UK, the only country in EEA, does not allow pets to travel by air in the same aircraft as their owners; however, you can easily drive in in your car by either train or sea. DEFRA statistics show numbers of pets entering the UK in the last 1.5 years by use of the Pet Travel Scheme (PETS): Air - 25,077; Sea - 122,079; Rail - 94,638. The excuse they make for that is that ferries and trains do not generally have a cargo facility. Guess why only less that 1 out of every 10 pet owners send their pet by cargo air? Sending your pet by cargo means, you part with your beloved pet for like 3-5 days, are you able to explain to your pet why they need to spend all that time in a cage? Moreover, air cargo way is like 5 times in price of your own ticket. To me it looks like the UK requirement that pets enter the UK as ‘manifest cargo’ is more of an exception than a rule and, more importantly, is civilised cruelty to animals and discriminative against people with lower income, unnecessary restricts travel for pet owners, who would love to spend their holidays abroad with their loved ones. Do you agree with me?
