I’m sure that everyone misses travelling this year and just can’t wait to visit other countries again. However safety comes first, and we just gotta put the travel plans aside for now and save up for a trip!
But, this might be the perfect time to start preparing all the necessary documents, health check-ups and planning for the trip if you wish to bring your pet overseas for travelling when borders are open again!
Today I’m gonna share about how you can travel with your pet along with our personal experience (because I have travelled with pets way too many times).
First thing first, air travel is split by in-cabin and cargo for pets. In-cabin means your pet is flying with you inside the aircraft. Cargo means the pet will be in the luggage holding area. I’ll split the two forms of travel into two different posts as the post will get pretty long. To find out about flying in-cargo, please click here.
The flight with Mitsuko
I’m sure this is everyone’s preferred way of travelling with pets, to bring your pet into the cabin with you. But do note that there is quite a bit of restriction and costs for flying in-cabin, so do read the following information carefully.
I’ve only flown in-cabin once with this little cutie called Mitsuko. We flew from Shanghai, China to Jakarta, Indonesia; with a transit stop at Seoul, Korea.
Mistuko in Pudong Airport, Shanghai, as we are sorting out check in for me
It was really cool to fly with your pet in-cabin to be honest. I’ve always enjoyed flying, and having a little dog with me just made it even better. Plus, I was lucky to have been met with a really nice passenger beside me who absolutely loved Mitsuko.
P.S. So technically you are not supposed to bring your pet out from the carrier, they are expected to be kept inside the carrier at all times. But the passenger who sat beside me loved Mitsuko so much, she told me to bring her out and will warn me when an air stewardess was coming so we could hide Mitsuko under my blanket. I had a really nice chat with her throughout the flight as we spoke about Korea and Singapore.
So once we in the air, Mitsuko sat on my lap throughout the flight. In the very beginning, Mitsuko was really nervous and was shaking quite a bit. But she soon calmed down after 30 mins and was sleeping comfortably or moving around our seats the rest of the flight. I was able to feed her some treats on the flight, brought her to the toilet to pee, and she basically got to enjoy herself on the flight.
Then we landed in Seoul to transit to Jakarta. It was supposed to be a relatively tight schedule, but our flight got delayed so I could end up taking my own sweet time in Incheon Airport to shop and walk around with Mitsuko.
The first thing I did after arrival was to bring Mitsuko for a toilet break, then gave her some food as it was her usual mealtime. After her tea break, it was time to go shopping.
She was most nervous during take-off and landing, plus the crowded airport did not help. So it took her a good 10-15 mins to calm down and stick her head out from her carrier. I pushed her around on the trolley as I went around shopping, and she got so many compliments along the way!
Finally, it was time for our connecting flight to Jakarta, and Mitsuko and I went to security to get ready for flying. She had to go through a round of check, and all the security guards were so cute when they saw her. They crowded around her as we were doing security clearance to play with her haha. At this point, Mitsuko was comfortable and enjoyed all the pretty security guards pampering her lol!
It was pretty late by the time we were on the connecting flight, and I got pretty hungry by then. But the good news was there was no one sitting beside me, so I got both seats to myself and Mitsuko.
Once again, Mitsuko took a while to relax before enjoying herself on the flight.
On a side note, the dinner on Asiana Airlines is honestly really good.
Then we finally reached Jakarta and I handed her over to the mum. Didn’t take any photos here because I was busy sorting out the paperwork for her entry into the country. But anyways the procedure for this will differ for every country, so it will not be too helpful to share the experience in Jakarta.
For all entering Singapore with pets, please click here to see the step-by-step procedure for what you do after your pet arrives in Singapore.
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