As we taxied down the runway earlier than takeoff, Lulu’s paw gripped my thigh and her claws dug in. She’s by no means a lot preferred being within the automotive, however this time was totally different. This time, we had been hitting the skies. She nestled her head in my lap, her large brown eyes gazing up at me with a glance of tension and confusion. I kissed the highest of her head and rubbed her silky, floppy ears, and cheerily informed her, “it’s finally time for our big adventure!”
My abdomen felt that acquainted drop as we ascended into the sky, however it was laborious to really feel too nervous with my beloved English cream golden retriever lounging in my lap. Plus, having grown up in Virginia, we had been headed to a location I’ve dreamed of visiting since I used to be a bit of lady: London. And I had my finest lady beside me.
And similar to that, we’d efficiently taken off on our first Bark Air flight, a six-and-a-half hour journey from a personal airport in White Plains, New York, to London’s Biggin Hill Airport, about 22 miles south of town.
Picture by Sydney Lake
Bark Air isn’t some dusty outdated industrial airline. Launched in Might 2024 after “more than 10 years of dreaming,” it was fashioned to create a premier expertise for flying together with your canine. Canine don’t experience in cargo right here; they experience in model in a 10-seater GulfStream personal jet, an plane many dream of flying in however few get the prospect to.
The airline was began by the identical firm that introduced us BarkBox, the month-to-month subscription field that provides your canine with recent toys and treats. To show how really petrifying flying in cargo may be for canine, Bark CEO Matt Meeker truly flew in a crate underneath a airplane for a four-hour flight and documented his expertise.
It was “absolutely horrible,” Meeker tells Fortune. “It was loud, disorienting, cramped, and uncomfortable. I’m a human that knew what was going on and what I had gotten myself into. I can’t imagine how confusing, terrifying, and stressful it must be for a dog.”
Our Bark Air expertise was something however that. The truth is, it was undoubtedly the least disturbing—and most nice—airport and airplane expertise I’ve had in my 27 years of life. And it began weeks earlier than our precise flight departed, once we had been first related with our Bark Air “concierge,” Hernán Giraldo, who guided me by means of the method of flying with my canine. (He calls himself “a servant of the pups and people.”)
Whereas a Bark Air flight could also be a dream for a lot of—it’s, in spite of everything, a luxurious airline, the place tickets price between $6,000 and $12,000 a method—it’s essential to know that you simply get what you pay for right here. (Our flight from New York to London price $8,000). Bark Air is a high-end expertise, for each the pups and their human companions.
Making ready for the flight
Weeks earlier than our flight, Lulu and I met our concierge over a Google Meet video name so he may ask about Lulu’s preferences and behaviors. Does she favor hen or salmon? Within the automotive, is she a windows-up or windows-down lady? Is she playful and outgoing, or shy and timid?
I adopted Lulu as a pet again in March 2020, however regardless of the period of time I’d spent along with her in the course of the pandemic, there was one factor I didn’t learn about her till lately: her favourite sort of music. Our concierge Giraldo wished to know so Lulu may have her favourite music taking part in throughout our black-car experience from Biggin Hill to our Airbnb in London. Whereas Dolly Parton and ABBA are mainstays in our Richmond, Virginia-based babe cave, apparently reggae is a well-liked selection for the pups, in accordance with Giraldo.
That preliminary consumption name was simply one of many many contact factors we had forward of our June 27 flight. Giraldo was attentive to Lulu’s wants, but in addition mine. He addressed the anxieties many house owners face having by no means completed something like this earlier than: touring a protracted distance with their pet. In my case, this was additionally the primary time I had ever been to Europe, not to mention traveled through air with Lulu. To say the weeks main as much as our departure had been nerve-wracking could be an understatement.
Touring domestically with pets may be difficult, particularly when you think about the logistics of touring with a four-legged buddy—so flying internationally with a canine, as you may think, requires much more planning. The UK requires canine endure a radical bodily examination by a USDA-certified veterinarian, obtain a parasite therapy earlier than flying, and supply embossed documentation, which is distributed from the USDA through in a single day mail. Scheduling all of that is very tough. Giraldo, fortunately, helped there, too. He scheduled Lulu’s vet appointments on my behalf to make sure they had been completed inside the right timeframe, and made his finest efforts to contact my vet and the USDA to make sure we had the whole lot we would have liked earlier than our flight.
Regardless of the quantity of planning, taking a visit with Lulu, who I think about my coronary heart and soul, felt like a dream come true—and it was made higher by my concierge’s nice consumption name and intermittent texts and emails forward of the flight. I even ordered Lulu a particular canine “suitcase” from Amazon: a big pink backpack with journey dishes and particular compartments for toys and treats. My pals had been so excited for our journey, and despatched London-themed toys and equipment to Lulu.
