Pet Transportation

[Peter Mitry]

Hi Lyndsay when you mentioned Condor from Germany to Hurghada it set me thinking. From Spain we can fly daily to most German hubs and as Luthansa are the owners of Condor it made sense to contact them. We can put our three dogs in the hold in seperate pet carriers and fly to Germany for 30€ per dog. Our cats will go in two cat carriers, two per box and have to go as hand luggage. This costs max, 25€ per cat. The prices from the German hub to Hurghada are similar and Lufthansa has a pet lounge where the animals are allowed out overnight, cleaned and put back in the boxes for the onward flight to Hurghada. All sounds very civilised. Just need to sort out any import licence; no one has mentioned this.

 

[lyndsay552]

Hi Lyndsay when you mentioned Condor from Germany to Hurghada it set me thinking. From Spain we can fly daily to most German hubs and as Luthansa are the owners of Condor it made sense to contact them. We can put our three dogs in the hold in seperate pet carriers and fly to Germany for 30€ per dog. Our cats will go in two cat carriers, two per box and have to go as hand luggage. This costs max, 25€ per cat. The prices from the German hub to Hurghada are similar and Lufthansa has a pet lounge where the animals are allowed out overnight, cleaned and put back in the boxes for the onward flight to Hurghada. All sounds very civilised. Just need to sort out any import licence; no one has mentioned this.

One thing to watch with Lufthansa is that they charge per kg to put an animal in the hold and its the combined weight of the animal plus cage.

The is no import license as such. Your animals must have the rabies injection at least 30 days before you fly and also be microchipped. They then have a final check 96 hours before they fly by a vet. This is where we hit the big problem. This final certificate MUST be legalised by your countries government and then stamped by the Egyptian Embassy/Consulate. It doesn't give you much time, hence why I have to fly to London to have it done on time.

Lyndsay

 

[vix]

I think I'm getting somewhere

I just got an email from a girl who recently transported her dog to Hurghada from the UK and you have to get the paperwork stamped by both the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Egyptian Embassy but it can all be done in one day.

I priced a courier at it was £400 each way!!

I can get a flight for £60 return and an airport pickup/drop of service for £35 return. So I think I'll get the dogs final paperwork completed on Monday 30th June and fly to London on 1st July, get all the paperwork stamped and fly back that night.

Still working on the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs for the legalisation but I think that it's just as easy to fly to London.

Finger crossed.

Lyndsay

Have the serial no's from the vials been entered on to the certificate ? This is why my friend had to have the courier deliver to the vets, as he wouldn't, (or couldn't) do this without the appropriate paperwork having been stamped.

 

[lyndsay552]

Yes, that has been done already and put onto the pet passport, along with the micro-chip number. All the paperwork was sent directly to my vet from DEFRA.

 

[vix]

I do hope you get sorted then, it must be very worrying.

 

[Peter Mitry]

I am in contact with an agency here in Spain who specialise in pet transportation, they have no knowledge of the requirement for documents to be stamped by Egyptian embassy they are adamant that the only req is the chip and the vacs, the contact is Isabel on 0034 952412353 VIPET

Dont know if this will be usefull to anyone


regards

Pam Mitry

 

[lyndsay552]

Hi Pam

I have spoken to both the Egyptian Embassy in London and also in Dublin and both informed me that the paperwork had to be legalised in their country of origin.

The Egyptian Embassy in Spain does not have a website but their email address is [email protected] it might be best to speak directly to them. I had spoke to a pet transportation company a few months ago and they did not mention the legalisation, it was only once I received the paperwork from DEFRA (the government organisation for pet transportation) that I realised that it had to be done.

Lyndsay

 

[vix]

Hi Pam

I have spoken to both the Egyptian Embassy in London and also in Dublin and both informed me that the paperwork had to be legalised in their country of origin.

The Egyptian Embassy in Spain does not have a website but their email address is [email protected] it might be best to speak directly to them. I had spoke to a pet transportation company a few months ago and they did not mention the legalisation, it was only once I received the paperwork from DEFRA (the government organisation for pet transportation) that I realised that it had to be done.

Lyndsay

Yes this was also the case with my friends transporting to Grenada. Came as a shock re the timescale.

 

[M Butler]

Lindsay,

glad to hear you have managed to find a way round thoughtless beaurocracy.

We are still on target for the 1st June. UK freight has gone but we are still sorting out El Gouna stuff (and buying more).

Hope you have a safe journey to Hurghada, doggie included. I am looking forward to meeting the cause of all your anxt!!

Margaret

 

[Peter Mitry]

I am currently in Hurghada and having spoken to several German friends who regularly take their animals backwards and forward I am assured there is no requirements for anything other than the animal passports and the chip. I have even confirmed this with a local pet importer. We will travel with ours Malaga to Frankfurt or Munich and on to Hurghada the next day. Just to be sure we will ave the Egyptian pet importer at the airport to avoid any problems with customs.

 

[lyndsay552]

I have just come off the phone from the Egyptian consulate in London and the good news is they can legalise the documents over the counter in about 30 mins.

