Most cost effective way to travel with two cats from NY to CA

Question

I've looked into pet transport companies, car rentals and bringing the cat carriers onto a flight as extra carry on luggage.

All of those options will cost well over $1000, the flight option being the quickest but probably the most stressful for both me and the cats. The cheapest option is one-way car rental but that's nearly a week of driving plus gas + hotel costs means it's still over $1000.

I'm wondering if anyone here knows of an option I might have missed?

Any help much appreciated!

EDIT:

It's from near Binghamton, New York to San Francisco, CA

Answer 1

Consider uShip - they allow shipping of pets. Of course the price will depend on the weight of the cats, and other details, so I couldn't price it exactly.

From Wiki:

Transportation service providers on uShip place competing bids for the right to haul a customer's shipment.

The site's reverse auction format aims to reduce the cost of shipping by enabling service providers to find shipments along their routes and fill empty cargo space.

You may just get someone willing to ship the cats for a good price on that. And you can check out their feedback system (like EBay) to make sure you're happy with the shipper.