Pet transport to Turkey in cabin. Advice please

dalyan


Joined: 01/07/2010
Posts: 23

Message Posted:
02/09/2010 08:12

Has anyone any experence of taking a cat to Turkey in the aircraft cabin?

The websites sat a box of 45x35x23cm but this hight is a bit small and I would be prepared to buy an extra seat if the box could be higher than 23cm.

ClaireCat44



Joined: 17/09/2008
Posts: 739

Message Posted:
02/09/2010 09:17

I flew from istanbul to Ercan with 2 cats in 2002 with Cyprus Turkish Airlines. I had to pay 30tl for my hand luggage's excess weight and then they came with me through passport control, through the gate and onto the plane. As I had 2 cats, in normal cat boxes, they said they had to split them, one had to be at the rear of the plane with me and the other was put at the front with a helpful passenger! We carried them off the plane in Ercan and then waited for the man from quarrantine to pick them up. But that is a whole other story! Unfortunately CTA no longer operate and I don't know how the other airlines deal with this.

dalyan


Joined: 01/07/2010
Posts: 23

Message Posted:
02/09/2010 11:08

Thanks Clair.

Were your cats able to stand up easily in the boxes?

Did you tell CTA about the cats before you arrived at the airport ?

ClaireCat44



Joined: 17/09/2008
Posts: 739

Message Posted:
02/09/2010 11:35

I had rung the airline beforehand to ask them how I could fly the 2 cats here. The told me just to bring them to the airport as handluggage, then go to the CTA desk where they would be weighed and I would have to pay something for the extra handluggage kgs. Then we just carried on as normal! They were with me all the time. I only used their normal catboxes, nothing special, and before the airport our vet in istanbul just gave them a tranquilizer so they were sleeping/dopey on the flight which I though would be fairer on them (and the other passengers!). It's only a short flight from istanbul to Ercan. The only 'funny' bit was on arrival at istanbul airport when they wanted to take the cats out of their boxes and put them on the conveyer belt to go through the x-ray machine. My friend told them not to be so stupid, we were not going to take the cats out in the airport, and they could easily search the boxes with the cats in if they wanted!

AllyTT


Joined: 13/09/2008
Posts: 188

Message Posted:
02/09/2010 11:55

I brought over my cat from Istanbul with Pegasus, just ticked a box when booking online - called to confirm but was told there was no need as they already knew from the online booking that there was to be a cat on board. They never checked the size of the carrier and it was larger than their regulations stated, they didn't even care that she weighed more than the 6kg allows. They just charged me 6 kgs excess baggage (came to 30TL in 2008) and that was all. They even kept the seat next to me free and she actually had a seat of her own! I guess I was lucky because the flight I was on was only half-full. The stewardesses were very nice, even feeding her parts of a sandwich - and that is on a flight were the human passengers don't even get a cup of water

flightholiday


Joined: 19/07/2007
Posts: 3217

Message Posted:
02/09/2010 11:55

A little more difficult these days with Turkish.

shel56


Joined: 10/09/2008
Posts: 438

Message Posted:
17/09/2010 13:48

I brought my cat here on the plane with me with Turkish Airlines from Jeddah in 2005, talk to the carrier I found them helpful - he was extra hand luggage (total weight 5KG).



The cat carrier you mentioned is good cats just lay and sleep generally it's the take off and landing that affect them they cry alot. My cat went from the UK to Jeddah a 7 hour flight and he was okay when we got out at the other end. I just kept tickling him under the chin to reassure him that I was there.



I did buy a soft cat carrier though for his journey from Jeddah to Ercan and that was much better as I was able to pull him up and sit him on my knee throughout the flight just make sure the zip is secure as they can weedle their way out! I took him from here to Madrid (Turkish Airlines) and UK to Germany the same way.



Just a word of warning you have to remove them from the pet carrier when it comes to the x-ray (they x-ray the carrier NOT the cat). Hope this helps.