Flying with a dog or cat in India: which airlines carry pets, weight limits, fees and documents

Which airlines in India allow pets: the carrier-by-carrier answer

Three Indian airlines carry a passenger's pet dog or cat, two refuse pets outright, and one carries them only as cargo. Air India takes pets in the cabin and the hold, Akasa Air takes them in the cabin and the hold on domestic flights, and Alliance Air takes them in the cabin only; IndiGo and Air India Express carry no pets, only guide or service dogs; SpiceJet carries them in the cargo hold on domestic flights, booked through its cargo desk Akasa Air, Pets on Akasa Alliance Air, Frequently Asked Questions IndiGo, How to Book Air India Express, In-flight Services FAQ SpiceJet, General Air Travel FAQs. Vistara merged into Air India on 12 November 2024, its aircraft fly as Air India flight numbers beginning with 2, and airvistara.com redirects to airindia.com, so Air India's rules govern those flights.

Every cell below was read on the carrier's own page on 18 September 2026. Where a carrier prints no fee, the cell says so rather than borrowing a figure from a blog.

Air India sorts domesticated cats and dogs by combined weight, up to 10 kg with the kennel in the Economy cabin, 10 to 32 kg as checked baggage or cargo, over 32 kg as cargo, with two cabin pets per flight, one per passenger in the cabin plus one in the hold, and no emotional support animals. Akasa Air allows three pets per flight, two in the cabin and one in the cargo compartment, for cats and dogs aged 3 months or older, domestic only, and until further notice no pet above 32 kg in the hold on flights departing Pune and Agartala. Alliance Air accepts 'small inoffensive domestic pets such as dogs, cats & birds' in the cabin only, two per flight; its Pet in-Cabin web page is an empty folder, so the FAQ PDF is the instrument.

IndiGo answers in one line: 'IndiGo does not permit the carriage of pets or animals on its aircraft. Guide dogs for blind customers are exempt from this rule and must be booked via IndiGo Call Centre'; its Conditions of Carriage, searched end to end, carry no pet clause. Air India Express says 'Our standard policy does not permit pets onboard', service animals excepted; its route landing pages soften that to 'subject to Air India Express guidelines and route-specific approvals', but the FAQ is the policy. SpiceJet says pets 'are not permitted to be carried on-board SpiceJet flights. However, they are permitted to be carried in the cargo hold on domestic flights'.

What it costs to take a pet on a plane in India

A pet on an Indian domestic flight costs INR 7,500 per sector in the cabin on Air India or Akasa Air, INR 16,000 per sector in Air India's hold, Rs 15,000 in Akasa's hold, and twice the sector's excess baggage rate on Alliance Air; SpiceJet and Air India Cargo publish no figure Akasa Air, Pets on Akasa Alliance Air, Frequently Asked Questions SpiceJet, Terms of Carriage for Domestic… Air India Cargo, Pets. Two of those fees carry tax on top and two include it, a difference no fare site prints.

Air India charges per sector and adds tax: INR 7,500 for the cabin and INR 16,000 for checked baggage, 'Taxes Applicable', 'charged separately for every segment of your trip', excess baggage per segment on connections, and 'non-refundable and non-transferable' unless the airline itself cannot carry the pet Air India, Pet Travel FAQs. Akasa Air's fees include tax: 'Rs. 7500 (inclusive of all applicable taxes)' for the cabin and 'Rs. 15000' for the hold, refunded only if you cancel the passenger booking on that sector, forfeited on a no-show, and charged on top of your carry-on allowance.

Alliance Air prices a pet as baggage: 'twice the current excess baggage rate of the sector', and the same FAQ sets that rate at 'INR 700 per kg with inclusive of GST' outside the Northeast, so INR 1,400 per kg. The FAQ does not say whether the multiplier runs on the animal's 5 kg or the 8 kg combined limit, so a cat at the cap costs between INR 7,000 and INR 11,200 until the counter says which. SpiceJet and Air India Cargo print no price: the Terms of Carriage end with a phone number and the cargo page with an email, so the honest entry for both is 'not published on the carrier's page at the time of checking';.

The rupee figures pass the exchange-rate test. INR 7,500 divided by 84.38 is 88.9 and by 74 is 101.4; INR 16,000 gives 189.6 and 216.2; Rs 15,000 gives 177.8 and 202.7. None lands on a round dollar figure, so these are rupee-native prices, not a converted list. Pet Friendly Places gets the INR 7,500 cabin fee right and then adds an unsourced 'Rs 3,000-7,500 per sector' band and 'Rs 8,000 to over Rs 30,000' for cargo that no carrier's page supports.

