There are hundreds of companies offering international pet transport services. Some are excellent. Some are acceptable. A significant number are outright fraudulent.
The problem is that their websites look similar, their prices vary for reasons that aren't always clear, and what's at stake — the safety of your pet on a long international journey — is too important to get wrong.
These seven questions cut through the surface and tell you what you actually need to know.
Question 1: Are you an IPATA member and can I verify it?
IPATA (International Pet and Animal Transportation Association) is the industry's primary professional body. Membership requires prior evaluation and adherence to operational and ethical guidelines.
The key word is "verify." Go to ipata.org and use the member directory yourself. Don't rely solely on the logo on their website — logos can be copied. If a company claims to be an IPATA member but doesn't appear in the directory, that is a significant red flag.
Question 2: Do you operate the transport or work with third parties?
This is the operator vs. broker distinction. A company that operates its own transports — using its own staff at every stage of the journey — has a fundamentally different accountability structure from one that subcontracts to regional operators.
Neither model is inherently bad. But you deserve to know which one you're working with. And if the answer is "we work with partners," your next question should be: who are those partners, how do you evaluate them, and how do you monitor the handoffs?
Question 3: What experience do you have on my specific route?
International pet transport is not a generic service. The requirements for a dog traveling from Buenos Aires to Madrid are different from one going from Mexico City to New York or from Bogotá to Berlin. Airlines, layover airports, customs protocols, veterinary inspection systems — everything varies significantly by route.
A company that handles your route frequently has pre-existing relationships with airline live animal departments, knows which airports have good animal facilities, and has already encountered the edge cases of that corridor. A company doing your route for the first time is learning on your dog.
Ask for the number of transports they completed on your specific route in the past 12 months.
Question 4: How do you communicate during the journey?
Once your dog is in transit, you have no direct visibility. The quality of the company's communication — both proactive updates and their availability when you reach out — is the main factor determining whether you experience the journey with peace of mind or with anxiety.
Ask specifically: what communication will I receive, at which points in the journey, and through which channel? Can I call someone directly if I have a question mid-flight?
A good company has a defined communication protocol: check-in confirmation, departure notification, layover update, arrival confirmation, delivery confirmation. Companies that respond "we'll keep you informed" without further detail generally don't.
Question 5: What happens if there's a delay, cancellation, or emergency?
Flights get cancelled. Weather causes diversions. Animals occasionally need veterinary attention during transit. A competent company has a protocol for each of these scenarios.
Ask: if my dog's flight is cancelled mid-route, what happens? Who is responsible for their care, at whose expense, and how do I reach you? If there is a veterinary emergency at a layover airport, what is the procedure?
Vague answers to these questions indicate the company hasn't thought through these scenarios — which means they're not prepared to handle them well when they occur.
Question 6: Can you give me references from clients who have done the same route?
Route-specific references are more useful than general testimonials. A client who moved a senior Labrador from Buenos Aires to Frankfurt tells you something concrete about how the company handles long transports with older dogs on the Argentina–Germany corridor. A generic "excellent service!" tells you almost nothing.
Legitimate companies connect prospective clients with past clients on similar routes. This is standard practice in a high-trust service category.
Question 7: What does the price include and what doesn't it?
International pet transport has many components: veterinary coordination, the crate, the airline booking, airport handling, customs documentation, delivery at destination. The total cost depends heavily on which of these components the company is actually managing.
A quote that seems low generally excludes items the client didn't know to ask about. Request the detailed breakdown and confirm: does this include veterinary certificate coordination? The official authority fees? The import procedures at destination? Delivery to your address?
Cost surprises at a legitimate company occur occasionally. The systematic pattern of cost escalation after the initial agreement is the operating model of scammers.
The question behind all the questions
What you are ultimately evaluating is: if something goes wrong during this transport, is this company equipped to handle it — and is it the kind of organization that will take responsibility?
That quality is harder to quantify than IPATA membership or price, but it is exactly what the questions above are designed to reveal. Trust your assessment of how a company responds as much as the answers themselves.
Want to ask us these questions directly? We answer all of them — including the route-specific one with real numbers.