Press Center | Freight Shipping Logistics News
Aug 3, 2013
General
caxias
Eight-year-old Sophie travelled to Denver, Colorado, in the United States aboard a flight that left Nairobi on Wednesday night.
Yet while a person would normally pay about Sh130,000 for an economy ticket flight to the US, Sophie’s ticket cost in excess of Sh450,000.
Yet while a person would normally pay about Sh130,000 for an economy ticket flight to the US, Sophie’s ticket cost in excess of Sh450,000.
Eight-year-old Sophie travelled to Denver, Colorado, in the United States aboard a flight that left Nairobi on Wednesday night.
Yet while a person would normally pay about Sh130,000 for an economy ticket flight to the US, Sophie’s ticket cost in excess of Sh450,000.
That’s because she’s a pet and her owner, Mrs Kathleen Bogan, who made the trip on a different plane the following day, would not leave the dog in Nairobi.
“I’m taking her back home with me,” she said. Mrs Bogan was leaving Nairobi to settle in Denver after a three-year stint as the Group Design Editor for the Nation Media Group.
The trip was not the first for Sophie. In 2010, she had been flown to Nairobi from Colorado to live with Mrs Bogan and her husband.
Then she had a travel mate – Gypsy, a female cat that died in Kenya. When the two pets came to Nairobi, the air fare was less than half what it is now.
“It was in the vicinity of $2,000 (about Sh176,000) for Sophie,” Mrs Bogan said. The route to Africa went from Denver to Nairobi via Detroit and Amsterdam.
Transporting animals by plane begins with the search for an airline that ships pets, then the purchase of a crate, if need be, inside which the animals are to be placed.
For the latest trip made by Sophie, Mrs Bogan made a booking three weeks in advance. “Sometimes it may take longer,” she told the Sunday Nation.
Mrs Bogan had thought Sophie could use the same crate in which she travelled to Nairobi. But Lufthansa, the airline flying the dog home, had Mrs Bogan buy a new crate because the size of the old one did not meet their specifications.
According to Mrs Bogan, Lufthansa wanted Sophie to fly in a bigger crate, even though the dog was the same size as she was when she made the first trip to Nairobi. She was advised that Sophie could fly to Frankfurt but then the administrators there might refuse to take her to the US and demand of a new crate.
Rules about crates
This set her back another ($360) Sh31,000. Luckily, she sold the old crate to neighbours who are planning to move with their dog to Khartoum.
“It was expensive, but there are a lot of rules about the crates,” Mrs Bogan said. “An animal has to be able to stand up while leaving a certain headroom. They shouldn’t hit the top, and they should be able to turn around and lie down.”
The crates ought to have mesh doors and a lock so that the animal is well secured while at the same time able to see its surroundings.
Shipping companies usually supply the crates made out of hard plastic. These have a water bottle at the top and some come with a dish to place food.
In planes, animals are usually carried as cargo, although the option exists to take smaller ones like cats on board in the passenger cabin.
The price, Mrs Bogan said, is determined by the crate’s size.
Sophie returned home on a cargo plane that flew nine hours from Nairobi to Frankfurt and then another 12 hours to Denver.
“I suppose they (airline personnel) will let the animals out in Frankfurt for a walk, food and exercise,” Mrs Bogan said. “In Amsterdam and Frankfurt, they have a pet area in the airports.”
As much as Mrs Bogan wanted to travel in the same flight with Sophie, it would have been troublesome.
“I would have had to take a connecting Delta Air Lines flight from Amsterdam, but that one would not fly animals this summer because of the heat. Animals might get sick if the plane stays on tarmac for too long.”
Sophie is a mixed-breed dog, part Border Collie and part Labrador. Mrs Bogan finds the treatment of dogs in Kenya very different compared to the United States.
“Here (Kenya), they are more of guard dogs or street dogs,” she said. We (Americans) keep our dogs in the house, but few people do it here.”
In her lifetime she has had six dogs and three cats.
She thought of leaving Sophie behind, but her husband refused, saying the dog was a member of the family.