The rule behind the two-pet cap: DGCA AIC 9/1985 under Aircraft Rule 24-C

The regulator's instrument on pets in the cabin is Aeronautical Information Circular 9/1985 of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, dated 24 June 1985 and issued under rule 24-C of the Aircraft Rules, 1937, and it is why Air India, Akasa Air and Alliance Air all stop at two pets per cabin. It still sits on the DGCA's list of circulars without the 'Cancelled' or 'Deleted' marks that neighbouring circulars from the same year carry.

The circular permits airlines 'to carry by air to, from and within India, animals, birds, and reptiles', and its cabin clause reads: 'No animals other than small inoffensive pets and trained guide dogs may be carried in passenger compartments occupied by passengers provided that' six conditions hold, listed below.

• Not more than two containers of pets are carried at a time.
• No passenger seat for the pets and guide dogs.
• A moisture-absorbent mat placed under the pet or guide dog.
• No objection from other passengers to the presence of the pets or guide dogs in the compartment.
• A restrained and muzzled guide dog.
• A suitable container for every pet other than such dogs.

The carrier pages are that list rewritten: Air India's two pets per flight, Akasa's two in the cabin and Alliance Air's 'Maximum 02 pets' are the two containers, the two bigger carriers' 'moisture absorbent mat should be placed under the pet' is the mat clause, their promise to reseat you if a neighbour objects is the objection clause, and Alliance Air's 'will not be allowed to occupy a passenger seat' is the seat clause Akasa Air, Pets on Akasa Alliance Air, Frequently Asked Questions. The circular also requires a container design that 'shall conform with the IATA/1ST specification', which is why every hold rule points at the IATA Live Animals Regulations.

What the circular does not do matters as much. It sets no weight cap, fee, minimum age, certificate window or breed list; every such number in the table above is the carrier's own choice, which is why caps run from 5 kg on Alliance Air to 10 kg on Air India and notice from 24 hours on Akasa to 48 on Air India, and why two of the six carriers can simply choose not to carry pets.

Guide dogs are the one animal every carrier accepts

All six carriers exempt a trained guide dog: IndiGo for 'Guide dogs for blind customers', Air India Express for 'guests travelling with service animals', SpiceJet for a guide dog 'well-trained, muzzled and leashed', and Air India and Alliance Air free of charge for a passenger dependent on it Air India Express, In-flight Services FAQ SpiceJet, General Air Travel FAQs Air India, Pet Travel FAQs Alliance Air, Frequently Asked Questions. The instrument is the DGCA's Civil Aviation Requirement on persons with disability, Section 3 Series M Part I, Issue III of 28 February 2014, revised 29 October 2025 per the DGCA index; its text was not opened for this guide.

Cabin, checked hold or cargo terminal: which one your animal gets, by weight and age

The combined weight of the animal and its container decides the compartment on every Indian carrier that takes pets, and the cabin weight limit is 10 kg on Air India and Akasa Air and 8 kg on Alliance Air; 10 to 32 kg rides in the hold as checked baggage, and anything heavier goes through the cargo terminal, up to 100 kg on Akasa and with no published ceiling on Air India Cargo Alliance Air, Frequently Asked Questions Air India Cargo, Pets. A 20 lb dog is 9.1 kg, so it clears the cabin only if its soft kennel weighs under 0.9 kg.

The cabin is Economy, the back rows, under the seat. Air India's seating rule puts a pet passenger in 'the aisle seats of the last row', keeps two pets five rows apart, bars exit rows, First, Business and Premium Economy, and denies the pet a seat 'even in case the adjoining seat is unoccupied or blocked' or a place 'on your lap or in your arms';. Akasa assigns a window seat with 'No dedicated seat' for the pet even if you block one; Alliance Air puts you in the last row 'with the concurrence of the airlines commander'; Alliance Air, Frequently Asked Questions.

The hold is a separate booking, and on Akasa a separate door. On Air India a 10 to 32 kg pet 'must be booked separately as checked baggage or as cargo', rides in an IATA hard container, is taken to the aircraft by staff and handed back near the belt, subject to 'the aircraft type and operational compatibility';. On Akasa the same tier is booked at the counter and tagged to your PNR, while a pet over 32 kg is booked at the cargo terminal, never tagged to a PNR, collected at the destination's cargo terminal, and whoever drops it off 'is required to remain at the cargo terminal until the flight takes off';.

