Good afternoon Michelle,
Thank you for your interest in using Lufthansa Cargo for your pet shipping needs.
For all inquiries regarding shipping animals with us, we kindly ask that you contact the following company who handles all live anmial inquries for Lufthansa Cargo:
Barthco
5101 SouthBroad St.
Philadelphia PA
19148
Tel: 267-570-2668
Contact: Mike Andrel
Email: mandrel@ohl.com
Barthco will be able to answer any questions you have regarding prices, required documentation etc. and they will also be able to create a booking for you. I hope that this information proves helpful.
So, that pretty much sounds like I needed to go through Barthco, right? Not so. I found out today that people going through some airports do, indeed need to use an agent (though not necessarily Barthco), but people going through Dulles do not. I had specified in my original quote request that they would be leaving out of Dulles.
So, I got there today to drop off the cats, and I was given a bunch of papers to fill out. I didn't understand half of them, so I was frustrated. Then, the lady told me it would be $350. I was quite surprised and told her that I had already paid $800 for it, and now I needed to pay another $350? She was also surprised, so she went back to consult with the other ladies in the office. She asked me several times why I had paid that much, and I told her that's what Barthco told me it was going to be. She wanted to know why I had gone through Barthco, when I could have done it myself for about $400. Barthco is just an agent, and would usually do all the paperwork and everything for that price. She said they should have given me all of the completed paperwork to bring with me, and they had given me nothing. All they told me was that the flight was booked, and that I needed to have the cats at Dulles at 2. Though Mike & Lauren at Barthco had been quite helpful answering questions, I had done all of the paperwork myself, so she couldn't see any reason why I had been charged so much. The only thing they had really done was make the booking. I then saw the waybill, and Barthco had given Lufthansa $187. 84 for my cats. So, I had paid them $609.39 to answer questions. Why they had paid less than $200 and it would still cost me $400 had I done it myself, I don't know. But, whatever. Preferred customer discount, perhaps.
Ev was also informed by the people at Lufthansa's Frankfurt Pet Lounge that it will cost him another 120 euros (about $170 USD) in vet & customs fees to get them out of the airport. Whether part of the $797 I paid to Barthco is supposed to cover that, I have no idea, and since everything is closed and will remain so until well after Ev needs to pick up the cats, I can't ask.
The lady who seemed to be the office manager gave me the email of the head of the claims department at Lufthansa, so I wrote her an email when I got back from the airport this evening. We'll see how that goes.
I left the kitties in the office, so hopefully they got on their plane this evening. Ev said he'd text me when he picks them up in the morning (about 3:30am our time), so I'll let you know how the mats worked, and if they seem happy with their trip.
So, that pretty much sounds like I needed to go through Barthco, right? Not so. I found out today that people going through some airports do, indeed need to use an agent (though not necessarily Barthco), but people going through Dulles do not. I had specified in my original quote request that they would be leaving out of Dulles.
So, I got there today to drop off the cats, and I was given a bunch of papers to fill out. I didn't understand half of them, so I was frustrated. Then, the lady told me it would be $350. I was quite surprised and told her that I had already paid $800 for it, and now I needed to pay another $350? She was also surprised, so she went back to consult with the other ladies in the office. She asked me several times why I had paid that much, and I told her that's what Barthco told me it was going to be. She wanted to know why I had gone through Barthco, when I could have done it myself for about $400. Barthco is just an agent, and would usually do all the paperwork and everything for that price. She said they should have given me all of the completed paperwork to bring with me, and they had given me nothing. All they told me was that the flight was booked, and that I needed to have the cats at Dulles at 2. Though Mike & Lauren at Barthco had been quite helpful answering questions, I had done all of the paperwork myself, so she couldn't see any reason why I had been charged so much. The only thing they had really done was make the booking. I then saw the waybill, and Barthco had given Lufthansa $187. 84 for my cats. So, I had paid them $609.39 to answer questions. Why they had paid less than $200 and it would still cost me $400 had I done it myself, I don't know. But, whatever. Preferred customer discount, perhaps.
Ev was also informed by the people at Lufthansa's Frankfurt Pet Lounge that it will cost him another 120 euros (about $170 USD) in vet & customs fees to get them out of the airport. Whether part of the $797 I paid to Barthco is supposed to cover that, I have no idea, and since everything is closed and will remain so until well after Ev needs to pick up the cats, I can't ask.
The lady who seemed to be the office manager gave me the email of the head of the claims department at Lufthansa, so I wrote her an email when I got back from the airport this evening. We'll see how that goes.
I left the kitties in the office, so hopefully they got on their plane this evening. Ev said he'd text me when he picks them up in the morning (about 3:30am our time), so I'll let you know how the mats worked, and if they seem happy with their trip.
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