Favorite airlines for flying to Europe from the United States - Page 1

I am looking to fly with three large dogs to Brussels from Washington Dulles this summer.

I used to fly with United where taking my dogs cost me $250 each (one way) and I checked them with my luggage.

Well, since the merger with Continental, United has taken Continental's policy for flying dogs: they fly in Cargo using a subsidiary company
called Petsafe. The quote for a one way flight for each dog from Dulles to Brussels was $1037.

So, I have been looking at other airlines. Lufthansa does not fly into Brussels (but does take dogs for $500 each way), Delta always has a stop
in NY or in Atlanta, and American does not take dogs internationally.

Also, apparently the EU rules for flying in dogs has gotten more strict.

Does anyone have any suggestions? My next stop is a travel agent (but, regrettably, I don't have much faith that they will be able to figure out the
dog part of this equation.

Lufthansa.

Lufthansa is the only airline we will use.  Not the headache of other airlines.

I fly American all the time from Brussels, they take German Shepherds (crate 5) for 120$ each way.

After dealing with most of the airlines over the years, I finally decided to pay the extra and go with Lufthansa. The problems with the other airlines simply were not worth dealing with in the end.

There's nothing worse than finding yourself with an animal 3,000 miles from home with a non refundable ticket, 3 hours before your flight and have the airline tell you your dog will not fit on the plane. They are very sorry but their agent made a mistake. One of many things that can go wrong. I bite the bullet and fly Lufthansa and never a problem.

 I fly Iceland Air all the time to Europe. GREAT airline with the dogs, climate controlled cargo areas for 4 dogs per flight. $125 per dog each way. Plus it is a nice flight with a stop in Iceland, it breaks up the flight to Europe.... 4 hours to iceland, 4 hours to Europe, with a 1 hour stop, still total travel time of about 9 hours. Iceland airport is all glass walls, so i go through EU passport control and then on the otherside watch my dog get loaded on the plane. I have flown them 15-20 times and never had a problem. (but you have to tell them dog and crate weigh 30 KG, I have never had them weigh them and never had a problem. once flew a 95 lb doberman in the crate...30kg)

Thank you for your input and suggestions!