In February of this year, I traveled on US Air (lines) to Seattle, WA, from
Philadelphia, PA with 6 ferrets.  I had spent HOURS on the phone prior to
leaving, documenting the name, title and telephone number of EVERYONE I
spoke with.  When I got to the ticket desk at PHL, the agent gave me the
evil eye and told me I would have to send the ferrets air cargo.  I in turn
told him that the ferrets had reservations, I had spoken with the following
people who had all said it was permissable to check them all as baggage, and
then handed him the list of documentaed names and titles, etc.  He scowled
and asked for vaccination records and healthcertificates, which he
disappeared with.  My heart pounded out of my chest for about ten minutes
until he came back and checked us through.
 
My experieince on the return trip from SEA to PHL was the opposite.  The
ticket agent and baggage handlers could not have been kinder to the ferrets,
and even tracked me down at the gate just before I boarded to tell me the
ferrets were on board and away from drafty doors.
 
US Air, NorthWest, and American will all allow you to check the ferrets as
luggage.  You must have current rabies proof and a health cert from the vet
no older then ten days prior to origination of travel.  The fee is $50 each
way for each ferret, with only one ferret, with only one ferret allowed per
carrier.
 
Delta has added ferrets to its list of acceptable in-cabin animals- HOWEVER-
they have verbage in the rules which makes it up to the discretion of the
tix agent as to whether they will actually allow them or not.  They follow
the same rules otherwise as the other airlines, and I believe charge $60 per
ferret.  One of the other people who traveled West to the Seattle show ran
into problems with Delta and ultimately had to put both ferrets in cargo
when she had intended to carry one on with her :-(.
 
My advice is:
*Try to fly non-stop.
*Get all your records together and very organized, including documneting
 conversations.
*Try to fly during non-peak times.  I am sure the ferrets were handled
 better in Seattle partially because we flew home at 9:00am Sunday morning-
 when I got there to check-in two hours early, the airport was empty.
*Check-in early.
 
If you want advice on how to set up the cages for air travel, e-mail me
privately.  We went through hoops to ensure the ferrets safety and comfort,
including figuring a way to padlock cages.
 
-Mrs. Duck
[Posted in FML issue 1890]