I did ask what would happen if the paperwork was not stamped and they told me that as the origin of the paperwork could not be verified then the dog would have to be destroyed.

Lyndsay

 

[queenie40something]

So basically if you do this the dog will be ok??

 

[Peter Mitry]

Hi Lyndsay maybe it is because you are coming from Northern Ireland? I have checked now with so many people who regularly travel between mainland Europe and Egypt with no papers at all except for the blue animal passports and certificate of vaccination and blood tests. Air Berlin fly from Malaga to the German Hub airports and even have overnight facilities in airports for pets in transit. The following day they fly direct to Hurghada. They are not aware of any importation documents being required other than the above.

Peter

 

[lyndsay552]

Hi Lyndsay maybe it is because you are coming from Northern Ireland? I have checked now with so many people who regularly travel between mainland Europe and Egypt with no papers at all except for the blue animal passports and certificate of vaccination and blood tests. Air Berlin fly from Malaga to the German Hub airports and even have overnight facilities in airports for pets in transit. The following day they fly direct to Hurghada. They are not aware of any importation documents being required other than the above.

Peter

Egypt is not within the EU Pet Passport scheme, so any dog going back into europe must go into 6 months quarantine.

Both DEFRA and the Egyptian embassy in london and ireland have told me the same thing.

The UK may have different rules about animals coming back in but it should not make any difference on the way out.

Have you read Zeiad's post about it? He was saying the same thing that I said.

Can you imagine getting to Hurghada and being told that your pets will have to be put to sleep? Doesn't bare thinking about.

Lyndsay

 

[vix]

Egypt is not within the EU Pet Passport scheme, so any dog going back into europe must go into 6 months quarantine.

Both DEFRA and the Egyptian embassy in london and ireland have told me the same thing.

The UK may have different rules about animals coming back in but it should not make any difference on the way out.

Have you read Zeiad's post about it? He was saying the same thing that I said.

Can you imagine getting to Hurghada and being told that your pets will have to be put to sleep? Doesn't bare thinking about.

Lyndsay

Keep thinking about your pooch. Hope it all goes well. The above is the worst case scenario, I cant bear to think of that happening to my Glenda. You have had a very stressful time, must have taken the shine off things for your family.

 

[M Butler]

Lindsay,
Glad to hear you have sorted it all out.

Good luck

Margaret

 

[lyndsay552]

That's me all sorted. Just booked my return flight to London to get the paperwork signed.

Better safe than sorry.

Just means that I leave hubby behind to sort out any off the last minute packing nightmares lol

Lyndsay

 

[Jeremy Sturgess]

I originally posted the below on the legal thread but it is perhaps more appropriate on this thread.



Dear Lyndsay

Im glad I didnt read your post or Zaieds response above before we transported our boxer dog to cairo. This was in Jan 06 so perhaps the rules have changed but our experience was quite simple.

We lived in south of france at the time and had booked a flight from Barcelona direct to Cairo. We rang Egypt air in Barcelona who booked the dog onto the flight, told us to pay for her separately on arrival at Barcelona airport, told us about the medical / vet requirements tests that were needed so we did all that in the appointed timeframe. No mention of embassy stamps being needed.We purchased a big dog box in which he would travel. We got to the airport in Barcelona and checked in and had to pay for the dogs ticket - it wasnt cheap (Euros 900). No one at Barcelona airport was remotely interested in looking at the dogs vetinary book. The biggest difficulty we had all day was getting the dog in the travel cage ! Finally we did manage it and we said a prayer that she wouldnt freeze to death in the planes hold.

On arrival at Cairo we passed thru immigration and went strait to baggage reclaim. We were delighted to see the dog in perfect condition on the baggage carousel. We took her out of the box, put a lead on her and strolled thru customs. No one stopped us and noone asked to see her papers. Unbelievable but true. She is very happily living in Cairo where her hobby is killing cats.

I will be much more concerned when we try to bring our other dog from France to Cairo.

I expect this happens in Cairo fairly regularly. No one is really interested. The wonderful thing about egypt is that there are laws but adherance to them sometimes seems to be completely optional. I wouldnt be at all surprised if you have the same experience in the end. Hope you will let us Know how it all turns out.

If you are not travelling Egypt Air I suggest you call them and ask them what they suggest.

Nothing in the above is meant to suggest you break the rules but I expect that different carriers will tell you different things.

Best regards

Jeremy

 

[lyndsay552]

Hi Jeremy,

I'm glad your move off the dog went well. Might be a strange question but did your dog come off with the rest of the baggage? Or did you have to collect her from cargo?

Must be the oddest thing ever to see a dog on the carosel.

How has she coped with the heat?

Thanks

Lyndsay

 

[Jeremy Sturgess]

Hi Jeremy,

I'm glad your move off the dog went well. Might be a strange question but did your dog come off with the rest of the baggage? Or did you have to collect her from cargo?

Must be the oddest thing ever to see a dog on the carosel.

How has she coped with the heat?

Thanks

Lyndsay

She came off with the rest of the baggage on the carousel.

Seems to have coped well with the heat.

Good luck. Im sure you will be fine.