The age restriction differs by compartment. Air India takes a pet in the cabin at 8 weeks and in the hold at 3 months, refuses a pregnant pet and asks to be told of a birth in the last 48 hours; Akasa's floor is 3 months for any compartment and it refuses a pet 'more than 4 (four) weeks pregnant'; SpiceJet's cargo floor is '3 months or 12 weeks old for Domestic flights' and 4 months international Akasa Air, Pets on Akasa SpiceJet, Terms of Carriage for Domestic…. IATA's standard bars weaned puppies and kittens under eight weeks 'due to possible dehydration effects';.

The 7 kg that became 10 kg, and the pages that never caught up

Air India's own newsroom, on 11 March 2025, said 'Book at least 72 hours before departure' and that the airline 'allows pets in the cabin (up to 7 kg, including the carrier)';. The policy page and FAQ opened for this guide say 10 kg and 48 hours and, as the current documents, govern. Three ranking pages still carry the old figure: the Goa airport blog says 'under 7 kg' in a bag 'not exceeding 46 cm x 46 cm x 30 cm', AirPets says 'up to 7 kg, including their carrier', and PetTravel prints the update to 10 kg while its checked-baggage section still starts at '15 lbs. (7 kg)'; AirPets India, Navigating Pet-Friendly… PetTravel.com, Air India Pet Policy. Air India's own PDF prints 'Up to 10 kg / 15 lbs' where the web page says 22 lb; the kilograms are right and the pounds are a typo.

What happens at the counter before the animal is accepted

Air India measures the carrier again, rechecks the papers and checks the animal for stress ('not responsive, not alert'), poor health ('panting in a cool environment, is coughing, or salivating profusely') and sedation ('eyes appear droopy ... respiratory movements are slow and shallow';). Akasa's counter check is the muzzle and leash, without which 'such pet dog will not be permitted to fly';. Both refuse an aggressive animal, Air India for 'an overtly aggressive nature', Akasa for 'Growling, biting, lunging', and a pet refused there costs the fee and, on Akasa, the ticket too Akasa Air, Pets on Akasa.

The documents every carrier asks for, in the carrier's own words

Four documents get a pet through an Indian check-in: a vaccination record showing a current rabies vaccination, a fit-to-fly health certificate from a registered veterinarian dated inside the carrier's window, the carrier's indemnity form, and the originals of all three with photocopies Akasa Air, Pets on Akasa Alliance Air, Frequently Asked Questions. The window is where the carriers part company: Air India wants the certificate issued within 7 days, Akasa within 72 hours and then valid for 15 days, SpiceJet's cargo desk within 48 hours Akasa Air, Pets on Akasa SpiceJet, Terms of Carriage for Domestic….

The health certificate, carrier by carrier. The wording differs enough that a certificate written for one counter can fail at another, so the five formulations are set out below.

• Air India: 'a valid health and rabies vaccination certificate, not older than 7 days prior from the date of departure (duly signed and stamped) from a registered veterinarian', with the policy page adding a 'Health certificate stating that the pet is fit to travel by air', 'issued within 7 days before departure or as per the rules of the destination state/country'; Air India, Travelling with Pets.
• Akasa Air: a rabies vaccination certificate 'signed and stamped by a registered veterinarian' plus a separate fit-to-fly certificate that 'must expressly certify that the pet has been examined by the veterinarian and is medically fit to undertake air travel, taking into account its age, health condition, breed, and any other relevant factors', valid for 15 days from issue; the page's summary line says to obtain it 'within 72 hours of travel';.
• Alliance Air: 'valid health and rabies vaccination certificate', with no window printed.
• SpiceJet cargo: 'Health documents stating the animal's fitness for carriage by air, breed, age of AVI and Fit to Fly Certification and Vaccination / Immunization record with Rabies vaccination date', and 'The period of validity of the veterinary health certificates should not be more than 48 hours before the time of schedule departure'.
• Air India Cargo: 'vaccination and health certificates (duly signed and stamped), validated by the sanitation department, advising that your pet is in good health at least 72 hours before the date of travel'.

Ask the vet to write for the strictest carrier you might use: the animal's name, breed and age, the examination date, the words 'fit to travel by air', the rabies vaccination date, and the vet's registration number and stamp satisfy every wording above. Your nearby registered vet decides whether the animal is fit to fly at all; the counter only checks that the paper says so.

