The first time I tried to arrange shipping of these rabbits from Seattle, Washington State, USA to Toronto, Canada I had to wait on the phone for 40 minutes and be transfered 3 times before I reached a person in Vancouver who could provide me with the information I needed. I called the same office back to get price information., But when I called that number the next time to book I was told it was the wrong number and again had to wait on the line more than 30 minutes and be transferred to four other numbers. I was cut off 3 times in the process too. Finally I received a booking agent who seemed to know what they were doing. I booked the flight (#01408686285) and she very clearly told me I could drop the rabbits off any time before 5:46 in Seattle. She knew I had a wedding the at afternoon (a Saturday) and that I would be dropping them off after that.
When I arrived at Air Canada Cargo office in Seattle at 4:00 it was closed. A person in a nearby office (United) said they closed at 3:00, and he couldn’t help me. We drove to the terminal, and there was no one at the Air Canada desk and no sign there. I spoke with a person at the international desk at United nearby, and he went back and returned after making several phone calls saying that I couldn’t drop the rabbits off there- we would have to reschedule another time during the weekday when the Air Canada office was open- that he couldn’t accept “rodents’ (which rabbits are not).
We called Air Canada Cargo- there was no answer at the Seattle number. At the Vancouver office the man who answer said a mistake was made, and I would have to reschedule. I pointed out to him that we drove 2 hours to get to SeaTac, and this was quite an inconvenience. He said there was no alternative. My husband and I talked and decided we did not want to have to do this ordeal all over again- the rabbits, the cage and air transport had already been paid by the woman who was to receive the rabbits in Canada, and we didn’t want to have to return her money either. So we decided to drive the rabbits up to Vancouver to catch the connecting flight their to Toronto. We called back to Air Canada Cargo and spoke with John. He felt that was possible as long as we made it before 8:35 and didn’t have problems at the border. So we drove north. We stopped by our home (which is between Seattle and Vancouver) and picked up our passports. When we arrive there was a telephone message left at 3:00 by Air Canada Cargo that a mistake was made, and they couldn’t ship the rabbits for me from Seattle.
We drove, took an alternative route across the border to save wait time there, had to be inspected at the border since the agent seemed skeptical of our story and made it to Air Canada Cargo at 8:00 in time for the drop off and flight. The gentleman there was nice but didn’t apologize in any way for our ordeal or offer to make an amends for our troubles.
We then ate dinner in Vancouver as we hadn’t had time to stop and eat since we ate at the wedding at 2:00. And then we drove back home arriving back here at midnight. This ordeal took an additional 6 hours of our time and many miles of driving our truck which gets 12 miles to the gallon.
Yikes! I’ve only shipped one animal, a ewe lamb to Alaska two years ago, and that was hard enough. Nothing like what you had to go through, though. I hope that the bunnies arrive safely and the lady LOVES them!
This is actually an old post from two years ago. The photo was missing and I added it back and I guess it reposted. There was a woman asking me if I shipped rabbits to Canada so I sent her this link to explain why I do not anymore.