Traveling & Transport

TRAVEL CAGE IDEAS – CAR RIDE / VACATION

Aside from the photo tutorial below, here are some general tips:

Plan ahead. Call the airline, make the reservation, buy the crates and the fruit. Be prepared!
Be mindful of outside temperature. I try not ship in the hot summer months. In winter, I include a fleece-wrapped hot-hands on one side of the crate for warmth. In summer I include a very small fleece wrapped plastic frozen lunchbox cooler on one side so they can go to it.
Include enough food so that the gliders could survive for 2-3 days. You never know what could go wrong. Don’t be that person who sends the gliders with nothing, they get stuck at their layover city overnight, and dozens of people have to scramble to help gliders that you should have taken better care of. It doesn’t have to happen that way.
Don’t zip them into a small bonding pouch! That is not necessary and it violates United PetSafe Policy, and it must be extremely uncomfortable for them.
Try to book direct flights, so there is less chance of delays and you avoid missed connections.
If you must book a connection, try to have someone in the connecting city “on call” or available just in case the gliders get stuck in a city far away from both the shipper and the receiver.
Be mindful of time of day. You have to drop the gliders off TWO HOURS before their flight. If you book their flight early in the morning, they will likely still be wide awake and playing when you have to pack them up. This is not ideal! Same for late night flights! I try to book mid-day.
They have updated their policies regarding shipping. Everything in this tutorial is still acceptable except they now require us to line the inside of the door with mesh, as Michelle pointed out below.
USE COMMON SENSE. What if you were being shipped? What would you need? If you have a question, ask. Don’t assume that it will be fine!

USING AN AIRLINE TO SHIP A GLIDER – A PHOTO TUTORIAL