The vaccination record is the animal's own book, 'verified at the time of check-in at airports' in Air India's words, and Akasa wants it to show the pet 'has been inoculated for rabies';. The course it must show is on the dog vaccination schedule in India and the cat vaccination schedule for India; an animal vaccinated against rabies the week before the flight will not read as current to a counter expecting a completed course.

The indemnity form and the name on it. Air India wants 'two copies of the indemnity form' for a direct flight and 'a total of four' for a connection, Akasa makes signing its form 'mandatory', and Air India's step guide adds the check that trips owners up: the owner's name must match 'the passenger's name on the health certificate and the ticket'; Air India, Paws on Board Guidelines. On board, 'A pet dog must be muzzled and on a leash in flight', with a name label on the kennel and no food inside it.

The container standard: IATA Container Requirement 1 and each carrier's box

The container standard every Indian carrier points at is Container Requirement 1 of the IATA Live Animals Regulations, Edition 52 of January 2026, which sets the size formula, a ventilated area of at least 16 percent of the four sides, a leak-proof floor, an open-top water bowl that can be filled from outside, and wheels 'removed or rendered inoperable'. In the cabin the same requirement relaxes: the container 'does not have to be rigid', needs no spacers and no water or food containers, and a soft-sided bag is allowed as long as it is labelled and ventilated.

The size formula runs on four measurements of the animal: A, nose tip to root of tail; B, ground to elbow; C, width across the shoulders; D, standing height to the top of the head or ear tip. Minimum internal length is A plus half of B, width is twice C, and height is D plus the bedding International Air Transport Association. IATA adds one line the carriers do not: 'Snub-nosed breeds require 10% larger container';. A crate that fails the construction rules is refused at the counter, so the points an agent looks for are listed below.

• Ventilation on all four sides, at least 16 percent of their total surface, with the side and back openings 'placed over the upper two-thirds of the container'.
• Openings no larger than 25 x 25 mm for dogs and 19 x 19 mm for cats, 'nose and paw proof', with welded wire mesh of 2.5 mm for dogs and 2.0 mm for cats where mesh is used.
• Solid, leak-proof floor and solid side walls; wood or plywood at least 12 mm thick for dogs and 6 mm for cats, roof 12 mm for both.
• A top and bottom bolted together on plastic containers, because 'Plastic clips must not be the only fasteners holding the top and bottom part together'.
• A water container open on the top surface, fixed inside with 'outside access for filling that does not require the opening of the shipping container'; a bottle dispenser 'must not be used to replace open containers'.
• Wheels removed or disabled, a Live Animals label, This Way Up arrows on two opposite sides, and, IATA recommends, the animal's name on the box.

Two adults up to 14 kg each that live together may share one container under IATA's rule, which SpiceJet repeats; Air India allows 'only one pet inside it during carriage'; SpiceJet, Terms of Carriage for Domestic… Air India, Pet Travel FAQs. One line on Air India's FAQ contradicts its own soft-kennel rule: under the heading for pets over 10 kg it prints 'The maximum permissible side of the container for carriage of pets in the cabin is 46 cm/18 in x 46 cm/18 in x 30 cm/11 in', while the same FAQ, the policy page and the step guide limit the cabin to a 17 x 10 x 9 inch soft kennel, and the Goa airport blog copied the 46 cm figure Air India, Travelling with Pets Air India, Paws on Board Guidelines Manohar International Airport, Goa. Buy to 17 x 10 x 9 inches; that is what the ground staff measure against.

Flat-faced breeds and the heat: what each carrier refuses, and why

A brachycephalic dog or cat, a Pug, a French Bulldog, a Shih Tzu or a Persian cat, is allowed in the cabin on Air India and Akasa Air, is refused in the hold by both, is refused outright by SpiceJet's cargo desk, and is taken by Air India Cargo 'only when temperatures are below 25 degrees C'; Akasa Air, Pets on Akasa SpiceJet, Terms of Carriage for Domestic… Air India Cargo, Pets. The carriers' own term is brachycephalic breeds, or snub-nosed, and the reason they give is the same in almost the same words: a shortened airway that struggles 'when stressed or during altitude changes' and in heat.

Air India's two pages disagree, and both are current. The passenger FAQ says snub-nosed breeds 'are not allowed to be carried in the cargo compartment of Air India flights' while all breeds may fly in the cabin on a vet's advice at the owner's risk; Air India Cargo, the route for pets over 32 kg and for the UK, carries them 'only when temperatures are below 25 degrees C'; Air India Cargo, Pets. So the checked-baggage route is closed to a flat-faced animal over 10 kg, and the cargo route is open only on a day and a station below 25 degrees C, which in most Indian cities means a winter morning.

