Shipping via airfreight

[Stacy Score]

I am shipping a colt to either Dallas or Houston. I have shipped via Delta and had great success, but I was wondering if anyone out there has had any good experiences with any other airlines that they would be willing to share. My crate is 39" tall x 48" long x 20" wide.

Thank you,

Stacy

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

Shipping livestock by airlines is terribly expensive... on the order of tens of thousands of dollars for a full sized horse. Is it really that much cheaper yet still as safe for shipping minis?

 

[user 488]

Good Grief Nathan.........I don't know where you get your information from. We have been shipping full size horses all over the World for YEARS. While shipping to Australia is much more expensive than shipping to Europe, I hardly think it's "tens of thousands of dollars." It is also not the fact that it is cheaper.........it's the fact that instead of some horses standing on a trailer for a week, they reach their destination in hours. And the prices have been comparable to trailering. As with anything else it depends on the horse when making the decision to fly or trailer in the States.

Stacy, I have only shipped minis on Delta and my crates have been about the same size as yours. I do know a number of people that have shipped with American.....atleast I believe it is American and everything was fine.

Carol

 

[Stacy Score]

Thanks to all so far - anyone with any info on United or Frontier would be helpful.

Carol - I will check with American tomorrow and see what they say. Thanks for the tip.

As mentioned, I have used Delta several times, both in & out of here and they treat the horses very well and I have had no problems - cost is actually less expensive than trailering these days and it is only about 9 or 10 hours in the crate - still no picknick, but way better than being on a transport for a week or two and being exposed to everything that that hauler has had in their trailer in the last 6 months - no matter how clean things are kept, there is no way that it could not still have germs from previous horses - not exactly what I want a weanling exposed to if there is any way around it.

Anyway, if anyone else has any feedback, all is appreciated.

Stacy

 

[kaykay]

you might email tony as I know hes done that. I had a terrible experience flying a large puppy with delta

never again

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

Tens was an exageration... but it was over 10 by the end of it all. For a full load of horses (30-something) it cost over $200k for the flight alone.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

The must have been flying first class!!

Never heard of it costing that much, even bringing them over to Europe.

Including quarantine etc, it is not anywhere near that sort of expense- maybe you should look into a different airline as the one you are using is obviously ripping you off!!!

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

I've never flown a horse and probably never will

But that's what the people here who do it tell me it costs. What they told me is on par with what the Olympic/World Games riders told us back on the east coast (the manager of the facility used to groom for them, so we were very fortunate to have two or three riders come and do guest lectures

) Hence my surprise hearing cross-country mini shipping done by air, lol.

 

[Minimor]

This is off topic, but in response to Nathan's post about how much it costs to ship a horse somewhere...

$11,000 from Chicago to Sydney, Kentucky to England, $6000; Kentucky to South Africa, $12500 and Kentucky to Hong Kong, $9500 Those prices are for a full size horse, and the shipping costs are those charged by IRT (International Racehorse Transportation). I have heard what some pay to ship a container of Minis to Europe but not sure from memory which figures go with which trip.

I can see where shipping by air would be quicker and less stressful for a horse than spending several days on road transport, but this question comes to mind: when you're shipping a horse in a container than is only 20" wide, how do you know the cargo handlers will keep the container upright and not let it accidentally get tipped over? :new_shocked: Overseas shipments are in wider containers with up to 3 Minis?

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

Neat

Thanks for the prices!

 

[kaykay]

i have talked to several overseas buyers and the avg cost was 3000.00 per horse including quarantine. That is from the us (tx) to europe.

Keep in mind that stacey is talking about flying in the united states not overseas. And if you can ship in a crate vs the modular horse containers im sure its comparable to flying a dog.

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

Kaykay, is that price for minis or full sized horses?

We have the biggest US importer of Gypsy horses in town, and his prices (with significant volume discounts, since he ships 30+ head every few months) are not too far off compared to what was posted earlier. A little better, but he's only going from England to the US.

 

[Tony]

Shipping livestock by airlines is terribly expensive... on the order of tens of thousands of dollars for a full sized horse. Is it really that much cheaper yet still as safe for shipping minis?

I hate to contradict you, but it is generally much cheaper than by land, at least for miniatures. I have sent horses to NY, Canada, Washington, Alaska, and others and it has never been over $600. The only time it is in the thousands is overseas, and even then the only time it was in the "tens of thousands" was when it was sixteen horses going to Russia!

To answer the question asked, I have also used Continental and American, but Delta has been the usual carrier. However, after 9/11 they required an inspection of the shipper before they would allow shipping to be done again. It has been a while since I have flown any, so not certain of the current regulations.

Overseas shipments are in wider containers with up to 3 Minis?

When we ship a group to Europe, we put up to nine miniatures in the standard "three horse" shipping stall. The size that I ship could easily accomodate more, but that is the rule of thumb that we use. A "groom" accompanies each crate and sees to any needs of the horses from take off to landing. Of course, not the same care on continental flights. I did have one show up on the baggage handlers dolly upside down when it arrived in Alaska, but the horse was fine.

