Pet Transport FAQs:
Vietnam ⇄ Worldwide

Start as soon as you know your travel month. The lead time is set by the destination, not the flight: about three to four weeks for simpler routes such as Indonesia when the microchip and rabies vaccine are already valid, about four months for the EU and the UK (titer test plus a three-month wait), and seven months or more for Japan. A pet with no microchip or rabies vaccine yet adds at least 30 days to any route.

There is no flat rate. A quote is built from four blocks: paperwork before departure, the flight, clearance at the destination and optional services. The price moves most with the travel method (with you or as cargo), the crate size, whether the destination needs a titer test or import permit, and the destination’s agent and quarantine fees. Share your pet’s breed, weight and route for a figure you can plan around.

Cargo is priced and handled as a shipment. The airline bills the crate’s volumetric weight, which is often well above the pet’s real weight, because crates are bulky and cannot be stacked. On top come the air waybill, the export customs declaration, terminal handling and clearance as cargo at the destination. When your pet flies with you, most of those steps disappear and you pay the airline’s pet fee at check-in.

Read the exclusions before you compare prices. Items commonly left out: the IATA crate, vaccinations and parasite treatment at the vet, the airline’s pet fee when your pet flies with you (paid by you at check-in), the destination’s government fees, quarantine stays and pet hotel nights before departure. A quote that lists its exclusions clearly is easier to plan around than one that simply looks cheaper.

Low quotes usually save money by leaving steps out: clearance at the destination, a crate that meets the airline’s rules, or time for a re-test. When one of those gaps surfaces close to the flight, the fix costs more and can push the travel date back by weeks.

By email, at each milestone: microchip confirmed, rabies vaccine done, permits issued and the pre-flight health check completed. Email is the official channel for quotes, contracts and documents; WhatsApp and phone are for quick questions, and anything agreed there is confirmed by email afterwards. If your pet flies as cargo, you can also follow the air waybill on the airline’s cargo tracking system. Where the destination requires quarantine, we ask the facility for photos or video, as often as its rules allow.

With the microchip. Implant an ISO 15-digit microchip first, then give the rabies vaccine: that order is the international norm, and many destinations do not accept a vaccine given before the chip. From the vaccination date, plan on 30 days before your pet can fly. The rabies vaccine can be given from 12 weeks of age, so the youngest realistic travel age is about four months.

The wait applies to a first rabies vaccine, or a new one given after the previous vaccine lapsed. Some countries set 21 or 28 days in law; we plan every route on 30 days so a weekend or public holiday cannot push the pet outside the window. If your pet’s rabies vaccine has been kept up to date without a gap, there is no waiting period to restart.

Destinations that control rabies tightly, including the EU, the UK, Japan and Taiwan, ask for a rabies antibody blood test (titer, FAVN or RNATT) from an approved laboratory, often followed by a waiting period. The sample is taken at least 30 days after the vaccine and sent to a lab abroad. Book flights only after a passing result. If the result is too low, the pet is revaccinated and retested, and the waiting period starts again.

Every pet leaving Vietnam needs an export health certificate (Form 13a), issued by Vietnam’s animal quarantine authority after an examination shortly before the flight, plus a vaccination record showing the microchip number and rabies vaccine. Many destinations add their own documents on top: an import permit (UAE, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines, for example), a titer result, or a booked quarantine place.

Vietnam has no national breed ban. Restrictions come from two other places. Airlines limit snub-nosed breeds such as French Bulldogs, Pugs, Shih Tzus and Persian cats, and each airline draws the line differently. Some destinations ban breeds outright: pit bull-type dogs, for example, cannot be imported into Australia or Singapore. Check both the airline and the destination before you book.

Generally, no. Sedation affects breathing, balance and temperature control at altitude, and many airlines will not accept a sedated pet. For an anxious pet, crate training over about six weeks does more than medication: the crate becomes a familiar place to rest before it ever reaches the airport. Any medication decision belongs to your vet.

