First of all, let me assure you that there are ways to fly with your pets cross country, and even out-of-country, without any damage. You can relax, well, at least a bit anyway. From the research we have done about pet travel and specifically about flying with pets, it seems that most pets are completely safe and unharmed while traveling by airplane.

Still not convinced? Then you should take a look at two great pet air travel websites: Petflight and PetAir. Pet flight is a great site about pet-friendly flights and safe shipping of your pets. It was inspired by a special dog named Brent. Brent and his ?pet Dad? discuss how they moved to Hawaii from the USA and they provide invaluable air travel and flight information for flying with pets.

Be sure to read the Pet Travel Reports . Petflight provides monthly reports on the loss, injury, and death of pets during air travel. In addition, you will find great pet travel tips and hard-to-find airline information. We highly recommend Brent's website as a resource when planning to fly with your pets.

Pet Air is another great resource you could tap into. Pet Air has a 28 ?year reputation for transporting animals safely. They deal with both wild as well as domesticated animals. We hope studying the information on these 2 websites and any others you may come across, will help to convince you that it should be perfectly safe to fly with pets IF you arm yourself with all the relevant information and use the right channels.

And if you really don't like the idea of the cargo hold for your ?babies? then hiring a private jet might be the way to go!

Knowing all the rules of pet travel can be confusing since not all airlines allow pets to fly in the cabin. Do your research and contact the airlines directly for all relevant pet air travel information, since pet travel policies vary from airline to airline, and the different policies can be confusing.

Lots of pet travel information is available on the internet, so you can easily acquaint yourself with the rules of pet friendly travel. There are some basic rules that both you and the airlines must follow such as:

-your pet must be at least 8 weeks old and under 100 pounds

-your pet will not be allowed to be outside of its pet carrier

-non traditional pets are not allowed ( sorry, you'll have to leave your pet snake with his favorite sitter)

-you will need a health certificate from a vet that is no more than 10 days old if your animal will travel in the cargo hold.

These are just a few pet travel rules to keep in mind, but there are many more pet travel tips and resources to help make your pet travel experiences pleasurable for you, the airlines, and above all, for your beloved pet.