Birdies on a plane

[TukiTuki]

I'm moving to Philadelphia at the beginning of January and I'm starting to get very nervous about taking my birdies on the flight. They'll be in a carrier under the seat in front of me, but last flight I took, I found out it gets VERY cold under there. I'll keep them covered, of course, but I'm worried it still won't be warm enough. I'm also worried about how they'll handle take off and landing and if that ear pop thing will happen to them (it makes some kids cry, so it can't be good for birdies!). Lastly, I'm terrified about taking them outside in the middle of winter to get to the car (using a car service). Does anyone have any advice? This will be their first airplane flight.

[NickyBeth]

Tuki, being a Philadelphia native...I can assure you that it is cold there right now. Brrr!!

What I would do is to buy some hand towels from Target, and line the bottom of the travel cage with them. This way, you can always wash the towels from poop marks and use them again if needed. The towels should offer some insulation against the cold on the floor. Another thing you might be able to do is to go to the sporting goods store/aisle and get those hand-warmer things. You might be able to activate them and put them under the towels to generate some heat for your birds.

[Chickobee]

Good ideas! I like the hand warmer idea a lot, if they will let you take them on the plane with them filled with liquid.

I was just going to suggest putting a piece of styrefoam on the bottom of the carrier and putting paper towels over it and also putting in a cozy for the birds to get into.

When I shipped birds to Alaska I used a pet carrier but I had a smaller carrier inside. With a set-up like this it would be easy to line the bottom with styrefoam to keep it warmer. The size I used is the one people generally get for cats.

Good luck on your trip. Your birds will handle the plane ride just fine. The birds I have shipped all got there with no problems at all.

[linda040899]

If you are flying Continental Airlines, see if you can take a flight that will allow them to be shipped as cargo. See if you can take the same flight so all of you arrive together.

Now. That's not as scary as you might think. Continental Quick Pack Live Animal division has a climatized area for all of their live animal shipments. While they may be considered "cargo," the carrier is not in the cargo hold and all birds that I've shipped anywhere arrived comfortable and unstressed. The carriers are hand carried to each plane and removed in the same manner. I can't say enough about the service I've gotten from this airline! I would only do this if you fly Continental.

If that's not a viable option, use the carrier in a carrier as Linda (Chickobee) suggested. I've used newspaper to insulate the inside carrier and the birds were nice and comfy!