Bringing pets to Maui

h1jung · December 2011

My fiance and I have 2 little dogs who are basically our kids. We plan on bringing them with us to Maui to be in our weddings. We already looked into the quarentine requirements, flights that would let us take our dogs in the cabin, and houses to rent that allow dogs. So we feel pretty confident that nothing will hold us up, but was wondering if any of you have ever experienced taking pets with them to Maui.

breaness · December 2011

Tanq did!

Tanq&Tonic · December 2011

We brought our pup. It was an extensive, crazy expensive, nerve wracking process frankly. And a stressful one for the dog -- it's a long flight. A few initial thoughts:

- Maui has a fairly new direct airport release (no quarrantine) if you do a TON of paperwork before hand. Basically prove a 2-year history of rabies vaccines and other vet related stuff (including going to the vet to have proof of heartworm meds taken one month before travel, etc). But if you are willing to put in the leg work, not making the dogs go through quarrantine is a great thing for you and the pups.

- Also, the State of Hawaii does not allow any dogs arriving on island to ride in the cabin. It doesn't matter what the airline allows, the state's rules override this. So, yep, it's 6-ish hours in a crate in cargo. This creates a whole new set of worries, such as ground temp when you take off and land, and how long they may sit on the Tarmac, etc. It's possible that, on the specific day you intend to travel, temperatures could prohibit the airline from accepting the dogs, so you have to be prepared for that as well. And you have to decide if you're willing to put your dogs through that. Not all of them do well with it.

- Finally, it's worth considering what the plan for the pups will be the rest of the time you're on island. Eg, while you're at final vendor meetings, rehearsal dinner, the reception, your portrait session, etc. Who will watch them? Will they have a safe place to rest? Will they just be crated for everything but the ceremony? Like children, it's important to think about the entire trip as a whole as you will either need to crate them, plan around them, or ask someone else to dog sit a significant chunk of time. Not impossible, but a serious consideration.

If you want more details, I can try to dig up everything we did. We were pretty obsessive about it all because we really wanted him to be there, and he was:

breaness · December 2011

Clara, can you share more Tanq pics from your wedding? I love them all

Tanq&Tonic · December 2011

Yeah, I'm not sure I would do it again after seeing him when we had to crate him at the airport and send him back. And how he was when we picked him up. It was pretty stressful for the little guy. We had them toss a handful of treats into the crate just to give him a small snack and not be so scared, and 8 hours later, we still found the treats in the crate so he was just too scared to eat. That sucked, especially because he is a highly food motivated dog. Just broke my heart. We absolutely loved having him there with us, and I think he LOVED being in Maui (SO MANY TREES TO PEE ON!), but yeah, I'm not sure I would do it again. He was at the AHR and had a ball there, too.

Tanq&Tonic · December 2011

Haha, sure!

Your dress comes with a portable bed for me??

All set, Momma!

Looking dapper:

Begging under my dress:

Party animal on the dance floor:

breaness · December 2011

So cute

Tanq&Tonic · December 2011

Thanks! It was way fun to have him there. I think he loved it!

rmontpas · December 2011

I better not tell my FI about this or we will be having "his children" at the wedding!

Your dog is adorable though and looks so well behaved. Love the pictures!

motoLyn · December 2011

Tanq is so cute! I would love to bring Maus but I think that it might be more stressful for her than to just have her stay at home with a sitter.

sparklegirl84 · December 2011

omg tanq is so cute on the dance floor! I love that he roamed around without running away. Thank god it all worked out and he made it there and back safely, sounds really stressful for you both, good thing you're really organized.

h1jung · December 2011

This is very, very helpful. We called Alaska Airlines and they said that they allowed dogs in the cabin to Hawaii, but if we're not allowed to do that due to the State of Hawaii's rules, that's a deal breaker. I saw on Hawaii's government website that they are indifferrent to how dogs travel on the plane... (see below)

Sorry to be nitpicky, but could you tell me where you heard this? I so really, really want them to be with us, but not if we have to take them in cargo. We got engagement photos taken with them as well.

Here's one:

10. Is my pet allowed to fly with me in the passenger cabin of the airplane? back to top

The Department of Agriculture does not have any regulation regarding where pets fly within the aircraft. It is totally up to each airline's policy. The airline is required by law to bring all incoming animals directly from the plane to the Airport Animal Quarantine Holding Facility.

Animals still under quarantine which are transiting from the Airport Animal Quarantine Holding Facility to an approved outer island satellite quarantine facility or approved veterinary hospital are not permitted to fly in-cabin. If medical issues require this, special arrangements will need to be made with the Airport Animal Quarantine Holding Facility to arrange for an inspector to accompany the animal in this instance.

Tanq&Tonic · December 2011

Wow, that's awesome. I can't remember where I read it specifically, but perhaps the state changed their rules since we did our planning a year ago.

h1jung · December 2011

Finger's crossed! I will let you know how it goes

AKWinterBride · December 2011

Tanq, those pictures are soooo cute!! I woudl have loved to have our dog there with us but it just wasn't worth everything he would have to go through. You brought up a great, great point about what are the dogs going to do while you are busy - cause we were busy literally the entire time we were in Maui. I didn't expect it, but we were running around like madmen and if we had bought our furry boy he would have been stuck in a kennel somewhere. Totally not worth it.

carrieoz_76 · December 2011

Given how extremely hot it can be on the tarmac in Hawaii, I would really worry about any dog that was in cargo there. Especially since you're not in control of how long it takes to take off and land.

The flight to Maui is a long one, and I don't know that I could have handled the stress of worrying about my dog on the way there and back, on top of everything else.

dianalynm · December 2011

Way too cute! I want to take Dolly with us, but I know it'd be too much.

My FI asked me the other day if we were going to bring her...

littlechilds · January 2012

I would love to know how this turns out!!
Our wedding is in May and our little "weiner dog" flys everywhere with us. We were planning on spending big bucks to have her boarded in our home City ($40 x 7= $280), BUT if she is able to ride in front of us under the seat, then we may do this (also flying Alaskan Air). She eats in her carrier, but will not peak out...so taking in the luggage storage is not an option for us.

Fingers crossed as well:)

Bringing pets to Maui

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