And once in Kenya, having a dog was an issue. “We had to get permission from the landlord on State House Road who owned the second house we lived in,” Mrs Bogan says.
“Sophie’s been a good dog to me, my husband, our house girl, and neighbours,” Mrs Bogan said. She loves Sophie because “dogs love you no matter what mood you’re in.”
Yet while a person would normally pay about Sh130,000 for an economy ticket flight to the US, Sophie’s ticket cost in excess of Sh450,000.
That’s because she’s a pet and her owner, Mrs Kathleen Bogan, who made the trip on a different plane the following day, would not leave the dog in Nairobi.
“I’m taking her back home with me,” she said. Mrs Bogan was leaving Nairobi to settle in Denver after a three-year stint as the Group Design Editor for the Nation Media Group.
The trip was not the first for Sophie. In 2010, she had been flown to Nairobi from Colorado to live with Mrs Bogan and her husband.
Then she had a travel mate – Gypsy, a female cat that died in Kenya. When the two pets came to Nairobi, the air fare was less than half what it is now.
“It was in the vicinity of $2,000 (about Sh176,000) for Sophie,” Mrs Bogan said. The route to Africa went from Denver to Nairobi via Detroit and Amsterdam.
Transporting animals by plane begins with the search for an airline that ships pets, then the purchase of a crate, if need be, inside which the animals are to be placed.
For the latest trip made by Sophie, Mrs Bogan made a booking three weeks in advance. “Sometimes it may take longer,” she told the Sunday Nation.
Mrs Bogan had thought Sophie could use the same crate in which she travelled to Nairobi. But Lufthansa, the airline flying the dog home, had Mrs Bogan buy a new crate because the size of the old one did not meet their specifications.
According to Mrs Bogan, Lufthansa wanted Sophie to fly in a bigger crate, even though the dog was the same size as she was when she made the first trip to Nairobi. She was advised that Sophie could fly to Frankfurt but then the administrators there might refuse to take her to the US and demand of a new crate.
Rules about crates
This set her back another ($360) Sh31,000. Luckily, she sold the old crate to neighbours who are planning to move with their dog to Khartoum.
“It was expensive, but there are a lot of rules about the crates,” Mrs Bogan said. “An animal has to be able to stand up while leaving a certain headroom. They shouldn’t hit the top, and they should be able to turn around and lie down.”
The crates ought to have mesh doors and a lock so that the animal is well secured while at the same time able to see its surroundings.
Shipping companies usually supply the crates made out of hard plastic. These have a water bottle at the top and some come with a dish to place food.
In planes, animals are usually carried as cargo, although the option exists to take smaller ones like cats on board in the passenger cabin.
The price, Mrs Bogan said, is determined by the crate’s size.
Sophie returned home on a cargo plane that flew nine hours from Nairobi to Frankfurt and then another 12 hours to Denver.
“I suppose they (airline personnel) will let the animals out in Frankfurt for a walk, food and exercise,” Mrs Bogan said. “In Amsterdam and Frankfurt, they have a pet area in the airports.”
As much as Mrs Bogan wanted to travel in the same flight with Sophie, it would have been troublesome.
“I would have had to take a connecting Delta Air Lines flight from Amsterdam, but that one would not fly animals this summer because of the heat. Animals might get sick if the plane stays on tarmac for too long.”
Sophie is a mixed-breed dog, part Border Collie and part Labrador. Mrs Bogan finds the treatment of dogs in Kenya very different compared to the United States.
“Here (Kenya), they are more of guard dogs or street dogs,” she said. We (Americans) keep our dogs in the house, but few people do it here.”
In her lifetime she has had six dogs and three cats.
She thought of leaving Sophie behind, but her husband refused, saying the dog was a member of the family.
And once in Kenya, having a dog was an issue. “We had to get permission from the landlord on State House Road who owned the second house we lived in,” Mrs Bogan says.
“Sophie’s been a good dog to me, my husband, our house girl, and neighbours,” Mrs Bogan said. She loves Sophie because “dogs love you no matter what mood you’re in.”
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