US TO PORTUGAL PRIVATE JET CHARTER - TRAVELLING WITH YOUR DOG

We are receiving a huge amount of private jet charter requests from clients in the US, for flights to London and Portugal, who would like to travel with their dogs and cats, in the cabin, rather than put them in the hold of a commercial aircraft.

We absolutely love this blog post written by my client, detailing her charter jet journey from Teterboro, New Jersey US, to Faro, Portugal, with her dog Hector.

For more information on chartering a private jet with your dog from the US, please do not hesitate to contact us. We would love to hear from you.

Here is Prudy's blog...

This is a post about my journey with my husband Rich and our intrepid dog Hector from Seattle, WA to our new home just outside Penela, PT.

It was Sunday morning around 7:30 we checked out of our NJ hotel, rounded up our newly condensed luggage with the density and weight of a neutron star (I brought 3 suitcases on the plane: a large suitcase w financial records, photos, extra vitamins and meds, then crammed full to bursting w every other little thing we could fit in, a big duffel bag, and a small roller suitcase.), I carried on a cloth bag with a blanket (which G6 AVIATION asked us to bring), Hector’s favorite board game which he plays for treats (and is often the only way I can get him to eat), an extra pair of shoes that fit no where else, and also my backpack.

Prudy and Hector

I had joined a flight with another family who were relocating, they had two big cream golden retrievers which were sweet and got along famously with Hector. I gave the family their own separate seating area, not wanting to intrude. The plane could fly up to 15 people, but the back six or eight seats were filled with the overflow of their luggage that wouldn’t fit in the hold — that’s why they rented the jet! I sat up in the front of the plane, with another seat facing me and a table in between which could be folded out, and a couch across the aisle to my right. I had my own screen for movies or tv, but never turned it on.

Food service began as soon as we reached altitude. I asked for a black coffee, and when our wonderful Flight Attendant brought it, I almost said, Oh that’s not for me, because it looked like it had cream, but no, I realized it was just fancy freshly made coffee😳 That was followed quickly by a plain omelette, pastries, bacon and more coffee. I almost forgot, the omelette was followed by a bowl of yogurt, granola and perfect berries. This was my kind of breakfast!

As soon as she took away the breakfast Zita brought the drinks we had previously requested with G6 AVIATION. I had champagne, and it came in a lovely crystal flute. The coasters were of rubber and wouldn’t budge on the tabletop. The minute I took a sip, Zita, the steward, refilled my glass. Oh, she also brought a bowl of strawberries. After a bit I stopped drinking, being worried about getting my mess of luggage to my hotel.

I chatted with the family for a while, showing them pictures of our villa, and they told me about theirs, an old hunting lodge in the Algarve. Then I read magazines and zoned out for a bit. The seat was large enough for Hector to sit at my side. I played Hector’s game with him on the floor and in this way got him to eat 30 or so Zukes.

Soon Zita brought a huge tray of all different cheeses with exotic accompaniments, and an even bigger tray of meats rolled into coronets. The food was amazing!! She asked for my dinner order, which I had previously placed, my choices were salmon or chicken. I had the chicken. After all the other things I’d been eating, I wasn’t hungry anymore, and the chicken was the least of all the delicacies I’d been offered.

It’s sounds crazy, but way too soon, I glanced at the flight display and realized we were almost there. The family jokingly asked the Captain, Martin, to circle for an hour or so, since we were all having so much fun. But the trip was almost over. I packed up all my gear I had strewn about and we landed in Faro.

It was a gorgeous full moon night, warm and a bit humid.

Hector and I led the way off the plane. The two pilots met us, along with a couple men, introduced as drivers. We were told to walk quickly and stay together. The co-pilot was in the front, and Martin was in the back with me, as we made our way into the immigration hall. It was hot as hell in there and packed with hundreds of people, mostly English it seemed, who were winding through rope guides. We hustled along the outside flanked by pilots and with our dogs. I felt pretty guilty as we walked right up to the front, and the co-pilot handed the immigration agent a stack of all our passports. Five minutes later, we headed to the vet check. This was in a tiny, hot office. I didn’t see what happened with the two goldens, but they were out soon enough and

then it was our turn. I‘ll be honest. I had lost sleep worrying about this moment.

Hector is 13, and until this move began had always been a confident, boss dog. But he has sebaceous cysts all over his body, and he’s become this skinny little thing during the time we’ve been in an Airbnb.

I shouldn’t have worried. The vet was sitting in a chair, an affable young man, Hector went right up to him and stood up leaning on his leg. The vet said hi and petted Hector once on the head then asked me for his paperwork, which I handed to him. The vet began filling it out, stamped it, handed it back to me. That was it; we headed back into the night.

Oh wait. We stopped briefly at customs. I was in the back chatting with Martin, the Captain, who kept trying to carry all my bags. I didn’t hear what the customs man said, but suddenly it was over and we were headed out.

We reached a van where the other woman from the family and I had flowers waiting with a sweet note from Adam at G6 AVIATION. Our luggage was loaded onto two vans and we were whisked off into the night.

The driver asked me where I was headed. The family had invited me to spend the night at their place, but I wanted to give them their space, and so had reserved a room at a hotel right near the airport. One of the van drivers drove me to my hotel, took all my luggage inside. And that was it!

I checked in and managed to get all the luggage up to my room , and finally I was able to take Hector out into the warm European night. I had wondered if it would smell differently to him, and apparently the answer was yes. He went crazy sniffing around. We stayed out for 20 minutes, sniffing the hotel’s lawn. It was 9:30 or so by then, and we went back up to the tiny room, and I went to sleep. Around 1am I heard Hector get up and start eating-just regular kibble!! And then he demanded to go out again, so I got dressed, and went outside, and he happily began sniffing around again.

I will admit to being pretty teary when I finally saw Portugal out the window. I want to let all of you who have been worried about Hector know that as soon as we got to the house he began the transformation back to his old self. He has already eaten several hearty meals the minute his food is set down, he’s escaped the fence several times, jumped into the deep end of the pool after his favorite light up ball, and gave me barky hell for not sharing my food with him. I think he’s going to be just fine.

Prudy.