Hi There,
I know it is not the same destination but my friend recently took her cat to the US and paid no such export fees. Also, she had the cat in the cabin with her as a carry on...you should be able to do the same if it doesn't weigh too much with its carrying case. Maybe contact Thai Airways to explore this possibility?

Good luck! And good for you for taking your cat with you!

Dear Tom,
I would go and talk to Arnauld at Agrovet, he handles most of the permits that countries like the UK requires, as Hong Kong also requires quarantine for animals he will know exactly what you need in order to leave Cambodia. I am in the process of sorting out the shipping of a dog to the UK and although we know about what is required to get him into the UK, there has been no mention of needing anything to take him out of Cambodia itself.
Perhaps the agent is getting a bit mixed up? However, it is worth mentioning that if the agent is doing all of the moving and not you, there do seem to be 'extra' costs involved. If you take the cat in the cabin with you these costs seem to disappear. Hope you get it all sorted out.
Nicky Scales
PPAWS

Thanks for the responses!

To Nicky: I've had the same problem, meaning lots of information about HK requirements but nothing about Cambodia. Also, I did ask Arnaud and he deferred to my "travel agent." Now Worldbridge is throwing all these fees at me, which aren't listed as service fees so much as mandatory-to-leave-the-country fees. I might just go to the ministry myself and ask.

To Elise: Good to know, thanks. What airline did your friend fly? I've asked Thai Airways and they pretty much told me pressurized cargo cabin was the only option. But maybe I'll try again.

Thanks again!

It looks like you might be able to take the cat on board with you: http://www.thai-airways.ru/en/art/31. Try asking again. Korean Air and Asiana also allow pets in cabin and fly to Hong Kong.

Thanks!

New information: Apparently HK, Singapore, China and even the UK require pets to be shipped via a plane's cargo space. They are not allowed onboard in the cabin, I was told today by Thai Airlines. Just thought I'd pass that on.

Also, information about export permits is still unclear. I called Agrovet today for an answer, and the secretary, who said she checked with her manager, told me I did not need one. But when I went to the office later to pick up a health certificate for my cat, Arnaud himself seemed unsure and told me that I "probably" need one. If anyone ever gets a definitive answer, do let me know, thanks.

Also, I got a quote from Intraco re: shipping fees for my cat : $700. Ouch.

Dear Tom,
We are in the midst of organizing a rescue dog to travel to the UK with my son where he will rejoin the couple who found him in Kampot (he has no front legs). My son already had a ticket to fly from Phnom Penh to Singapore via silk air, and from there to Manchester on Singapore airlines. However, it would seem that silk air cannot take animals in their hold as they do not have the special compartment for them to go into that is pressurized. So now we are trying to get Thai air to fly them to Bangkok and then change the ticket so that they can fly with Singapore air from Bangkok to Singapore and then onto Manchester. We have been asked for all sorts of forms but as Joe the dog is being accompanied it falls under the $50.00 per kg excess. I did wonder if flying him by a pet shipper would be easier and cheaper but if they are charging $700 just to Hong Kong I guess the answer is a definitive 'No'.
I hope you get your permits sorted out as soon as possible but I have always found that they seem to work to the last minute rule regardless of where you are flying from.
Nicky

Dear Nicky and Tom,
As I will most likely one day be transporting a pet of my own away from Cambodia, I would be very interested to know the details of what works out for you in the end. After all is said and done, please let us all know on the forum how things went(how much you ended up paying and what means you ended up using to get those pets where they needed to be).

BEST OF LUCK TO YOU BOTH!!!
Elise

Hey everyone, thanks for the replies. I really do appreciate it.

I finally booked my flight yesterday, to HK by way of BKK, on Thai Air. They told me there'd be room in pressurized cargo for the cat. One-way ticket: $400.

I've used Worldbridge, which operates as Thai Air's outsourced cargo handler and is branded as Thai Cargo, to ship the cat. They're located at Hong Kong Center and so far things are going smoothly. I provided relevant documents (vaccinations, etc.) and they've applied to the relevant ministries for export permits, which I'm told are required. Not sure yet of the final cost (will post later), but I'm guessing about $500 when all is said and done. Or I'm hoping...at least it'll be better than the $700+ estimate I got from Intraco.

As I said, Thai Air told me that HK, Singapore and China, among other countries, do not allow in-cabin travel for pets entering their respective countries. So I had no choice but to ship. Hence the higher costs.

Beyond that, the bulk of the process has been getting the Special Import permit required from HK -- it'd be easier if Cambodia had a dependable postal system. But that, too, has been figured out and completed. So it looks like I'm finally ready to go. The worst part? Because the cat is coming from Cambodia, HK requires a minimum four-month quarantine.

Anyway, that's that. Thanks again.

-Tom

Dear All,
I have had huge problems with Singapore Air in my quest to fly Jo the dog with no front legs to the UK. We were told that Silk Air cannot fly animals from Phnom Penh because of the type of airplane that they use, that was understandable and we were OK with changing to flying with Thai Air from Phnom Penh to Bangkok.
We hoped to travel from Bangkok via Singapore with Singapore Air to the UK.
After numerous phone calls with Singapore Air we were told by Arnauld, the vet at Agrovet, that the UK sometimes does not allow animals in to the country if they have changed mid flight carrier, so we rang DEFRA in the UK to check with them regarding the slight change in flight plan. They told us that Singapore Air does not fly to Manchester with animals, they only to London, it is the companies decision where they fly to not DEFRA's, but such a small change in flight company at the start would not affect the decision to allow Jo into the UK.
So we rang Singapore Air again (I should mention that they had already given us another date to fly and quoted us a new price for the change in ticket, I must stress that we constantly kept asking them every step of the way if we could fly Joe, the dog, with us)and they told us that they do not fly any animals to the UK!! This news stunned us and we checked their website, they have two statements on the same webpage, one being that they do not fly animals to Australia, New Zealand or the UK but then further down the page they say that under the UK Pet Passport scheme they fly animals only from Singapore to London. After numerous phone calls from us to them, they finally told us that it is the new type of airplane they use that cannot carry animals in the hold, however, they said they would not change the website because they may change the type of plane they use in the future.
We are now trying to organise a flight with Thai Air for Joe (who seem a bit worried about his lack of front legs)to London and we are waiting for Singapore Air to come up with a refund. Their initial refund offered was just for the taxes, apparently as the ticket was partly used (my sons flight to Cambodia)that was all they would give us, when we argued that it was not until we queried exactly where they flew animals to in the UK did they 'realize' that actually they didn't fly animals to the UK and that their website provided information that was not correct they told us they would let us know what kind or refund they would give us by the end of this week. Hopefully their will be a happier ending to this saga by Friday!!
Nicky
PPAWS