Lulu can at all times inform after I’m on the point of go away—particularly since she’s notably anxious round suitcases. The day we drove as much as New York from Richmond, she was apprehensive to get within the automotive, though she doubtless thought we had been simply visiting our favourite native canine park or headed to Starbucks for a pup cup. Little did she know we had been about to embark on a 7-hour automotive experience to New York that will result in the flight to a completely new continent.
The day of the flight
Our alarm clock rang at 4:45 a.m. I had anxiously set seven alarms inside a 10-minute span since Lulu and I had been alone within the resort room and couldn’t danger lacking our 8 a.m. flight. Lulu lounged on the mattress, nonetheless sleepy and disoriented from our lengthy drive the day prior; she by no means will get sleep within the automotive as a result of her journey anxiousness. It was laborious for me to sleep the evening earlier than our flight as effectively, harking back to Christmas Eve after I was a child. I chugged two cups of mediocre resort espresso earlier than lugging our suitcases again to the automotive within the pouring rain, which miraculously cleared up as we approached the airport.
After we arrived, I may see the joy in Lulu’s eyes—and her tail. We had been greeted exterior the airport lounge by Giraldo, who was sporting an identical uniform to his different Bark Air concierges: a crisp white t-shirt marked with the airline’s emblem. He patiently waited for Lulu to care for her enterprise exterior earlier than main us into the intimate airport foyer the place a chef-prepared meal of eggs, bacon, bagels, pastries, and extra had been ready for us.
Picture by Sydney Lake
The aura of the foyer was noticeably totally different from each different airport I’d been in. Not solely was it crammed with fluffy pals—however everybody appeared genuinely comfortable to be there. There wasn’t any pushing, shoving, soiled appears to be like, sighs, foot tappings, or another indicators of frustration typical of an airport foyer. Pet mother and father fortunately launched their pups to fellow passengers and in contrast paws-port pictures and cooed over the boarding passes crafted for his or her canine. Pups and their human companions are requested to reach on the airport an hour early to permit the canine to socialize forward of the flight. This follow additionally permits concierges to evaluate any worrisome conduct between canine, which influences boarding order.
As I used to be sitting having fun with my breakfast, I chatted with a fellow passenger, Annette Thompson, 55, who was “starting life over again” by shifting to London along with her rescue pup, Sam, after the tip of a 34-year marriage. Thompson was initially from Texas however had been residing in Mexico for the previous 4 years. She was the director of a dog-rescue service based mostly in Ajijic, Mexico, aptly known as the Bone Voyage Canine Rescue, and she or he had rescued Sam from a hoarding state of affairs, the place he had been one among about 80 canine in a “little Mexican house.”
“He was really shy, and he wouldn’t interact with the people that wanted to adopt him, and so I brought him to my house and he just flourished,” Thompson stated. “I fell in love with him, and then I couldn’t give him to anyone else. He’s my baby now.”
Two different passengers I spoke with had been additionally utilizing their Bark Air flight as a way to relocate with their canine, one from Canada and the opposite from South Carolina.
Boarding time
Bark Air concierges whisked away our checked baggage, and our carry-on baggage was hand-checked by safety officers (no lengthy TSA strains right here). Now, it was lastly time to board the flight. Bark Air concierges had strategically assigned boarding orders based mostly on which paw-sengers had been getting alongside the very best within the foyer. That means, if any canine weren’t too keen on one another, they’d have ample area from one another on the 10-seater airplane.
Lulu proudly pranced throughout the tarmac, nonetheless unaware of the epic journey she was about to em-bark on. Bark Air rolled out a grand inexperienced faux-grass carpet that led to the entrance steps of the GulfStream, actually emphasizing how particular this flight was, so Lulu and I giddily partook in a mini photoshoot earlier than heading up the steps to the airplane.
Picture by Sydney Lake
The flight was a lot spacious for the 9 canine and 10 human companions on our flight that day; Lulu and I loved a full sofa seat. We had a reasonably eclectic group of pups on our flight that day, together with a cavalier King Charles spaniel, a labrador retriever, a Nice Pyrenees, a few doodles, and a few mixed-breed pups. As we waited on the tarmac, pups stayed near their paw-rents, panting—but in addition sizing up the surroundings and number of treats on board. Pups needed to keep on their leashes only for taxi, takeoff, and touchdown, however had been in any other case free to roam across the cabin when the airplane reached cruising altitude, very similar to how people can unbuckle their seatbelts on a industrial flight.
Forward of takeoff, our concierges and flight attendants handed out treats for the pups to munch on to assist with that annoying sensation of getting your ears pop with rising altitude (sure, canine expertise this, too).
