we left and came back an hour later when one of the securities checked the box – by the way really basic security check – put Rocky inside and secured the box with some “security stripes”… Furthermore they`ve told us that they will fill up his bowl of water as well! Which was really good to know as well!... so far so good, everything went really smoothly and we were overwhelmed how calm and sovereign Rocky behaved.
Last moment with our dog before flight:
So after the security check of the dog box and the closing of the box there it was – the moment I was most afraid of… To leave Rocky behind and hope that the airport members are bringing our dog to the right plane at the right moment. 😉
Against all expectations Rocky stayed so relaxed. he did look around, but did not bark when we left him. THAT was the moment where we became more relaxed too. Seeing him so calm – under all those circumstances.
Rocky´s travel box:
We bought his travel box from Fressnapf. – Important that the box fulfills the IATA standards! One month before departure we started to put Rocky in his box during night. Some times we did close it as well so that he got used to it.. Anyhow – since Rocky is kind of a “fast-afraid-dog” he always loves his boxes and was already used to be in boxes before the travel. I did put in his favorite toy and a t-shirt which I wore on our way to the airport.
At the gate:
They told me to ask again on the gate if the AVIH (abbreviation for dogs on board) is already on the plane. At that moment they told me that he arrived but still is not on the plane.
At the plane:
That was the moment when I/we became nervous again.
At the gate they`ve told us Rocky was close but still not in the airplane. That´s why we asked a stewardess again right after boarding. – it took several minutes until they told us he is fine and in the plane already. From that moment on we were pretty happy.
Arriving in Buenos Aires:
After our 13 hours flight we arrived in Buenos Aires. Bauti took the fast line for migrations. – since he is Argentinian 😉 I took the one for tourists and I stood line for about 1,5 hours. In the meanwhile Bauti found Rocky in the luggage hall. He was sleeping in his box. Woke up very happy to see Bauti but still was as calm and sovereign as when we left him. How happy we were to see him in Argentina!
Dogs migration/declaration:
There it was the moment when we had to show following papers of Rocky:
-
Health certificate
(we brought it in 4 languages – Italian, German, French and English) it was not a problem that it was not in Spanish – even though it is written on the page of SENASA that it has to be in Spanish. - Passport (important that it has the stamp of the official veterinarian!!)
- Report of the titer examination
The feedback was that Rocky´s documents are perfect!
Once again we were told to always talk with the official organizations before entering a new country. You will always need a new health certification from the country you are in at the moment and depending on the country you are travelling in maybe some special vaccines or similar. So to stay safe – we will need to do the same procedure many times more on our way from Argentina to Alaska – and then back to Austria.
So the new thing that we did not know beforehand was that we had to pay about 12 € to enter him.
All in all it was less stressful as we´ve thought before. Rocky was happy to pee after almost 20 hours in his travel box and happy to see us both on the southern hemisphere of this beautiful world 😊
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