Akasa Air names the breeds. Its FAQ allows all breeds in the cabin, bars brachycephalic dogs from the cargo compartment and links a list of 14 dog breeds, among them the Chow Chow, Boxer, French Bull Dog, Lhasa Apso, Pekingese, Pug and Shih Tzu, adding that 'In India, cat breeds include Persian Cats and Exotic Short hair'; Akasa Air, Identifying brachycephalic Dog…. A Persian or an Exotic Shorthair under 10 kg with its bag still flies in Akasa's cabin; heavier, it has no Akasa route.

SpiceJet refuses them from its hold outright, in the only published restricted-breed table of any Indian carrier: 28 named breeds in seven groups, from Boxer, English and French Bulldog, Pit Bull and Pug through five Terriers to Akita, Chow Chow, Rottweiler, Shar Pei, Shih Tzu and Tosa, 'susceptible to increased risk of heat stroke (when exposed to stress or changes in temperature), breathing difficulties or increased travel stress';. Since SpiceJet carries no cabin pets, a Pug has no SpiceJet route at all.

What the evidence says about the risk the carriers are pricing

Hall, Carter and O'Neill read the records of 905,543 dogs under primary veterinary care in the United Kingdom in 2016, found 395 confirmed heat-related illness events and an event fatality rate of 14.18 percent, and reported that 'Dogs with a brachycephalic skull shape and dogs weighing over 50 kg were also at greater risk', with the Chow Chow, Bulldog and French Bulldog at significantly higher odds. The breed-by-breed odds against the Labrador Retriever are on the guide to heat safety for dogs in India. IATA turns the same risk into a 10 percent larger container, stowage 'as far away as practical from other loads', and a warning that 'Tranquillization of dogs and cats is not recommended' because at a cabin pressure 'equivalent of approximately 8,000 ft' the 'combination of altitude and drugs is potentially fatal in the old, chronically sick or stressed animals';. Akasa says 'dead, unconscious, or sedated pets will not be accepted';.

No Indian carrier prints a summer embargo, so the temperature rule is yours to apply

The only temperature figure on any Indian carrier's page is Air India Cargo's 25 degrees C; no passenger page states a summer embargo, a tarmac limit or a hot-weather cut-off. The apron, the ramp vehicle and the wait in a hot terminal are therefore your judgement and your vet's. A flat-faced animal in an Indian April or May, or in the humid weeks before the monsoon in Mumbai or Kolkata, belongs in the cabin at your feet or at home, and if it must fly, on the first departure of the day.

How to book a pet on each carrier, step by step

To book a pet on an Indian flight, you book the animal with the airline directly, never through a fare site or travel agent, at least 48 hours before departure on Air India and 24 hours on Akasa Air, and you report 3 hours before departure on Air India and 2 hours on Akasa Akasa Air, Pets on Akasa. Air India takes the request through an online document upload or at an airport counter; Akasa takes it only by telephone; Alliance Air and SpiceJet's cargo desk take it at the counter or by email.

Air India, cabin or checked baggage

1. Weigh the animal in its kennel and pick the tier: 10 kg or under for the cabin, 10 to 32 kg for checked baggage, over 32 kg for Air India Cargo.
2. Raise the request on the customer support portal under 'Flying with a Pet', uploading the vaccination record, the health and rabies certificate, the indemnity form and the ticket, or book at an airport or city counter.
3. Book at least 48 hours before departure; later requests are handled 'subject to the time and resources available', and two cabin slots per departure go to the first two requests.
4. Pay the sector fee, INR 7,500 for the cabin or INR 16,000 for the hold plus taxes, for every segment, non-refundable.
5. Report 3 hours before departure with originals and photocopies, muzzle and leash, spare absorbent mats and the labelled kennel; document approval 'does not guarantee the pet can travel' until the counter check is passed.
6. Keep both flights on Air India if you connect, with two indemnity copies per segment.