 

[Stacy Score]

Thanks all - it looks like we are all learning something here.

Minimor - as far as only beig 20" wide - I know it seems narrow, but Tango is only about 12" wide himself so 20" is actually a bit roomier than I like but I made it tht way for stability. Delta would prefer that the horse NOT be able to try to turn around in the crate - they can break their neck/backs trying to do that, so they actually like them a little snug - also, NO sedatives - unless it is absolutely necessary - they don't want to be dealing with a drugged animal.

Tango will be eating breakfast and dinner in his crate for the next several days, so by "lift-off" he should be pretty content to hang out in his new "stall".

Thanks for all the feedback - fun to hear what it costs to ship all over the world.

Just a sidenote - one of my very first horses was air shpped to us from NFC nearly 20 years ago - it was pretty unusual then, but not so much now. I have even shipped my show horses from her to Dallas and also to Ohio for the National shows in years past - waaaaay easier on the horse than hauling by truck! I just had no experience other than Delta, hence my original inquiry.

Stac

 

[appymini]

I have inquired about shipping 3 Falabellas from UK to Canada.They told me I have to fill up 3 stalls spaces.It cost 2500.00 Canadain.I had inquired for 1 stud and mare and foal.And I could find someone to share the other stall.It did not mature if big or small horse.So that comes to about 830.00 Canadian a stall.I thought that was very reasonable since I can at times Ispend that in shipping from the US( depending where) to Can. for one horse

 

[Leeside]

I have shipped horses with both American and Delta. (they fly as cargo) Since 9/11, there are restrictions on who can ship cargo. The last time I sent a horse via air, it was with Delta, since American was extremely restrictive in crate size, contruction material, etc. Delta charged about $750 from LA to Boston. They charge by the pound. Serveral years earlier, is was only $250 from Ft Worth to Boston on American.

The only restrictions on the crate was that it had to fit into the cargo door. The flight could not be booked more than 48 hours in advance, if I remember correctly. You need a health certificate dated within one week. There is also temperature restrictions, both high and low, so flights have to be booked when the weather is good.

If you are able, air transport is the way to go if you are shipping cross country. The prices, at least at the time, were cheaper than ground transport. It was much less stressful on the horse to eat breakfast at the sending farm, then dinner at my place. The only down side is now I have two unused crates left over at my house.

It is quite amusing to show up at a major airport's cargo terminal to pick up a horse. My guy was shipped with a couple of cats, and a bunch of cut flowers! The poor gate attendents thought I was crazy when I told them what I was there to retrieve. One man said, "Mam, we don't ship horses." I said "Sure you do. He's right there." You should have seen the look on his face when, sure enough, a forklift carrying my horse crate came into view. There were quite a few cameras whipped out to capture the event.

 

[Lost Spoke Ranch]

Hi Stacy:

We've flown horses a couple of times with no complaints. One stallion flew from Portland, Oregon to Tucson and the other colt flew from Tucson to Honolulu, HI. Both arrived no worse for ware. These flights were with Delta.

Dawn :saludando:

 

[Margo_C-T]

I agree that air shipping, if you can afford it, and deal with all of the requirements and restrictions, would be an excellent 'way to go'; however, I have only had live animals shipped twice-both times with Delta-and both times, they messed up big time, endangering the animals-so am not sure I would try it again. They left a dog crate(purchased by me on the seller's instructions, shipped to her so that they could be properly housed on the trip)of baby miniature African pigs, on the tarmack in Dallas; they were supposed to arrive here at 11 PM, but when I went to the Delta freight terminal--no pigs! After frantic searching, they were found in Dallas, where the freight agent was instructed to at least give them some water(they had a 'cup'). I had to drive back into town to the terminal at 6 the next morning...on the seller's instructions, armed with a thermos of diluted apple juice, with which I filled their cup immediately, on the freight dock-you talk about a thirsty bunch of babies! They all survived, but with no thanks to Delta--the seller, who shipped regularly out of Atlanta with Delta, jumped on them with both feet-they refunded the freight charges, to me, with a letter of apology. Then, several years ago, a friend and I had two Southern flying squirrels flown from Houston-when we picked up the box, properly addressed to us, and labeled as 'live animals', it was MACHINERY!!- and NO ONE knew what happened to the little animals. Again, frantic searching turned them up, and we ended up picking them up in the baggage office at the main airline location....again, both survived(along with three goldfish who came with them in a bag-@ 7 years later, one of those goldfish STILL lives in my horses' water tank!-but again, no thanks to Delta.....!

Margo

 

[Miniequine]

I can't really help you. I had a filly flown to me @ Dulles

a couple years ago by Delta. It was around $500 dollars

and she did fine. She left Texas at around 5 in the afternoon

and was tucked in to her new stall by 10 pm that night.

Tony shipped her and he had the crate CLEARLY marked as

livestock and THIS SIDE UP!

Pretty neat.

Sandy