How to Get to the UK with an In-Cabin Pet

Moving abroad with a pet? Please start by reading our first post: Moving your Pet to the UK: Helpful Tips and Tricks from Expats and their Dog.

Now that you've read through Steps 1-6 from our Tips and Tricks, you're probably wondering about the international move itself. Specifically, how your pet will get from their current place or residence to their new one.

The last, and possibly most daunting step, is the actual travel. I will say that Spark is an experienced flyer. She flies home from California to Michigan to see our families at least twice a year, so flying is nothing new. Despite all this, I was still nervous about the prospect of her first international flight.

Flying Internationally with Your Pet

Firstly, international flights are longer and involve more paperwork and screenings. I also didn't know what to expect from international airports.

But, in the end, we found a solution that wound up being both painless and, dare I say—easy?

Note: At fifteen pounds, Spark can fit under the seat in front of us in a soft-sided pet carrier. Unfortunately our little loophole won’t work if you have a large pet.

The United Kingdom does not allow dogs or cats to enter UK borders in the cabin of a plane...at all. Zero exceptions—not even for emotional support animals.

This restriction is due to the lack of rabies in the UK. Allowing in-cabin pets would make it impossible to properly screen them before they descend on the island. This discovery made my impending move to London seem suddenly impossible.

I refuse point blank to put my beloved dog under a plane by herself for ten to twelve hours. Sure, she's an experienced flyer. But, in her world flying means riding safely inside her cozy Sleepypod. It means getting constantly checked on by David and me. Being given water (and sometimes bits of salmon or chicken when we get lucky enough to be upgraded to business class). I wasn’t willing to traumatize her or risk her safety in order to get her to the UK.

Back to the frantic Googling I went. Fortunately, I am not the only “crazy” pet parent unwilling to put her furbaby under a plane. There is an alternative option for pet parents of cats and small dogs. Instead of flying into London directly, it turns out you can fly into Paris.

France to the Rescue!

As the continental place it is, France is well-aware that rabies is alive and well within its borders. As such, it has no bans on in-cabin pet travel. This means that Spark was able to fly with us in-cabin on a direct United flight from Chicago O’Hare to Charles de Gaulle. Other than being slightly longer (~ten hours instead of five to six), this flight was no different than the SFO to Detroit leg she knows so well.

Now obviously, as any Brit or Français will tell you, Paris is not London. If you fly into Paris, you will still have to cross the border with your pet. There are a couple of options here as well:

1. You can actually rent a car in Paris and drive north to Calais then across the English Channel via the EuroTunnel. This is a car-carrying train that runs many times a day. If you opt for this option, you will be on your own. You will need to abide by French (and English) driving laws and go through all border clearance alone.
2. If this option seems daunting and full of unknowns, alas there is another choice. My Googling prevailed once again when I stumbled upon Pet Moves. Pet Moves is a company run entirely in order for people like us to be able to bring our pets safely to the UK with minimal stress.

Pet Moves

The people at Pet Moves operate a transfer service whereby they pick you up in Paris (at the airport, your hotel, train station, etc.) and drive you and your pet in their car to Calais and help you cross the border via the Eurotunnel.

They have a lot of experience with border control and pet documents as well as arriving in a car equipped with a water bowl, pet bed, and a handy French toll badge.

Pet Reception in Calais

In Calais they take you to the Pet Reception. This turned out to be a large (surprisingly nice!) center with a fenced-in grassy area, and vending machines full of dog and cat treats and toys. Here your pet’s paperwork is verified and stamped and their microchip will be scanned.

For us, this part of the process was shockingly smooth and even pleasant. After having spent so much time in government and vet offices lately, I couldn’t believe how nice the facilities were—not to mention efficient. They quickly approved Spark’s papers and gave us a ticket to hang in our windshield to show she was good to cross.

Whether you have the helpful people of Pet Moves with you at this point or not, don't worry. As long as you’ve followed these steps from our first post, the Pet Reception stop should be a breeze. The ladies and gents working at the Pet Reception the day we went were also very helpful and kind. The day we arrived, the Pet Reception was full of wagging tails and wet noses too—always a welcoming sight.

Tip: if you decide to do the drive yourself, we’d recommend spending the night in Paris—or Roissy, the village where CDG is located—first. Chances are, you and your pet will be extremely tired. The drive to London is about six hours without major traffic or border control hangups.

Pet Moves wasn’t able to pick us up the day we had scheduled to fly into CDG so we booked the Crowne Plaza in Roissy and enjoyed a relaxing day of napping and exploring this cute French village with Spark. The pet fee is only €10/night at the Crowne Royal and other hotels in Roissy are also dog-friendly.

Eurotunnel

Once Pet Reception approves your paperwork, you drive through to a checkpoint where you’ll basically go through the human equivalent of Pet Reception in a much less cute building. UK border control will check your visas and ask you a few questions about your impending stay in their country. As long as they approve you, you will continue your drive onto the EuroTunnel.

Tip: buy Eurotunnel tickets online ahead of your trip. Although they cost more, we recommend the Fast Track Flexible Eurotunnel Ticket. This will enable you to take the next available train and not worry about missing your scheduled train due to a hold up with border control. In our case, we were able to take the next available train instead of waiting to depart when things went ahead of schedule.

If you opt to use Pet Moves, they purchase the Eurotunnel tickets for you as part of their fee.

Pretty soon we were through the English Channel and had made it into the UK. From here we had several hours to sit back and relax in our driver’s Volvo SUV.

By early afternoon all three of us had arrived happy and rested at our new—well super old but new to us—terraced house in the heart of Hampstead.

After months of planning, worrying, and stressing, it all worked out. Now we can move on to exploring our new home!

Now that you and your pup are in the UK, take a look at our Checklist for Once You’ve Arrived.

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