AIBU to ask if anyone has experienced bringing a pet to the UK via Heathrow

[fluffyballs2020]

We are planning to relocate back to the UK. I'm currently doing all the health stuff and paperwork to bring our dog back.
Has anybody been through the process before? Did you have to wait a long time for your pet to clear customs?
We will be travelling a long way so intend staying at an airport hotel the first night (allowed) and I can't quite work out the logistics of collecting a vehicle, then dog and then finding somewhere to stay that accepts a dog. I wonder if HARC allows collecting early the next morning?

I did it in 2008 - I know that's a long time ago but I really don't think things will have changed much (Defra regulations/paperwork just as exacting, offloaded animal collected from plane by animal centre, etc).
I brought my dog back from Greece (where she had lived up until then).

To answer your questions as best I can:
I used British Airways and they only allowed one animal per day on one particular flight from only one airport in the country (Athens) so if someone had already booked theirs on for the day I wanted to fly, we would have had to wait until a "free" day. I was required to take my dog to the Cargo Section of Athens airport about 7 hours before flight time. There was then some time spent while she was weighed in her kennel (you have to take their collar and lead off and retain it with you until you meet the dog again) - you are not allowed to tranquilise your dog, you cannot leave any food in with it. I then had to go to an office in Cargo that dealt with the freight for BA and,having got the weight of dog and travel box (and blanket I had put in for her comfort), they calculated the freight charge that I had to pay there and then. I had run out of water on the 40 degree several hour journey there in the car and they had to be asked to give my dog some water. Once arriving in London, she was collected from the plane by the Animal Centre staff in their van. I was out within about 15-20 minutes. Then the person meeting me and I had to drive round the perimeter road to find the Animal Centre (it was dark and not that easy to locate). Then we had to wait in reception there as the dog was not "ready" (they had had 3 animals arrive at Heathrow about the same time and they were just washing out their boxes and cleaning up the dogs as they all wee, etc on the flights) and checking paperwork/microchip etc. We must have waited a good 20-30 mins and were then told she was being brought through. I hadn't seen her at that point for about 10 hours. She was the first one ready so the other owners must have had to wait much longer. Having just typed this much, I've found that there are special changes to arrangements at the Animal Centre Reception due to COVID and they are not accepting animals into the centre between Friday 10 pm and Monday 6 am, so book your flight carefully! - here is their website link

www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/services/animal-welfare/travelling-with-animals/heathrow-animal-reception-centre
Lastly, I have heard that Travelodge accepts guests with dogs.

Also. You probably know this already but the timing of microchipping/rabies injection etc has to be done in the right order for DEFRA . My Greek vet told me he was well used to doing the work-up injections & paperwork/pet passport for dogs going out of Greece with foreigners. In the event he did the rabies vacc & microchip in the wrong order (which I later discovered going through the fine print in my DEFRA requirements and we had to, ahem, sort out in a Greek way to make it right). I am glad I noticed it (only because I was paranoid that I wouldn't arrive at Heathrow and my dear dog be denied entry!)

Thanks so much for that information. We did the microchip first, then rabies, then a titre test sometime after via an EU lab. I didn't think of Travel Lodge accepting pets. That will solve my problems as we're getting collected and driving to Reading where I'm collecting a vehicle. We will be travelling onto Leicestershire so we could collect the dog, stay overnight at a Travelodge near Heathrow then straight on to Leicestershire the next morning.

I've just looked up Travelodge policy re dogs - you can have 2 dogs, should you so wish, with you and they charge £20 per dog. I think they also have a special luxury pet bed that they provide!

@mrsjoyfulprizeforraffiawork
Woohoo! He will think he is in seventh heaven. It is such a headache. We have to travel by road to the capital city to get to the airport as no international flights from our city because of Covid-19. We then have to stay overnight before flying and it isn't easy to find dog-friendly accommodation in this country. Then all the paperwork this end. My head was swimming with logistics at the UK end. I will be so relieved when it's over and he is there safely. The airline only accepts pets on the early Friday Morning flight so we should arrive at Heathrow Friday 1pm so plenty of time before their 10pm cut off. Thanks for all the info. Travelodge rock!

Best of luck for a smooth journey. It is such a relief when it all works and you finally arrive at your destination WITH YOUR DOG!!!!

My dog is arriving at Heathrow on Thursday so I can only tell you about the prep part and it seems you already know about that. I’m going with someone else and we are leaving the car in a 24 hour car park, taking the coach down to save money and then a train back so we’ll be arriving late and driving about 30 mins home. It’s going to be a long day but worth it!! Good luck OP x

We did it 7 years ago. It took about 3-4 hours from when the flight landed to when we could collect our dog. I still have the video of him being happily reunited with us . Make sure you have something to clean the crate with, as ours definitely smelt as if he had peed in it (dog stank too).