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I am flying my cat from London to Lisbon, provisionally on the 8th January. He will fly with British Airways (IAG Cargo). I will arrive the day before and so I have plenty of time to get myself organised to pick him up...
Once his flight is confirmed I am expecting pick up information etc from the airline
But if anyone has any information/experience they can share regarding the pick up location and process at Lisbon Airport I would be very grateful.
Thanks
Alex
Hi Alex,
We flew a dog from the states to Lisbon, but used a pet broker for customs clearance. If you like, send me a private message and I can get you the name of our taxi driver in Lisbon that works (frequently) with those of us needing to pick up pets. It's a different location, and he is beyond knowledgeable and kind. Let me know and I can share it. Till then, Char
I can now provide a guide, from my experience yesterday 10/01/2022, which I hope will be useful for others:
Background - flying my cat from London(LHR) to Lisbon with British Airways. I had to put my cat in a cattery in the UK during the gap between my house selling and moving to Portugal which was approximately 3 weeks. I used Airpets as they not only handle the UK side of the paperwork, but also have a cattery on site. They were efficient in all aspects on the UK side, it was the procedure at Lisbon that I had difficulty finding any decent information about - here it is:
You need to make appointments with both the Vet and Customs at Lisbon Airport. The vet appointment should be before the customs appontment - see below for why. (In my case the flight landed at mid-day I made the vet appointment for 1pm and Customs for 2pm - this was quite tight, but OK)
Vet Services Airport: piflisboaa@dgav.pt
00351 211349540
Customs Lisbon Airport: aalisboa-exp-pv@at.gov.pt
00351 210037753
How it works:
- Once the flight arrives (I was not on the same flight) you make your way to the Cargo Terminal which is on the back side of the airport. Building 134 is what you want, its very obvious and pretty much everything happens here. Visit your shipping agent/broker's office and collect the airwaybill and original paperwork from them. This will not be available until about an hour after the flight lands. British Airways use Aerocarga (2nd floor, Office 2106) - they were really helpful. (€30)
- Take the paperwork to the vet on the ground floor for your appointment, if he isnt there use the above number and he arrives pretty quickly. He will take the paperwork and go off to scan your pet's microchip. Make sure he stamps/signs the paperwork. (€40)
- This next step is important and was not on any of the instructions I received: Take the airwaybill with the vets stamp to building 133 (which is where your pet is being stored, in my case this was with Portway). Present airwaybill to them and they will give you a blue form - if you dont have this blue form then when you get to your customs appointment they will send you away to get it!
- Take all forms to your customs appointment (back in building 134, ground floor) - this appointment can take up to 40 minutes, but its the final one. They will give you a customs clearance form (€1.8, YMMV based on value of your pet)
- Go back to building 133 with you clearance form from customs - first you go to the centre door (where you originally got the blue form from) and pay what you owe them. Then once your payment is receipted you can go get your pet. (€34.54)
This whole process took me about 4 hours. I had a quote from an agency in Lisbon whole will 'hold your hand' through the whole process - they quoted €600! I declined 🙂
Ive shown the actual costs above + parking €11.20. So a total of €117.54
I really hope this helps someone out, and encourages more members to share their experiences.
Alex
@cookeal Hi Alex. Do you have a link to Aerocarga? I have to collect my cat next Friday but wasn't aware that I'd need to use a broker. Hopefully Aerocarga can act for me
@shortiao Aerocarga contacts (found online): https://www.apat.pt/en/associated_detail/24/aerocarga-transitarios-lda
Thanks for that. I managed to get my cat eventually without the use of a broker. You need a lot of patience.
I got to Lisbon in time for my cat arriving - they told me to come back an hr later once they had the paperwork
So, I paid Groundforce 40€ - then they told us to go to the vet. The vet had disappeared, wouldn't answer calls so we went back to Groundforce - they called the vets boss and told the guy dealing with us to open the documents and that was them authorised.
They then sent us to customs at the passenger airport beside security where I needed to get another document (which cost 1,80€)
Then back to Groundforce....as it was now after 5pm, I incurred an out of hours charge, which was another €30.
Finally we got to the warehouse and they brought my cat over on a forklift truck, she was pretty spooked for a few days but seems to be settling in on the Algarve now.
Thank you for the information
thank you for this info. We will be bringing our 2 cats with us in July from US, so I'm doing research now.
