Cats to Damman

For pets traveling in the baggage area, KLM and Lufthansa have pet "hotels" at their hubs in Amsterdam and Frankfurt where the pets take a break between flights. I was told by the KLM agent that cats aren't removed from their carriers, but they are at least moved to the pet area to get away from the commotion and fumes of the baggage area.

Based on our past experience trying to fly a cat in the summer from the US, the only option we could find was via KLM, and we would have to sit in the coach section of the plane with the cat. At that time (summer 2011), they had just stopped allowing pets in business class. Rules change all the time, so I don't know if this is still the case. Lufthansa's web site says pets can travel either in the A/C baggage area or in the cabin, but we found this not to be true in summer (June-Sep). Our local airport Lufthansa office told us that each airport can decide if it's too hot or too cold on the ground to allow pets to be boarded, despite there being A/C in the plane. Bringing the cat in the cabin for arrival in Dammam was not an option with Lufthansa -- at least with that agent, that day.

Call your airline's local airport office and ask to speak directly with the baggage supervisor in charge of transporting live animals. That's the best way to get the most current info from your city of departure. Be sure to tell them you're flying into DMM -- Dammam on business class and see what they tell you. Good luck, and do keep us posted.

We didn't ask our Relocation Advisor about putting one of us in coach on KLM because we didn't want to leave one parent alone to deal with three kids in business class, but I don't see why you couldn't do that. Our Rel Adv was helpful in relaying our wishes for specific airline and travel dates to the travel agency who made the arrangements for our family. Again, if you haven't, I advise you to contact your LOCAL airport office of the airline you're looking at using for the cat transport, to be sure the AIRPORT allows pet travel during the summer months. I don't advise that you just assume because there's an overall program in place with Delta that it applies to all flights all the time. That's what we found out about Lufthansa -- it was the particular location at our airport that had the embargo, despite Lufthansa having the air conditioned area of the plane for the animals. I do hope that Delta comes through for you.

Please share all the details as you travel with your cat. There has not been much follow through on this forum specific to cats, let alone during the summer. Also, if you can advise others how you are getting the import permit from afar, that would demystify another step in the process, and one which is not covered in the Relocation Guide (unless they've added it in the past year).

If you indicate here which city you're flying from and the month of travel, you might get more input on airline ideas and experiences.

Sounds like you have things well in hand, that's great. There hasn't been much in the way of cat follow-up in this forum, so I recommend you contact the Aramco Kennel Club and www.saudipaws.com to reach a larger audience with your question. BTW, it's not unusual for daytime summer temps here to be 120-130 F. Flights arrive at night, however, so that's to your advantage. Good luck, and please let us all know how it all works out for you.