Moving 2 cats from Australia to The Netherlands

[Hbrjohnson]

Hi everyone,

I am relocated to The Netherlands from Melbourne in August 2019.
I will be taking my 2 cats with me and looking for a cost effective but minimum stress for cats options.
Obviously it is a very long flight and there will need to be a plane change over somewhere.
I have contacted an agency and they are quoting me about $3700 for the two of them.
This seems to come with a lot of unnecessary costs, like picking them up from my house and overnight boarding at the airport. The vaccinations (which I will organise myself in May) and the cost of the crates.

I'm happy to do a lot of DIY to bring the cost down, such as buying the crates myself, taking them to the airport myself and flying on the same flight.

Can anyone give me any tips for a DIY trip and which airlines would take them as there is the stop over.
Other option I was looking at was flying the direct route opening via Qantas next year from Perth to London.
But that would require then booking 2 more airlines and costs of entering them into the UK.

Any advice would be much appreciated!!

[admin]

Re: Moving 2 cats from Australia to The Netherlands

HBRJohnson - when you use an agency, they will transport your cats as air cargo which is more expensive than flying as accompanied checked baggage. As you are in the position of handling the pre-travel arrangements and flying with them, you should be able to avail yourself of your airline's checked baggage service. Emirates flies the route from Perth to AMS with one stop in Dubai. The cost of this trip would be significantly less expensive than routing through London. Try to avoid London if you can as their fees are significant.
Phil