Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I heard a rumor that Delta Dash would not ship venomous any more. I called my local counter and he confirmed it. He said they stopped because of employee liability. This could effectively shut down the entire venomous industry. Please post if you have any info on this. THIS IS NOT, REPEAT, NOT AN APRIL FOOLS JOKE.

David Furphy
AKN Venom & Exotics
Alamogordo NM

Simply call Northwest Airlines. Contrary to popular belief, Northwest is an absolutely SUPERIOR Airline when it comes to customer satisfaction and caring for the animals. You do NOT need to be a certified shipper with NW....they WILL go out of their way to take a WHOLE 5 MINUTES to inspect the venomous cargo and its packaging AND They actually want your business.....UNLIKE DELTA!

Delta has used the excuse of 9/11 as their reason for not verifying shippers. It's BS....they simply don't give a rat, because they are not making enough money from venomous shipments.

Delta has left bushmasters overnight in their NEWARK facility at less than 50F!! Yet, I've shipped the same snakes via NW Cargo to Texas and the NW staff kept the animals ON THEIR DESK because it would keep them about 70F!!!! PLease, I've heard enough about Delta DASH being the ONLY way people will ship! Get your heads out of your A$$es and use a dependable airline!!

Funny ,I shipped 3 hot boxes this evening.....
mabey the fact is,you need to be a verified ,inspected shipper,there are new regulations put out by delta in jan,ie bag in a bag both overhand knotted,in a inner container in a wooden box ,strapped.but delta is still shipping.
to become a known shipper you must aply,and have your facility inspected,this can take 6-8 weeks.hope Ive helped

I AM a verified shipper. We have just finished talking to the main office and YES some air freight desks ARE refusing to take venomous shipments, even from verified shippers. They are checking into it and making sure these desks are following proper procedures. So although it was a pretty smart a$$ reply from Matt, I'll try NW. Delta can just forget my business. I Get awesome service at the local desk, but, they often lose shipments and they sit for TOO long in boxes at other airports. I'm sure I'm not the only one with Delta horror stories. So I'll try NW.

David Furphy
AKN Venom & Exotics

I am just absolutely Fed Up with Delta, simply because everyone has the opinion that they are THEE ONLY way to ship. They will only verify you IF it's convenient for them. I live 45 minutes South of ALbany NY and 1hr 45 minutes from Newark Airport. I've contacted them several times to become verified. It's quite a bit more complicated as though Albany Int'l. Airport is closer, there is a county ordinance banning hot snakes in Albany......THus, all snakes must be shipped form LaGuardia or Newark, etc. Well, since I shipped from Newark, they were contacted and said "Albany is closer, they have to inspect you"....then I contact ALbany and they say "No, Newark has too inspect you"....then after several rounds I get the answer from Albany's Delta office "Well, when we get around to it, sometime in the next 6 months"......That, in a business sense, is unacceptable. Delta also tried to say that 9/11 was the reason for the verified shipper requirement. It was not, simply the boxes had to be inspected.....which they are too lazy to do. NW will gladly inspect them. It really depends on whether the local desk is familiar with shipping hots or not. As in the case of Newark, it wasn't a big deal, because they ship snakes for the Staten Island Zoo.

Not only have I had great success with Northwest, they go out of their way to give me flight combinations for out of the way places and even their local agents, go out of their way to get snakes on faster flights if at all possible.

Believe, in terms of service, NW far exceeds Delta. Of course, the majority of hot shippers still use Delta, and will continue to do so.

Got the whole deal on the Delta jokers. The regional manager got a bug somewhere unmentionable and banned all reptle shipments in this whole district (south west area NM, TX,AZ,CO). The BIG office is taking care of this "overzealousness" of their district manager as he WAY exceded his authority. This is not the only district affected so call your local counter, so these yahoos will get the message. This has a big impact on my business and NW might not be an option as the people are not in touch with their own policies. I am also located in a bad spot for airlines and Delta ,so far, is my only option.
Remember folks this is how things start, without us knowing one person exceded his authority and could have started an avalanche of knee-jerk responses. Please call your local counters and make sure this putz didn't affect you.

David Furphy
AKN Venom & Exotics
Alamogordo NM

I just was informed that I have been added to a friend's account here in NY and am good to ship via Delta. I have snakes going to Cincy Zoo this week, and it could've put me in a bind.

NW can be tough too, due to their only serving most of the larger Airports (I have shipped to smaller ones such as Fort Lauderdale, but they have restricted hours and off-hour shipments risk being lost.)

My store is in a neighboring state to our closest airport,that airport is in a county banning venomous and any snake over 4 ft.
yet still with deltas knollage,and the local animal controls knollage I ship in and out of that airport.I guess as long as its not staying in their county they dont care.
by the way,I did ship out again today,and the cargo supervisor said delta had no restrictions for known shippers ,exept the packaging requirements from nov.03

I personally used delta once and hated it, however northwest was very good,very friendly, and like in matts case my shipment was in the office instead of the cargo hold, its also cheaper.

or fly their airlines again

I'll second that notion. I've only shipped hot stuff a few times, but it went flawlessly with NW.

But you do pay the extra price. NWA does charge a bit more but it's usually worth it.

My only issue of real concern is they don't have many direct flights from where I live (Seattle). Most everything to or from here has to go through Detroit or Minneapolis. This makes for occasional LONG trips for short distances.

I agree that their customer service is better.

Doug T

>>Simply call Northwest Airlines. Contrary to popular belief, Northwest is an absolutely SUPERIOR Airline when it comes to customer satisfaction and caring for the animals. You do NOT need to be a certified shipper with NW....they WILL go out of their way to take a WHOLE 5 MINUTES to inspect the venomous cargo and its packaging AND They actually want your business.....UNLIKE DELTA!
>>
>>Delta has used the excuse of 9/11 as their reason for not verifying shippers. It's BS....they simply don't give a rat, because they are not making enough money from venomous shipments.
>>
>>Delta has left bushmasters overnight in their NEWARK facility at less than 50F!! Yet, I've shipped the same snakes via NW Cargo to Texas and the NW staff kept the animals ON THEIR DESK because it would keep them about 70F!!!! PLease, I've heard enough about Delta DASH being the ONLY way people will ship! Get your heads out of your A$$es and use a dependable airline!!
>>