KLM's 5-Star Pet Transport Service
Written: Jul 20 '05 (Updated Jul 30 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: My dog arrived clean, happy and well-cared for!
Cons: Can't think of one
The Bottom Line: This review is specifically about their Pet Transport services we used for our dog. We were extremely satisfied.
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| reginafug's Full Review: KLM Royal Dutch Airlines |
Having to relocate our family dog from Jakarta, Indonesia to Houston, TX required much thought and organization to make sure he arrived healthy and not emotionally-scarred.
The consignment agent in Jakarta, Groovy Pet, recommended and spoke highly of KLM. Their itinerary was the most direct route to the US; Jakarta/Amsterdam/Houston and it made sense to us, even though it meant our dog would travel with a different airline than us and arrive on a different date. Upon investigating and asking other Expatriates living in Jakarta or those having returned to the US about shipping their pets, several said they had used KLM and were extremely happy with their services. Some people mentioned their negative experiences with other airlines, which I intended to avoid.
Groovy pet pointed out that KLM has a stellar reputation for animal transportation, including Olympic horses. He said that KLM, unlike other airlines, has a dedicated animal hotel in Schiphol Airport (Amsterdam, their home) where the animals are temporarily housed in larger kennels, given food and water while in transit (my dog had an 8 hour layover). The agent also said that they have a dog-walking service, the travel kennel would be cleaned while in transit and that he would be fed and cared for.
The price of the fare is determined by the size of the kennel and not the weight of the dog; my Shih Tzu‘s kennel size is Medium and his fare was US$400.00. Also, there are other fees involved, for example, in Jakarta, one doesn’t deal directly with KLM but must have a consignment agent contact them. The agent, Groovy Pet charged US$150.00 to handle the processing of the animal’s export documentation, paying KLM and delivering the dog to the airport and staying with the dog until it was safely inside the plane. Then, there are boarding fees involved. For example, Groovy Pet recommended that we travel a few days ahead of the animal, to ensure we would be in Houston by the time he arrived, and that added about 4 days of boarding since KLM doesn‘t have daily flights out of Jakarta.
Once our dog had been checked in and was on board the flight, a KLM agent in Houston communicated with us via telephone and email informing us about the Estimated Arrival Time, and explained the process of picking up a pet.
Finally, on the day of the pet‘s arrival, one must go to KLM’s Cargo Office to pick up the Travel and US Customs and Agriculture Department’s documentation. Then, one must drive over to the US Custom’s office (about a 15 minute drive, outside the airport) and pay US$35.00 (cash only). Once the animal has been cleared by the Agency, you may return to the cargo office and pick up the pet. The process was very simple and probably took a total of 45 minutes.
In summary, we are very satisfied with KLM’s services and of course, I have no way of verifying how my dog was treated, etc, since my dog cannot speak (ha, ha), but upon arrival in the US, we did receive a happy, clean little dog! His travel kennel had a layer of shredded newspaper bedding that was clean and it was obvious he had been well-cared for!
We highly recommend KLM for pet transportation. I letter of gratitude is on its way to KLM for taking such good care of our beloved Bourbon.
Recommended:
Yes
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