The Foreign Service Journal, May 2015

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MAY 2015 61 AFSA NEWS have to change planes (and airlines) along the way. On some airlines it is not an option if your pet and the kennel combined weigh more than 100 pounds. Or, pets can be shipped as cargo, but that is generally a more expensive option and usually requires a commer- cial shipper. THINGS TO REMEMBER 1 . A 2012 change to the Foreign Affairs Manual (14 FAM 543) allows permanent change-of-station travelers to use an airline other than the U.S.-contracted carrier when that airline has no space for pets as checked baggage. This exception allows you to take a non-contract carrier—even a non-U.S. carrier—as long as you pay the difference in cost. There are a variety of regulations to comply with to make use of this option, and you must check with your agency’s travel office or the OBC to be sure you are complying— or you might find yourself responsible for the full cost of the ticket. 2. Watch out for “inter- lining.”With the recent airline mergers, the cutback of ser- vices on American carriers, as well as the widespread use of codeshare flights, this can be a real problem for travel- ing pets. Say, for example, that you must fly on a United/ Lufthansa codeshare, with a stop (and change of planes) in Frankfurt. If you traveled on a United flight for the Washington, D.C., to Frank- furt leg and then on a Luf- thansa flight from Frankfurt to your final destination, you would be required to claim your pet in Frankfurt and then recheck the animal onto the onward flight. From what I hear from fellow Foreign Service family members, this is where prob- lems are likely to arise. 3. Save all your receipts. Pet shipment can qualify as a legitimate “moving expense” for the IRS. These costs can also be considered miscella- neous expenses and partially reimbursed by the Foreign Transfer Allowance or Home Service Transfer Allowance. I asked my fellow group members on an FS family member Facebook group to share their pet travel stories with me. I got a lot of responses. Some stories were funny (a plane delayed because a monkey and a dog were not getting along in the cargo hold); some were downright nightmarish (animals lost, connections missed, months and months of planning wasted, thou- sands of dollars spent). One thing I heard was universal, though: the belief that there has to be a better way. n