Akasa Air, domestic, cabin or hold

1. Call the Akasa Air Care Centre on +91 9606 11 21 31 and book the pet with your own ticket; pets 'can be booked only through' that line, not at the airport, online or through an agent.
2. Book at least 24 hours before departure, first come first served against two cabin pets and one hold pet per flight, on a non-stop flight only.
3. Get the two certificates: rabies vaccination, and a fit-to-fly certificate naming age, health and breed, valid 15 days.
4. Pay Rs 7,500 for the cabin or Rs 15,000 for the hold, taxes included, refunded only if you cancel the passenger booking on that sector.
5. Report 2 hours before departure with the signed indemnity form, muzzle and leash, a container no larger than 19 x 12.6 x 10 inches for the cabin or a rigid one no larger than 36 x 28 x 28 inches for the hold, and an absorbent mat.
6. For a pet over 32 kg, use the cargo terminal, booked there or by phone 24 hours ahead with a shipper's declaration, your ID and the health certificate, and stay until the flight departs.

Alliance Air books the pet at the counter against a health and rabies vaccination certificate, in a soft bag no larger than 18 x 18 x 12 inches, the animal at 5 kg or under and 8 kg with the bag; the FAQ gives no lead time, so ask when you buy the ticket. SpiceJet takes pets through cargocare@spicejet.com or +91 9999 570 570, on direct flights only, with a certificate no older than 48 hours, a shipper's declaration and an indemnity signed at the cargo warehouse, up to 35 kg excluding the cage SpiceJet, Terms of Carriage for Domestic…. Air India Cargo takes pets over 32 kg and all UK pets through cargocare@airindia.com or +91 96671 06666, airport to airport, 'up to 4 hours before departure', and no pet on ultra long-haul flights over 12 hours to the USA and Canada.

Three animals, three answers

A 4 kg Siamese in a 1 kg soft bag clears every cabin cap, including Alliance Air's, so it has three carriers. A 9 kg Pug in a 1.2 kg bag is over the 10 kg cabin cap on Air India and Akasa and refused in both holds, so its options are a lighter bag, Air India Cargo on a day below 25 degrees C, or the train, covered in the guide to taking pets on trains in India. A 30 kg Labrador Retriever in a 12 kg crate is over 32 kg combined: cargo on Air India, a cargo-terminal booking on Akasa, inside SpiceJet's 35 kg animal-only limit, and no flight on Alliance Air Akasa Air, Pets on Akasa SpiceJet, Terms of Carriage for Domestic… Alliance Air, Frequently Asked Questions.

International sectors: where Air India will not carry a pet, and the AQCS certificate

Air India is the only Indian carrier that publishes an international pet policy, and it refuses pets in the cabin and as checked baggage to and from the USA, Canada and Australia, carries them to and from the United Kingdom only as cargo through Heathrow or Gatwick, and bars cabin pets on flights departing India for the UAE and on ultra long-haul flights Air India, Pet Travel FAQs. Akasa's pet service is 'available on domestic flights within India' only, and Alliance Air flies no international routes with pets Alliance Air, Frequently Asked Questions.

The route list is short and specific. Air India's fee table carries cabin pets at USD 140 to most of Asia, the Gulf, East Africa and Europe outside the UK, USD 160 to Israel and USD 225 to Singapore and from the UAE, with checked-baggage pets at USD 350 on every international band, and 'Pets are not allowed in cabin on Ultra Long Haul (ULH) flights';. Its cargo arm takes no pet 'for ultra long-haul flights (over 12 hours) to the US and Canada', so for North America there is no Air India route in any compartment today.

India's own paper is the AQCS export certificate. Air India lists the six airports where 'The import and export service of pets is allowed', Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Hyderabad, and the AQCS export page's navigation lists the same six stations. That page wants the animal itself for examination, a fit-to-fly certificate from any local registered veterinarian, the microchip certificate, the vaccination details, passport and ticket copies, the airway bill if the pet goes as cargo, whatever the importing country demands 'like Import permit, Blood titre test etc.', and two 4 x 6 inch photographs; the certificate 'is valid for 10 days from the date of issue', and the papers go in 7 days before embarkation.

Time the certificates together. The AQCS certificate is valid for 10 days, Air India's health certificate for 7 and Akasa's fit-to-fly paper for 15, so a vet visit on day 1, an AQCS appointment on day 3 and a flight on day 7 keeps every window open, while a vet visit two weeks out satisfies Akasa and fails Air India. The importing country's tests are the subject of taking your pet abroad from India; the ports, the advance No Objection Certificate and the quarantine tariff for the journey home are in how to import a dog or cat to India.

On a foreign carrier, the foreign page governs. The bare question 'are pets allowed in flight' brings up KLM, Azul, American, United, Turkish Airlines, British Airways and JetBlue on Google India before any Indian carrier, each with its own rules; Air India does 'not accept pets from other airlines', and a passenger connecting onward 'must comply with the other airlines' rules and regulations for pet travel'.