Clearing Customs

[Afy]

My dog is finally arriving on the 7th. We have had her microchipped, tatooed,  blood tested, pet passported et al.

The flight itself will be nine hours, and since the only direct flight is into Frankfurt Am Main she is arriving there. I would like experiences of clearing customs, formalities et al and what one can expect.

Cheers

[PossumGirl]

Clearly, every airport and customs agent is different, however, last year, when we flew into CDG from Los Angeles, no one even looked at the paperwork or at Maggie. We just walked straight through.

PG

[Afy]

I dont know what kidn Maggie is, but Laila is a Great Dane, and arriving from a thrid world country... so I just do not want any surprises. Also what paperwork do we need to carry with us, aside from the pet passport etc...

[Miggimeggi]

[quote user="Afy"]

My dog is finally arriving on the 7th. We have had her microchipped, tatooed,  blood tested, pet passported et al.

The flight itself will be nine hours, and since the only direct flight is into Frankfurt Am Main she is arriving there. I would like experiences of clearing customs, formalities et al and what one can expect.

Cheers

[/quote]

We arrived just over 4 years ago from South Africa with a Great Dane on the same 'plane.  Our pet relocation service had supplied us with a duplicate package of all the documents which you have mentioned and the original documents were sent with the freight forwarding company.  He was consigned to a freight company at the cargo end of the airport.  When we got there we had to get the original docs. from the freight people and take them to the customs  a fair taxi-drive away (but I suspect that we passed the same place several times en route)where we had to pay a small amount of customs duty - less than 25 euros I think - and we received  a clearance document which we then had to take back to the freight people.  Then we were able to see him and take him away. 

When you arrive to collect Laila take something that you can use to clean her up and then chuck away.  Our poor boy was covered in cra...., sorry, manure.  He had had diarrhoea and was in an unbelievable mess and he was also scared and truely miserable.  We only had a taxi and had to persuade the driver to take him in his very smart Merc.  The freight people gave us piles of used but clean packaging which we used to cover the seats.  Unfortunately, the diarrohoea lasted for the best part of another day.  Not the best circumstances for arriving in a new country and a new life but we managed and have never regretted bringing him with us.

Sorry, I have just noticed that you will be arriving in Frankfurt.  Are you going to be driving to France?  We had hoped to get a flight from Paris to Bordeaux but it seemed that the short haul 'planes did not have large enough holds to take a Great Dane sized crate so it was a hired vehicle and driving.  Anyway, having seen the state he was in, there was no way we would have stuck him right back on another plane.

Now, 4 plus years later, he is here, fit and happy and who can say what his circumstances would have been if we had left him in South Africa.

Anne

 

 

[Afy]

Miggimeggi,

 

Thank your for sharing your information. We do not have a pet relocation service or freight forwarder involved. Which might make things a little more complex. Yes we will be driving back to France, and for the car have already procured adequate amounts of plastic to prevent accidents from damaging the car. :)

A firend of mine is actually bringing the dog across.