San Francisco Jet Charter arranges flights for Bay Area clients traveling with their pets, from small dogs and cats to larger breeds and birds.
Pets travel in the cabin
The reason most people charter with an animal is straightforward: the pet travels in the cabin with you rather than in a cargo hold. For an older animal, a nervous one, or a breed that does not do well in a hold, that is usually the whole argument.
There is no concourse to cross and no long wait at a gate, which makes the day considerably easier on the animal as well as on you.
Not every aircraft accepts pets
This is the part worth knowing before you plan around it. Pet policies are set by the operator and they vary, so not every aircraft will take animals. Tell your advisor at the outset that a pet is traveling, along with the species, the breed, the weight and whether the animal travels in a crate. We will find an aircraft whose operator accepts the booking rather than discovering the problem later.
Larger animals
Horses and livestock are a different arrangement from a dog in the cabin, and they are usually a cargo charter with specialist handling rather than a passenger flight. Tell us what is traveling and we will work out which it is.
International trips
Taking an animal across a border brings documentation and quarantine requirements set by the destination country, and those sit with you and your veterinarian rather than with us. Start that process early, because the requirements frequently take longer than arranging the flight does. Your advisor will tell you what the operator needs on its side.
Call +1-888-987-5387 to talk it through.
Vetting Behind Every Trip
Every operator, aircraft, and crew goes through our internal due diligence before we present any options. Our internal standards meet or exceed what the FAA requires:
- FAR Part 135 charter operators for traditional private aircraft, or FAR Part 121 for airliner-size and group trips (or the foreign equivalent on international legs)
- Operator subscription to Wyvern and ARGUS reviewed where the operator participates.
- Pilot experience and operator incident history reviewed before we recommend an aircraft.
- Fewer than 60 brokers worldwide hold Premium Wyvern Broker Member status, and Air Charter Advisors is one of them.
San Francisco-Specific Patterns We Plan Around
Tower hours determine the trips more than anything else. Only San Francisco International and Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport are towered around the clock; Hayward Executive closes in the late afternoon, and Livermore runs weekday daytime hours with a short window on weekends. For an early departure or a late return, that difference decides the airport. Customs is narrow in this region too, with San Francisco, Oakland, Mineta San Jose and Monterey Regional the fields that clear international arrivals. Trips into the Sierra are their own case, where elevation and terrain shape the aircraft choice more than the distance does.
Contact
For a quote on a San Francisco charter, send the trip through our contact page or call an advisor at +1-888-987-5387. Our safety page sets out how we check operators, crews and insurance, and the full aircraft gallery covers the other categories. The National Business Aviation Association sets the broader operating standards we work within.