Fortune reporter Sydney Lake flew to London with her golden retriever Lulu on an $8,000 luxury flight for dogs—here's what it was like.
Thanks to @barkair for providing a one-of-a-kind experience.
#barkair #bark #london #flights #petfriendly #dogsflyfirst #travel #luxurytravel

We Tried an $8,000 Flight for Dogs

Lifestyle

Fortune reporter Sydney Lake flew to London with her golden retriever Lulu on an $8,000 luxury flight for dogs—here's what it was like.
Thanks to @barkair for providing a one-of-a-kind experience.

But two weeks ago, one dog started barking and then the entire cabin had a bark all and it just reminded us so much that we're like here for the dog. This is their journey. We're able to get the mold from A to B safely. I'm Sydney. I'm a reporter for Fortune and I just took voodoo on an $8000 luxury flight for dogs. The Newark Airline was formed to create a better experience for flying with your dog. On the new airline. The dogs will ride in cargo, they ride in a 10 seater Gulfstream Private Jet, a $25 million vehicle that few people get to experience. Mat Mika, the CEO of bot. He started the company 14 ago because he had a great Dane called Hugo who was too big. Also traveled all around America with his dog but obviously had to drive. He knew it was a huge issue for, for big dogs to be able to get around over the last year. Him and kind of five of us that bark has been putting together the bark air story. Our journey started that morning when we arrived at the airport and our bar air concierge met us outside and ushered us into the airport lobby for a breakfast that the chef prepared with eggs bacon. As soon as the dog parents books a flight, uh, we then coordinate the pub intake where we're trying to understand the ps preferences because we understand that as dog parents are, that each pup is really, we're trying to understand their social preferences as far as other pups are concerned in humans, you know, their dietary leanings if you will or if there's any restrictions or whether or not they, you know, they get a little motion sickness in a car. The energy in the lobby was noticeably different from every other airport. Not only was it filled with furry friends, but everyone seemed genuinely happy to be there. There wasn't any pushing, shoving, dirty looks or any other signs of frustration you'd usually see at the airport. I'm enjoying meeting the other dog owners and dogs. I had never flown with a dog to the UK before. And so I also appreciated the fact that the concierge is that Bart really walked me through all of the steps and made sure that the paperwork was going to be acceptable even before we boarded the plane, pubs and their human companions were asked to arrive an hour early so that the dogs could socialize and meet each other ahead of the flight. We were ushered onto the tarmac and they had rolled out a green faux grass carpet. Even though there were nine other dogs and 10 other passengers on the flight, there was plenty of room for us, Lulu and I even got a couch seat. Really the most exciting parts were all of the fun surprises being puppy champagne, which was turkey broth. I recommend definitely tasting the bin. It's delicious. It's a hit. Every dog loves it. The highly anticipated in flight spa treatment. So we've got a full brush down, she got her teeth brushed, but really the cutest part was that she got to sport a very fashionable rubber ducky robe. Lulu had access to plenty of toys and treats along the way. Flight attendants and concierges passed out goodie bags for each of the dogs. She then when we finally landed in London, someone came on the flight and scanned each of the dogs to be sure that their microchip matched what we had submitted on our official paperwork. And then the rest of the process is really easy. There was only one person manning the custom desk at this small private airport. So really the entire process only took about 10 minutes start to finish. We had it outside and our black car service was waiting for us as we were driving away. I was reflecting on this truly crazy, remarkable once in a lifetime experience and was also starting to think about how I could possibly continue to keep up with Lulu's new posh lifestyle