Large dog as baggage

[PaulW]

skipper, are you in any way connected with Akonapet?

[skipper]

quote:

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Originally posted by PaulW

skipper, are you in any way connected with Akonapet?

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No, not connected only that we have used there sevice. I reccomend them, and wouldn't bad mouth them. They have gone out of there way to make sure my 2 sheps did no quarantine time..That saved me a lot of time and money.[8D]

skipper

[csgray]

From reading Kelena's post it appears he was trying to be a paying client and then received service that was unacceptable to him, and decided to do it himself. I highly doubt mney was the issue, nothing is too good for Kelena's baby, he even buys her doggy rain gear.

Just another case where "personal experiences may vary".

Carol

[PaulW]

Thanks. How did your pets do no quarantine time?

[csgray]

Quarantine can be skipped if you plan well ahead and get all your shots and paperwork in order, starting about 6 months before the planned move.

We looked into it 8 years ago and had to rule out moving our dog because she was just too old to make the trip. She lived out her last few months being spoiled by my daughter and her husband, but quarantine was already not a given then. You could avoid it with careful coordination, depending on where you were flying your dog from.

Carol

[Kelena]

I hate it when they make me do this. I just want to play my lute by a stream. That's my true nature. Alright. Here goes.

I was a paying client and did pay Akonapet an initial sum. I quickly lost all confidence in Akonapet and, as it was the singlemost important part of the move and it would have caused me great distress if it had gone awry, I took it on myself and thus did not occur the additional fees that Akonapet wanted at later points in the process. I ended up saving money and avoiding undue anxiety as a result.

I believe I would have been within my rights to request my money back, or even to insist on it, but getting that money back would have required time and effort equal to or greater to the amount expended. Those efforts failed a simple cost/benefit analysis. I have held my tongue about it until now. And, I won't trot out the e-mails where the friendly tone got very, very snippy, very quick, and not on my part. Suffice it to say, the customer is always wrong.

I can't recommend her.

[nana valley]

I prepared for the pet move 2 years before I actually moved. I used Akonapet in the last 4 months before moving because I was becoming uncontrollably psychotic at the thought of my pets getting messed up and lost in limbo because I missed some step in the process of getting them to TBI. Akonapet totally removed my stress level and the entire process from departure to the reunion here on the BI went smoothly. I would recommend them anytime. They are spendy, however, but I had planned ahead of time. My cats were worth it to me

[DanielP]

The import process is exacting, but for anyone familiar with the process (Akonapet) it isn't that time consuming and shouldn't be very expensive. We used a pet handler back when they had to go thru HNL. We did our own paperwork. The handler got the dog from quarantine in HNL and took him to the cargo airline to ship him out to BI for about $150.

Dan

[KeaauRich]

We brought our dog over with us when we moved, and although the import process is exacting, it's not difficult. You just follow the steps in order and allow yourself enough time. We flew directly into Kona, so the Honolulu transfer wasn't an issue.

Service like Akonapet can be helpful if you have to do that HNL shuffle, and I you're also paying for a sense of security (real or pseudo). I guess you're also paying for someone to blame if something goes wrong too. But as someone who likes to take control of/have responsibility for my own affairs, I didn't think it was worth paying for the service. It IS worth paying the skycap who helps you at your point of departure, however - our guy stayed with the pet from check-in to boarding/stowing. We also received confirmation that our pet had been loaded on each leg of our trip - under United's process the baggage handler who loads the pet signs a receipt which is handed to the flight attendant and then delivered to the passengers seat before takeoff. Gate agents on both legs told us to alert the flight attendant as we boarded that we were flying with a pet. They didn't close the aircraft door until we got our receipt.

[dayna]

I'm currently working with Island Pet Movers, Kari has gone above and beyond to help make this easiest on my dog and myself. She's coordinated everything, from the vet visit in Alaska to the flight to the pickup in Honolulu to the shipment to Hilo.

Dayna

www.E-Z-Caps.com