Cruising time
As soon as we had been within the air, it didn’t take lengthy for the surprises to start out rolling. Our flight attendant and Bark Air concierge saved the Veuve Clicquot and canine chomp-agne (turkey broth) flowing. Pups additionally acquired a totally personalized eating expertise filled with savory treats and Barkacinos—an identical, but elevated model of a Starbucks’ pup cup—all served on a silver platter. As Lulu’s human companion, I received a chef-prepared lunch wrap and yogurt parfait with entry to an ample snack tray with a few of my favorites, together with Oreos.
Lulu was fairly keen on our flight attendant, Kayla Iwane, not just for her form and mild nature, however for the snacks she stowed within the galley kitchen behind the plane. She had been working for a couple of 12 months as a flight attendant by means of Talon Air, the private-jet constitution firm that paired with Bark to make the brand new airline potential, and had taken 4 flights with Bark Air up to now.
Picture by Sydney Lake
“I love flying with dogs—sometimes more than humans,” she stated. “This is the dream job. I love when [the dogs] follow me into the kitchen because the pups know I have snacks. I’m the good human to them.” (It’s value noting that Iwane owns an 18-year-old—sure, you learn that proper—American cocker spaniel named Princess Coco Puff, so it’s no shock that she was so delighted to work for Bark Air.)
Once more, in contrast to most industrial airways, passengers—good strangers, previous to the flight—truly chatted with one another, sharing life tales and what introduced them on a flight like this. Regardless of the title “Bark Air,” the pups had been comparatively quiet—that was till the pilot got here into the cabin mid-flight, which prompted Lulu to start out barking. (She was truly the one canine who barked in the course of the flight). In contrast to industrial flights the place loud noises are a nuisance, the opposite passengers, concierge, and flight attendant laughed in regards to the ruckus Lulu had began. It was shortly after that Lulu donned her pilot’s hat to indicate who was actually in cost.
Picture by Sydney Lake
In the course of the flight, I chatted with a pair from Naples, Florida, who had been touring with their cavalier King Charles spaniel, Theo, to England. Theo’s dad, Ted Pither, was from there, so they’d taken the journey to Canterbury many instances—however hadn’t loved the touring expertise as a lot as they did with Bark Air. They journey from Naples every year to the UK to see his household and benefit from the English summer season. Though Theo is simply two-and-a-half years outdated, it was his third journey to the UK.
“He’s seasoned,” Pither stated. For this journey, they had been initially scheduled to fly with Delta, however that journey had them going from Naples to Miami, Miami to Paris, Paris to Dover (a coastal county southeast of London) for the pet reception, after which Dover to Canterbury. “It’s a long trip,” he stated, so Bark Air was enticing to them for the “time and ease.”
“On the flight from Miami to Paris, [Theo] has to sit under the seat for nine hours,” Pither stated. “That’s not comfortable.” However they stated their Bark Air expertise, in distinction, was wonderful and really relaxed.
And talking of rest, as soon as we’d reached the center of our flight, it was time for the extremely anticipated in-flight spa therapy. Lulu received a full fur brushing, a wipe down with a heat material, and moisturizing balm rubbed on her paw pads and nostril. Then she was adorned in a rubber-ducky gown earlier than getting a toothbrush deal with, guaranteeing she was clear, snug, and relaxed upon our arrival to London. Every canine received their flip for his or her particular person spa therapy, each as foolish because the final to observe.
Picture by Sydney Lake
After her spa therapy, Lulu was prepared for a nap—and so was I. We took the freedom of our giant sofa seat to take a brief snooze whereas the cabin was quiet.
The penultimate shock in retailer was hidden underneath a silver cloche. The flight attendant lifted the dome to disclose… a shoe. The canine had loads of issues to chew on in the course of the flight, together with Bark-branded treats together with Fruity Toot Loops, however the shoe was a pleasant, humorous contact.
As we approached London, our flight attendant and concierge handed out goodie baggage for every of the pups for his or her house owners to open in an “influencer unboxing” style. Lulu cherished snuggling her new champagne plush toy and nibbling on some BarkBox treats whereas we began descending.
Inside moments of touchdown, an official got here on board to scan the canine’ microchips to make sure they matched the paperwork we filed. Then it was again to the tarmac earlier than—what I’ve heard—is in regards to the quickest customs course of ever. (I had been in another country solely as soon as previous to this journey.) The customs desk, regardless of being a one-woman present, was a breeze, and shortly we had been ushered to our black-car service the place our baggage had already been loaded. The complete course of took lower than 10 minutes, from begin to end. Lulu and I had been greeted by our driver who was holding an indication customized for us, and we loved our 40-minute drive to our Airbnb in Clapham.
As we rode within the backseat of a black Mercedes-Benz van, I mirrored on the really outstanding and once-in-a-lifetime expertise we’d simply had—and the way I’d have to determine a technique to maintenance Lulu’s new posh way of life.
