I'm thinking of travelling with my little Jack Russell (less than 7 kg) on a transatlantic flight from Milan to Mexico City (more than 10 hrs). He may travel with me in the cabin but in a very small pet carrier.
Does someone have experience with small dogs on long distance flights? Which airline do you recommend? How strict are they about the dog carrier dimensions? Did the cabin crew allow you to take the dog out of the carrier during the flight?
I do not have experience travelling with a dog in a cabin during a transatlantic flight. However, I did it with a cat. We did it once on a Paris-Montréal with Air France and once on an Ottawa-Frankfurt with Air Canada. In both cases they did check that the weight of the cat + his cage was below the limit fixed by the company, however they did not measure the cage dimension.For both these companies you were not allowed to let the cat exit the cage during the flight. Take into consideration that you will not be very comfortable during the flight as the cage will occupy a large part of the room devoted to your leg. Moreover at least for these two companies the animal is considered as your carry-on luggage. In the end my personal experience of traveling by plane with a cat is good, but it also has to do with the fact that my cat is pretty calm and do not make a lot of noise.
I wouldn't. Aside from the travel issues you are going from a rabies free country to a high risk one.
Some info here:
http://goitaly.about.com/od/italytraveltips/qt/pets.htm
From the page, you need the dog microchipped, vaccinated and:
Each pet from a country with a high incidence of rabies must also have a blood test performed at an approved laboratory at least 90 days before entering Italy.
