Never ship koi via UPS during Christmas time!

[Shigure&HiUtsuri]

mstrseed what do you mean by "airport to airpotrt not door to door" I guess what I mean is what is the difference betwwen air freight and UPS shipping planes. Thanks

[MCA]

go Delta Dash when possible!!!

Never had a problem getting fish from Seattle or the Bay Area.

[Russell Peters]

Quote: Originally Posted by Shigure&HiUtsuri mstrseed what do you mean by "airport to airpotrt not door to door" I guess what I mean is what is the difference betwwen air freight and UPS shipping planes. Thanks

When you use an airline they are in the business of getting people and packages from one airport to another. It is much easier for them to have a specific schedule that they can stick to and you can count on. When you deal with a company like UPS that deals with every aspect of delivery, door to door, there are many more possibilities for delay. If they have a problem they can change their schedule. An airline will have many flights in a day between two specific points. UPS may only have one and if it is full then your Koi will not make it that day. They will assume it is no problem just to put it on a flight the next day. When a dealer takes Koi to the airport, I know we do this, they can check the availability of the flights and if there is no room then the Koi don't go to the airport. They Koi only go when there is an available flight. Once it is on the plane it will be delivered that day.

You just have to pick it up.

[RookieKoiGuy]

Quote: Originally Posted by jnorth Airport to airport is the way to go. Direct flight being preferred. The less people that handle the box the better. Sorry for your troubles

Maybe you don't have to deal with an airport like Los Angeles. They're worse on luggage than any mail carriers...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all KBer's
Tom

[MATTHEW]

There is one other option....road trip Not only does your new family member get to travel first class but also you get to check out all the other fish you shouldn't buy Not because they won't look good in your pond, but because you already spent all your money on the fish that initiated the road trip and the road trip! We are lucky enough to be within 8 hours of our favorite vendors north and south. Funny though, we always head south

[The Pond Digger]

Quote: Originally Posted by Russell Peters We don't like to ship UPS either but to be fair I do have an airline horror story. One winter we shipped Koi via the airlines to Fargo North Dakota. Yup.........Fargo. There are no direct flights, as we prefer, and we still took the chance. If you do not have a direct flight the airlines can, and do, bump you frieght if the connecting flight is full. The Koi got bumped somewhere and ended up sitting in the cold. When the owner finally received his Koi there was two inches of ice in the box and it looked like the koi were frozen. Turns out they were still breathing, barely, and all but one did survive. They are still living happily in Fargo. We replaced the Koi that was lost.

I too have had airport issues. Back when I was cool, I brought in hundreds of boxes of African Cichlids from Florida to LAX each year. We had forklifts destroy boxes! Winter delays with boxes of fish chilling in icy temperatures in warehouses and on runways. Boxes of fish bumped for passenger cargo, Boxes of fish plain MISSING IN ACTION, never to be found! It's heart breaking to open a styro box of fish that have been lost in transport for 72 hours +. I feel for you.

Best of luck,

The Pond Digger

[jnorth]

About the handlers at airports....Same kind of people work at UPS and Fedex and your box of koi will be handled by more of them.

Rookiekoiguy- Have you considered Ontario instead of LAX? Thats where my koi leave out of. BTW why are you having koi shipped? You got more dealers in your area then anywhere else in the US!!!!

[Auntiesue]

We've had some serious problems with Delat Dash and won't use them anymoe. We have found from San Jose to Mpls, if we go Northwest, it is non-stop and we can pick up at the airport. Cheaper as well which surpirsed us.

Kevin has fish for us as we speak but I won't ask for shipment until after New Years. Just think about the amount of cargo being transported right now for the holidays? Would you want your prized fish in this mess? I think not!!

[nguyen4]

Hello everybody Merry Xmas
i have a question about Airport to airport, after koi dealer shipping you came to airport to pick up ,how much different with UPS or Fedex and how you can pick up( i think you just show up with some ID and money ?....) do my fish have to go thru airport checking or any types inspection? thank you

[Shigure&HiUtsuri]

Amazingly after being in those bags for at least 72 hours 2 koi to a bag I think all 4 are going to make it. The 2 biggest koi(wide girth about 16") were in the bag with a leak and the huge kohaku was laying on her side when I opened the bag. I got all of them in the QT at about 10:15am without letting any of the old water into the QT pond. Checked them at dusk under their solar blanket and all 4 are swimming around and enjoying the two airstones.

In regards to road trips, I'm from SC definately not koi mecca like CA.(Any really nice affordable dealers within 3 hrs drive please recommend) Don't think I can bypass air shipping. The site I used for these koi has really nice wide selection of koi from known Japanese breeders with great prices in the winter. Not top show quality, but with my budget as a young pond owner can't buy those koi anyway. Anyway glad things worked out and thanks for your responses.