Hale Chronicle - a tale of two Hales

Bringing Maggie(our dog) to Costa Rica

Now that our dog Maggie has been reunited with Jenn and I in Costa Rica I can write about our experience with getting her here. I hope this post will help others in the future who plan on bringing their dog into another country. 

The Initial Booking

When we were first booking our flights to Costa Rica our travel agent at CM gave us two options. The first being with Continental Airlines via Houston, the second being American Airlines via Miami. After some research into the airlines we booked with Continental for two reasons.

1. Their PetSafe program is regarded as the best in the industry.
2. In Houston they have a kennel at the airport, not just a big warehouse, this was a big factor considering there was a 6 hour layover.

During the booking, which was in March (this is important), our Travel Agent was told that she needed to call 3 days in advance in the flight to officially book the dog. We both thought this was odd but in the weeks leading up to departure the agent once again called to confirm this procedure.

Getting the Paper Work

The paper work really isn’t a big deal. I won’t elloborate on our story because we have/had a crappy vet which complicated things. You’ll need to make 2 vet trips, the first to get all of her shots up to date including her rabies shot more than 30 days before departure, note Costa Rica does not acknowledge a 3 year shot. The second, within 10 days of departure, for her international health certificate. This health certificate you’ll also have to get signed by the Ministry of Agriculture before leaving. They have an office in the NW of Calgary, it’s easy to do.

4 Days Prior to Departure

Since we left the Monday after Easter weekend our travel agent called to confirm the dog booking 4 days before our flight on the Thursday (3 days before was Good Friday). It was at this time she was told of a new policy that required booking the dog MORE than 3 days in advance. It also had to be booked with cargo instead of the passenger side and by me, as our travel agent wasn’t allowed. 

So the Thursday afternoon before a long weekend I called Continental Airlines cargo department to book my dog onto the flight. I was surprised again when I was told that I was not allowed to book my dog on the flight and that I had to find a licensed pet shipper to book my dog onto the flight. 

The cargo agent also informed me that these policies had been in place for two months, since February, due to a new law regarding bringing pets into the US. Well last time I checked February came before March so there’s no reason why we shouldn’t have been told this in March when our booking was first made.

The Pet Shipper

After taking a few minutes to cool down I started calling around to find a licensed pet shipper that would be able to book Maggie on our Monday morning flight. Luckly I got in touch with the great people at Beinnein Kennels. I was assured by them that they had gone through this process before for their own dogs and we’d be sure to get Maggie booked on the flight.

Everything went smoothly over the weekend and the pet shipper was able to secure Maggies spot on the flight. On Sunday night at 7:00(12 hours before flight) we met at the airport to precheck Maggie in. This was to get all of her paper work in order so there would not be any issues in the morning as we had an early flight. After weighing Maggie and the kennel, placing all of the stickers on the kennel and about 45 minutes of nervous waiting we were then informed that Continental had oversold the flight and there wasn’t going to be enough room for our dog. Thanks Continental, I guess your “Guaranteed Booking” is a big crock of shit.

Leaving Maggie Behind

It was after all of this that Jenn and I decided that we would leave Maggie at Beinnein Kennels for the short term as they had graciously offered to help us out. So after a long talk and a longer drive we checked into the Delta airport hotel without Maggie less than 7 hours before our flight departed.

The Solution

In the days that followed us arriving in Costa Rica we looked into several ways to get Maggie here and we discovered we had 3 viable options.

1. Use our pet shippers network which included a member in Costa Rica to arrange everything. This included an import certificate as the rules are different if you aren’t accompanying your dog. This was going to cost well over $2000, probably closer to $3000 once all customs fees were paid in Costa Rica.
2. Find our own customs broker here in Costa Rica, this would still require the import certificate and many fees, without even knowing how much the customs broker would cost.
3. Jenn could fly back to Calgary and accompany Maggie on a flight with Air Canada via Toronto. This would not require the import certificate and would actually end up being cheaper.

So 5 days after we arrived in Costa Rica Jenn was on her way back to Calgary. Then 28 hours later she was with Maggie on a flight back. My wife is awesome!

Arriving in Costa Rica… again

After Jenn’s super long trip I was surprised when she came out of the San Jose airport without Maggie in tow. Turns out the had “lost” our dog. What had actually happened is they sent Maggie over to Cargo because someone had messed up. So we went to the cargo division of the airport, luckily I some experience there, where no one speaks english.

Luckily for us, upon entering the cargo offices I saw TCG(The Cargo Guy). He knew I was going to be bringing my dog into the Country and had already offered his services if I needed them. So after a bit of explaining we got across that there was a mistake and Maggie was supposed to be baggage, not cargo. We then found the Air Canada/Delta cargo manager who informed us of their error.

We then headed back to the airport, with TCG. After a lot of talking, by TCG, and running around and waiting I saw Jenn emerge from the airport with Maggie. Happy days, our tumultuous experience was finally over.

We may have to stay here for good now though, I’m scared to think of what it will be like taking Maggie back.

4 Comments

Leave a Comment

Username (required) :
Email (required) :
Web Site :
Comment :