How to get a dog into Korea...

Well, I'd like to help others who are thinking of bringing a dog with them to Korea. So this is how it went for me.

1. Decide to bring your dog with you nowing it will effect what you can do while here, e.g. trying to get home at a decent hour.

2. Tell directors during interviews that you are bringing a dog so they can find out whether or not the accomodation accepts pets.

3. After getting approval from the director you don't need to worry about anything until 10 days before the flight (this assumes your pet it UTD with all its shots.) Now, the rabies vaccination should be less than a year and more than 30 days old to avoid quarantine. Luna's was in June, so no worries for me.

4. As soon as you get your flight information, you need to call the airlines to tell them about your pet. You may need to have the weight and dimensions of your crate with the animal within ready to give. I needed that with Korean Air, American Airlines didn't require notification, but Korean Airlines needed approval from the first leg of the journey before they would approve the second. Makes sense I suppose.

5. Less than 10 days before your flight leaves, you need to pick up a health certificate from your vet and make sure you have a rabies certificate. I found out about my flight less than 5 days before and spent 2 of those days in Houston with my sis seeing my nephew. No where does it seem to define the type of health certificate you need and I never did get a response from the Office of Agriculture in the Korean Embassy in D.C. My vet issued a standard 'Inter-State' health certificate and that was fine. I was a little worries since it wasn't international, but no one even blinked an eye.

6. You should probably have started gettin your pet used to a crate at least a month earlier, but the days of the flight I left Luna out of her crate until we got into DFW. I also stuck several days of food and 2 plastic bowls to the top and wrote 'Live Animal' in big letters on all the sides and a few arrows pointing up as well. I also put a bath robe inside. The first leg of my flight was with American Airlines and they were kind enough to send a really big luggage cart out to me with someone to push it who was very nice. I went to the counter with Luna in the crate and it took about 10 minutes to check in and get a seat because there were some computer issues. After I checked in, I and the wonderful helper took Luna over to oversized baggage and I dropped her off. Thankfully, she didn't bark or whine or I would have felt bad the whole way.

7. Now since American Airlines and Korean Air are different companies, I needed to transfer Luna. They transfered my other luggage so I just worried about her. I only had a 2 hour layover in LAX and my AA flight arrived an hour late due to fuel problems so needless to say I was nervous. They wheeled Luna to me in the normal baggage area and I had to transfer her to one of those $3 cart rentals with some helpl from a security guard. Then I rushed over a couple of terminals to the International Departures terminal and there was actually an agent available right off the bat. Now, she was a trainee, but I don't think that's why checkin lasted an hour (yes I checked-in around the time the flight was supposed to leave.) They'd overbooked by 7 people and asked me several times if I would wait until the next flight. I told them no because I didn't have any way to contact my recruiter and didn't want to leave Luna in a crate for 12 more hours and had no idea what I would do at LAX until mmidnight either. Anyway, Korean Air got me onto the flight and even upgraded me to business class (awesome for a 13 hour flight, seriously). I asked about Luna as soon as I got on the plane to make sure she was on the plane. I did that with AA too and both times the attendants came back 5 minutes later to say yes.

8. So I landed and went through immigration like everyone else. I didn't stop at the Seoul Incheon airport quarantine desk you walk through before you get to immigration. I went to the lost luggage counter to ask about Luna and was told I could get her after I got the rest of my luggage which did eventually come out.

9. After getting Luna, I went to the animal quarentine office which is right there by the baggage wheely thingies. There I showed her health certificate and rabies vaccination proof and filled out a brief form and then I went through the customs by you know, walking, and existed into the rest of the airport (which is very futuristic looking). Korean air actually had a nice gentleman bring Luna out and stayed with me through the quarantine procedure and customs. After I emerged, I meant my recruiter Sunny who thankfully brought her husband and car to help me get everything, including Luna's bulky crate, to the apartment.

So this was the process. :)