Flying to or from Hawaii but don’t want to put your pet in cargo?

Join Fly Pets Hawaii Facebook Group

If you have a beloved pet, the idea of moving across an ocean can be daunting. You may even decide it is not an option because you cannot put your beloved furry family member in cargo as “baggage”.  Hold on!  Don’t give up! There are new options that are rapidly expanding.

Thanks to the hard work of one woman, Katy Prochaska, who was moving with her animals from the US to Portugal in 2021 and could not (and would not) put them in cargo, there is now a powerful movement of people gathering to share costs of chartered travel that includes pets.  Yes, if you are willing to do a little work, you too can fly next to your beloved pet and be confident they are safe the entire journey across an ocean!

Since Katy started a Facebook group in 2021 to gather other pet owners like herself, the group has grown to 30,000 members (just 400 shy at the time of this writing) in two years!   Katy’s story was featured in the Wall Street Journal in 2022.

Katy’s group focuses mainly on going to/from the Eastern US to the UK and Portugal. But don’t despair if you want to travel to and from Hawaii or another location€”there is more good news! 

Two other groups have recently formed as sister groups:  one specific to flights within the continental U.S. and one to and from Hawaii!  There is no advertising allowed and all groups are non-commercial. These groups are set up with the mission to help pets and their owners travel together.

Flights aren’t cheap but you will not be shouldering the entire cost of a private charter (which used to be your only option) or forced to be on a long ocean voyage!

Prices vary depending on fuel charges, season/demand, type/size of plane, and the number of passengers and pets.  The groups are made up of volunteers with a shared mission.

To and from Hawaii flights will vary from $6K-$12K per person and 1-2 pets depending on the variables. It could be cheaper or go higher. It’s all up in the air financially until people commit and flights are booked. But you can have a say depending on how committed you are to make this happen! The travelers with pets are the ones organizing the trips.

To ensure everything goes smoothly, groups are encouraged to draw up legal contracts with attorneys and have escrow accounts.  If pets are going to Hawaii they will also need to prepare for the strict import requirements that can take time and planning€”you cannot skip this. The Hawaii FB group can help answer your questions.

Additionally, a new air charter service will be launching soon after seeing the demand for charter travel with pets. Named K9 Jets, they are focused on flying from the U.S. East coast to London, Paris and Lisbon and back but hope to expand their routes in the future.

Those of us involved in these groups envision the day when traveling with pets in the cabin will be just another day of traveling like any other, but they will sit safely in the cabin with us, and putting them in cargo will be a thing of the past!

Hopefully we will see you and your furry friend on one of our upcoming flights! Happy Landing!

Editor’s Note:

This is a guest submitted post from a member of our Islander Ohana that we are publishing as a courtesy for all pet lovers!