Cats on a plane
Yesterday was the WORST day of my life.
Everything started off according to plan. Got up at five, got the kitties ready, took a cab to Paddington station. Train to Terminal 3, then a tube to Terminal 4. So far so good.
Now, I had been in contact with Brithish Airways Animal Cargo Services 5 times in the time leading up to yesterday and they had repeatedly said that when I get to Terminal 4 there will be clear signs saying how to get to “Cargo” and that it is very close, I can walk there etc...
When I get to T4, no sign posts anywhere, lady at info desks has no clue about any cargo place. Fortunately I have the address where I am supposed to drop the cats off, and end up taking a cab, costing £9! A short walk my arse.
When I get there, they do all the paper work and then bill me for the cats. I was told beforehand that it would cost £410 so that was how much I had on my account. Well in the end it turned out to be £500. I then told the lady to take £400 from one account and the rest from my Visa. As she is putting the first transaction through she realises that she has overcharged me by accident and does a refund. Then realizes that it will take 3-4 working days for the money to reach my account, making be now completely penniless. At this point in a panic (the first on MANY) I call Andrew and he pays the final bill of £389 over the phone on his card.
Then disaster. Only at this point the incompetent animal customs official looks at my cats’ papers more closely. “They do not have their ‘fit to fly’ certifications.”
I am dumbstruck. In the 5 times I have called the British Airways Pet Cargo Services, no one has mentioned this to me. My vet didn’t know about this, the DEFRA web site didn’t mention this. Apparently only British Airways requires a “Fit to Fly” certificate from the vet stamped 2-10 days prior to flight. (I have flown to China and Italy with my dog and her never needed it.)
When the lady at the desk tells me point my cats can’t fly today I start to cry. I tell them my lease runs out tomorrow, I don’t even have enough money on me to get back to London. They take pity on me and make an exception. They have a zoo vet on the premises who is checking out a poorly puma in quarantine. They give him a ring and he says that he will drop by when he is done.
I wait for him for over an hour. He finally comes over, checks the cats who are healthy of course and therefore fit to fly. Lovely Andrew pays another £138 over the phone.
I nearly miss my plane and would have missed it but the animal cargo people phone the gate that I am on my way.
On the plane I am in ignorant bliss, thinking that my poor pussies are all fine in the plane’s cargo hold and I have to do is pick them up from point X in Helsinki and get in my dad’s car and be home.
I phoned Helsinki ahead and was told that the cats would be brought to me to the same place where the luggage comes. So there I wait for nearly an hour. Almost 20 people on my flight from London to Helsinki have lost their luggage. I get a sick feeling in my stomach that somehow my cats have been lost too and have been left on the Heathrow runway in the +30c heat...
On my third attempt to talk to the luggage officers one of them actually takes a look of my paper work and notices that my cats are actually being delivered to once again come CARGO place, not the luggage place. In a panic I go through customs and find my dad. Together we go asks the Finnish help desk bimbos about where the Finnish cargo place is, once again no one has never even heard of it! They ask us to call some free phone number, but it is closed for the day. The info bimbo helpfully asks us to “Try again tomorrow!” My cats could be dead by them from heat stroke!
We finally find some senior looking customs official who actually knows where the cargo offices are. If we hadn’t been by car we would never had found them!
After hours of searching for them in Helsinki, I finally find my poor frightened cats in a dodgy looking warehouse, where they were brought to me on a FORKLIFT TRUCK!
By default I am never moving out of Finland, this too much for anyone to cope with. My cats are still in shock. They are mostly hiding in a closet but have made a few ventures outside and have allowed me to stroke them. Lillian is doing better than Thirteen. Both of take comfort in my presence and try to be near me the whole time, the poor things.
Everything started off according to plan. Got up at five, got the kitties ready, took a cab to Paddington station. Train to Terminal 3, then a tube to Terminal 4. So far so good.
Now, I had been in contact with Brithish Airways Animal Cargo Services 5 times in the time leading up to yesterday and they had repeatedly said that when I get to Terminal 4 there will be clear signs saying how to get to “Cargo” and that it is very close, I can walk there etc...
When I get to T4, no sign posts anywhere, lady at info desks has no clue about any cargo place. Fortunately I have the address where I am supposed to drop the cats off, and end up taking a cab, costing £9! A short walk my arse.
When I get there, they do all the paper work and then bill me for the cats. I was told beforehand that it would cost £410 so that was how much I had on my account. Well in the end it turned out to be £500. I then told the lady to take £400 from one account and the rest from my Visa. As she is putting the first transaction through she realises that she has overcharged me by accident and does a refund. Then realizes that it will take 3-4 working days for the money to reach my account, making be now completely penniless. At this point in a panic (the first on MANY) I call Andrew and he pays the final bill of £389 over the phone on his card.
Then disaster. Only at this point the incompetent animal customs official looks at my cats’ papers more closely. “They do not have their ‘fit to fly’ certifications.”
I am dumbstruck. In the 5 times I have called the British Airways Pet Cargo Services, no one has mentioned this to me. My vet didn’t know about this, the DEFRA web site didn’t mention this. Apparently only British Airways requires a “Fit to Fly” certificate from the vet stamped 2-10 days prior to flight. (I have flown to China and Italy with my dog and her never needed it.)
When the lady at the desk tells me point my cats can’t fly today I start to cry. I tell them my lease runs out tomorrow, I don’t even have enough money on me to get back to London. They take pity on me and make an exception. They have a zoo vet on the premises who is checking out a poorly puma in quarantine. They give him a ring and he says that he will drop by when he is done.
I wait for him for over an hour. He finally comes over, checks the cats who are healthy of course and therefore fit to fly. Lovely Andrew pays another £138 over the phone.
I nearly miss my plane and would have missed it but the animal cargo people phone the gate that I am on my way.
On the plane I am in ignorant bliss, thinking that my poor pussies are all fine in the plane’s cargo hold and I have to do is pick them up from point X in Helsinki and get in my dad’s car and be home.
I phoned Helsinki ahead and was told that the cats would be brought to me to the same place where the luggage comes. So there I wait for nearly an hour. Almost 20 people on my flight from London to Helsinki have lost their luggage. I get a sick feeling in my stomach that somehow my cats have been lost too and have been left on the Heathrow runway in the +30c heat...
On my third attempt to talk to the luggage officers one of them actually takes a look of my paper work and notices that my cats are actually being delivered to once again come CARGO place, not the luggage place. In a panic I go through customs and find my dad. Together we go asks the Finnish help desk bimbos about where the Finnish cargo place is, once again no one has never even heard of it! They ask us to call some free phone number, but it is closed for the day. The info bimbo helpfully asks us to “Try again tomorrow!” My cats could be dead by them from heat stroke!
We finally find some senior looking customs official who actually knows where the cargo offices are. If we hadn’t been by car we would never had found them!
After hours of searching for them in Helsinki, I finally find my poor frightened cats in a dodgy looking warehouse, where they were brought to me on a FORKLIFT TRUCK!
By default I am never moving out of Finland, this too much for anyone to cope with. My cats are still in shock. They are mostly hiding in a closet but have made a few ventures outside and have allowed me to stroke them. Lillian is doing better than Thirteen. Both of take comfort in my presence and try to be near me the whole time, the poor things.