We are moving to Bonaire sometime around October 1st. We're having trouble arranging suitable transport for our pets. One option we're looking at is hiring a Lear Jet from Miami. Is anyone interested in taking the plane back from Bonaire (or another island) to Miami (or anywhere)? The plane is a Lear 25--it has 7 seats, 40 cu. feet for baggage and pets are welcome!. If interested please contact us at bandbfarm@yahoo.com ASAP. Thanks!! Susan & Alex Brown

May I pretend to be one of your critters and take the ride with you TO Bonaire?? Wow...what a way to go. I like it. You must be sooo excited about your upcoming move. The countdown clocks rolls downward quickly, now. The best of luck to you both and to the critters, too.

I'm certain someone will jump on your proposal. Carole

hi carole - the price for being one of our critters is quite comparable to commercial airfare ...we can only do this for them if we get some other bodies on that plane!!! thanks for your good wishes, susan and alex.

Alex - I deleted your duplicate posts - only one is necessary.

How much is the charter fee, incidentally?

Jake

hi jake - sorry about the duplicates, we were unsure where to post it - the return trip will cost $5500 - we want to offset as much of it as we can, or we can't do it. susan and alex

Susan and Alex,

We are about four years away from our planned move to Bonaire (own the property, still need to build the house :-) ). One of our concerns has been how to get our pets (dogs) to Bonaire with the minimum level of trauma.

I realize you are probably quite busy now, but if you have time, would you mind elaborating on options explored and problems encountered?

Thanks,
Barton

Hi Barton - happy to tell you our saga (it's long!), but in 4 years things will have changed, hopefully for the better for your dogs. When we first looked into getting our pets there (1 dog and 4 cats, including an 18 yr old and a diabetic) there were a number of direct flights from Miami and Atlanta (American and Air Jamaica, and another airline which no longer exists). This is no longer the case. Aside from being easier on the pets, the non-stop (or at least direct flights) make it easier to get around the temperature restictions - these are based on USDA recommendations, but different carriers have different policies. Our options narrowed down to American, because Air Jamaica no longer takes pets, Continental only goes as far as Aruba, Exel doesn't take dogs, and KLM would mean a long trip to Amsterdam. But American's temperature restrictions are the most stringent, refusing to fly an animal in cargo if any stop on the itinerary can possibly be expected to have temps in excess of 85 (unless the wait is shorter than 40 minutes - and there is no such thing). Since the stops are Miami, San Juan,and Bonaire this means they basically never fly pets in cargo to Bonaire (or so they told me) no matter what time of year. They currently have no night flights to get around this, and they will no longer accept a "letter of acclimation" from the vet to exempt your particular pet. They also reserve the right to bump the pet at any point at the last minute for any reason, leaving one stranded with one's pets in a hotel somewhere. In addition to temp restrictions, most carriers have limits on how many can fly at a time, both in the cabin (1 or 2) and in cargo (usually 2). So that presents a problem as well with 2 people carrying on 3 cats, and we still can't get the dog there... Then we heard about Amerijet (a cargo carrier that flies wednesdays from Miami to Bonaire) - the problem is they keep an erratic schedule, basically any time in a 12 hour period on that day, and they want the pets there at 10 the night before regardless, to wait in their crates in the warehouse where they will be given water and nothing else - so this was not acceptable for our cats, and would be hard on the dog. The cats could be carried on with one of us making an extra trip. The dog could fly an early AM Delta flight (to get around the temp thing), be picked up and kenneled by a pet shipper in Ft. Lauderdale and taken to Amerijet in Miami that night. A long couple of days for her, and a cost of $1900 for the dog alone. Between that, the cost of the extra trip to carry on a cat, hotel and board, the fact that even carrying on American can bump the pet at the last minute, it was adding up to half the cost of a quote I got for a charter from Miami and a lot more stress, not to mention we can take a fair amount of baggage on the jet. So that's how we got to this point, chartering a jet and hoping we can book the unused return flight (which the charter company now tells me they can most likely do for us). More info. than you wanted I'm sure... Hopefully in 4 years you will have better options!! Hope to see you then, Susan and Alex.

I just deleted this second posting to you are not repeating yourself. :-)
Moderator

Sorry Jake--computer spazzed. Susan

Hi Susan,

Always willing to accept info :-). Thank you for the details, this helps a lot, and will help us prepare for the future. Hopefully, in four years there will again be some direct flights from the US to Bonaire...

Thanks again,
Barton

So , tell me : was it Bodenheimer and Brown ? Or Brown and Bodenheimer???

I wish you a safe flight and a happy life on Bonaire.

What a strang way of preventing to have to move pets they developed !
You must really love your pets considering the effort and cost you put up to take them with you to Bonaire.
Do you think they can cope with the higher temps on Bonaire?


sjossss

Did the Browns ever make it to Bonaire with the dog and 3 cats?

If they have, we have not heard from them...Was wondering the same thing myself :-)

Jake

hello dara & jake & all. we are here!! arrived a few weeks ago. have not been checking in with bonaire talk too much as our computers will not arrive until early december, so we're at the city cafe in the meantime...we did arrive safely with all the pets in tow, and all are doing well (well 1 cat was attacked by a feral cat in our yard shortly after we arrived, but now we know where the vet is and he's recovering well). dara, hope your trip to colorado went smoothly and that your mom is doing ok. thanks so much to you and everyone on bt for your help and advice--it has made the process go much more smoothly. now if only our residency would come through before our stuff arrives...alex brown

Alex, Glad you made it and everyone is fine. Enjoy living your dream on Bonaire! Good luck with all of the immigration/residency stuff. And keep in mind, all offices close 15 minutes before the stated closing time :-) Dara

That seems to be a requirement when dealing with "government", Dara! LOL. And I WORK for a government entity! I, however, am usually plugging away at least 15 minutes beyond my closing time, if not longer.

Congratulations on your move, Alex and Susan...you are now living our dreams! Way to go. Carole