Special regulations for travelling with animals to/from the USA
Information for passengers with an animal travelling in the cargo hold and whose itinerary includes a United Airlines flight before or after their Lufthansa flight.
There are three possible kinds of travel itineraries for which special instructions apply:
Flight booking:
Please make sure you plan a transfer time in Frankfurt or Munich of at least four hours. For this itinerary, your pet must be booked as freight for the United Airlines flight with United PetSafe®. You can do this directly with United PetSafe. For the Lufthansa flight, we recommend that you register your pet at the same time as you make your booking, but no later than 72 hours before departure.
Procedure:
You must first collect your pet after landing in Frankfurt from the Frankfurt Animal Lounge (or, after landing in Munich, from Lufthansa Cargo) and then check it in again for the onward flight with Lufthansa.
Once you have cleared customs in the Animal Lounge in Frankfurt or at Lufthansa Cargo in Munich and taken receipt of your pet, please report to the Lufthansa check-in counter for your onward flight between two and three hours before departure. There, you check your pet in for transport in the cargo hold on the Lufthansa aircraft. This is subject to a fee.
In Frankfurt, you do not need to worry about the baggage you have already checked in in the USA, as long as you have already had it checked through to your destination in the USA.
Flight booking:
For this kind of itinerary, please make sure you plan a transfer time in the USA of at least four hours. For this itinerary, your pet must be booked as freight for the United Airlines flight with United PetSafe®. You can do this directly with United PetSafe. For the Lufthansa flight, please register your pet at the same time as you make your booking, but no later than 72 hours before departure.
Procedure:
After the arrival of your United Airlines flight and before your onward flight with Lufthansa, collect your pet from the United PetSafe® pick-up and drop-off location in the USA. Then check your pet in at the Lufthansa check-in counter for the onward flight to Germany. Please note that you must pay the costs for transporting your pet with Lufthansa at the Lufthansa service counter before your departure to Germany.
3.) You are flying with Lufthansa to the USA and have a connecting flight there with United Airlines
For this kind of journey, please make sure you plan a transfer time of at least four hours in the USA. For this itinerary, your pet must be booked in as freight for the United Airlines flight with United PetSafe®. You can do this directly with United PetSafe®. For the Lufthansa flight, please register your pet at the same time as you make your booking, but no later than 72 hours before departure.
Procedure:
After the arrival of your Lufthansa flight in the USA and before your onward flight with United Airlines, please go to baggage reclaim and collect your pet there. Then, drop your pet off as freight at the United PetSafe® pick-up and drop-off location for the onward flight with United. Please pay for the transport of your pet with United Airlines at the United PetSafe counter.