It depends on weight, route and destination rules. Cabin is only for small pets whose weight together with the carrier stays within the airline’s limit. Checked baggage suits larger pets travelling on your ticket, in the hold. Cargo is for pets flying without you, crates too large for baggage, or destinations that require it: Australia and the UK accept pets only as cargo.

Yes, as manifest cargo. The pet travels on its own air waybill, booked through an agent, checked in at the cargo terminal and collected at the destination by a customs broker or agent. For some routes it is the only option, whether you travel or not. Cargo usually costs more than flying together, and the shipment can be tracked by its air waybill number.

Live animals travel in a pressurised, temperature-controlled part of the hold. Most problems trace back to things that can be controlled before the flight: a crate of the wrong size, a snub-nosed breed, heat on the ground or a long layover. Choosing the route, the season and the crate carefully removes most of the risk.

No. Airlines cap the number of animals per flight, and the pet’s place is booked separately from your seat, right after your ticket is issued. Ask the airline to confirm the booking and reconfirm before departure; final acceptance still rests with the airline on the day. Vietnam Airlines, for example, takes pet bookings up to 24 hours before departure, but we book at least three days ahead.

Yes, with the right timing. Many airlines refuse animals when the ground temperature at any airport on the route is outside roughly 7.2–29.4°C (45–85°F). Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi are above that ceiling for much of the day, so for hot-season departures we look for evening flights and short connections.

Yes. A connection adds a second set of rules: some airports do not accept pets transferring as checked baggage, changing airlines usually means checking the pet in again, and some countries require a transit permit even if your pet never leaves the airport. IATA recommends keeping a layover under about four hours. Check the transit point before you choose the route.

Yes, and it is usually preventable. The common reasons are a crate that fails the airline’s checks (size, ventilation, hardware), documents that do not match the ticket or microchip, a pet that looks unwell, a breed the airline does not carry, or temperatures outside the airline’s limits. Each one can be checked days before the flight.

Not for one or two pets. Vietnam does not issue an import permit in advance. You file a Form 3 (Mẫu 3) quarantine declaration, safest about 48 hours before landing, and the pet is inspected on arrival. The document that releases your pet is Form 15a (Mẫu 15a), issued after that check. Three or more pets follow a separate, commercial import route.

A microchip and a rabies vaccine given at least 30 days before the flight and no more than 12 months old on the day of entry, even if the label says it lasts three years. Then the papers: the export health certificate from the country of departure, the pet’s vaccination record or passport, the owner’s passport, an address in Vietnam (a hotel is fine) and the ticket or air waybill. Some countries add their own export documents, such as Australia’s export permit.

Officers check the documents, scan the microchip and examine the pet. If everything matches, they issue Form 15a; you pay the quarantine fee and import duty, even for a single pet, and clear customs. For pets flying with their owner this usually takes one to three hours. Pets arriving as cargo add a customs declaration and a physical customs inspection, so plan for longer.

Not if it is one or two pets with valid documents: there is no mandatory quarantine period for a personal import. Three or more pets on one shipment fall under the commercial import route, which needs an advance approval (Form 19) and may involve isolation. Families moving with several pets usually split them, so each traveller or air waybill carries no more than two.

Pets clear quarantine at Tan Son Nhat (SGN, Ho Chi Minh City), Noi Bai (HAN, Hanoi) and Da Nang (DAD). Phu Quoc has no animal quarantine station on the island. If your final stop is elsewhere in Vietnam, the pet clears at the first international airport, then needs a domestic health certificate for the onward flight, or continues by road.

You can be named as the consignee, but you cannot open the cargo customs declaration yourself: Vietnam’s electronic customs system needs a registered declarant, such as a customs broker. Owners who collect in their own name should expect two to six hours at the cargo terminal. That is why the agent usually stands as consignee, unless the exporting country requires the owner’s name on the health certificate.

Plan the return before you arrive. Vietnam does not ask for a rabies titer test, but if you will later move to the EU, the UK, Japan or another rabies-controlled country, do the titer test in your current country first: samples taken in Vietnam have to be sent to a lab abroad, which adds weeks. Keep the rabies vaccine up to date without gaps, and expect an export health certificate (Form 13a) when your pet leaves.