Plan animal travel
on Air India.

Start with the operating airline

Before paying, prepare every operating flight number, date and connection, plus species, breed, age, animal weight, loaded-carrier weight and external measurements. Ask for written animal-space confirmation and a route-specific document checklist. A passenger ticket or submitted request does not confirm animal acceptance.

Air India Express has a separate policy: its FAQ excludes ordinary pets onboard, with service-animal exceptions requiring contact.

Check each operating carrier, including codeshares. Do not apply this Air India guide to Air India Express or another partner. Recheck after an aircraft or itinerary change. Keep airline acceptance, animal welfare, border entry and destination public-access rights separate.

Booking channels and timing

Request pet travel through customer support with document uploads, or airport/city reservation counters. Cabin reservations require at least 48 hours; later requests depend on available time, resources and compliance.

The contact page lists 24-hour assistance: +91 116 932 9333 or +91 116 932 9999; call charges apply.

Use the support portal to begin the enquiry. Ask which category and attachments to use, where approval will appear, and who handles a connection or aircraft change. Resolve availability before committing to non-refundable arrangements; do not plan to obtain your first approval at check-in.

An older airline article still gives 7 kg and 72 hours.

Use the current passenger policy as your starting point and obtain confirmation of the applicable limit and deadline for your flight. A conflicting older page is a reason to ask, not a confirmed exception.

Cabin: loaded weight and carrier fit

Only domesticated cats/dogs qualify. Cabin carriage is Economy-only, up to 10 kg including the carrier. The soft carrier must be at most 17 × 10 × 9 inches (length × width × height), secured, leak-proof, ventilated on three sides, without wheels and under the seat.

The FAQ also contains a conflicting 46 × 46 × 30 cm cabin-size statement.

Do not buy a larger carrier relying on that isolated sentence. Send the exact dimensions and animal measurements for written review. Passing the weight limit alone does not establish a safe fit.

The animal needs room to stand, turn, sit and lie naturally; its carrier remains under the seat.

Seating wording varies between last-row aisle seats and the last five rows.

Ask for the actual assigned seat, under-seat space and separation from other animals. Do not treat an extra purchased seat as permission for a pet to sit on it.

Passenger, container and aircraft limits

The FAQ allows one cabin pet plus one checked-hold pet per passenger, with one animal per container.

The cabin PDF instead says one pet per passenger. It gives two cabin animals total, including service animals, with service animals prioritised.

Resolve the combined cabin-and-hold allowance before booking two animals. The one-animal container rule does not permit littermates or mixed species to share. Ask separately about dogs and cats travelling in different carriers on the same flight, remaining cabin spaces and aircraft-wide hold capacity. No verified numeric hold quota is provided here.

The ordinary-pet cabin quota must not be treated as a settled service-dog limit for every route. Ask Air India to assess your dog count under the rules applicable to each flight.

Checked hold and breed restrictions

Above 10 kg and up to 32 kg including the carrier, book checked baggage or cargo; over 32 kg requires cargo. Checked-baggage availability depends on aircraft compatibility and requires an IATA-compliant hard carrier.

Minimum ages are eight weeks in cabin and three months in hold. Snub-nosed/flat-faced breeds are excluded from the passenger-policy cargo compartment; the airline recommends veterinary advice for their cabin travel.

Pregnant, recently delivered (within 48 hours) and sedated pets are excluded.

Before buying a hold crate, obtain the aircraft-specific external dimensions and loaded-weight acceptance, construction and door requirements, ventilation, bedding, water access and handover procedure. This review establishes no universal hold-crate size. Discuss travel fitness and preparation with your veterinarian; do not regard a temperature threshold or crate label as a welfare guarantee.

The cabin PDF excludes pets accompanying unaccompanied minors, and cabin pets with infants or wheelchair assistance.

Those ordinary-pet restrictions should not be copied onto an assistance-dog booking. Request the applicable accessibility assessment.

International routes and connections

Ordinary cabin/checked pets are excluded to/from the USA, Canada and Australia. UK pets require cargo through Heathrow or Gatwick; Birmingham is unavailable. UAE cabin travel is described outbound from UAE, not India-to-UAE. Ultra-long-haul cabin pets are excluded. Connections are limited to eligible Air India sectors.

Check both directions and every transit airport. Do not infer that a cargo alternative exists because cabin carriage is barred, or that these ordinary-pet restrictions prohibit a recognised service dog. For a connection, establish collection/re-checking, customs entry, care during delays and which office confirms the onward animal space.

Documents, airport timing and prices

Prepare vaccination records and signed/stamped veterinary health/rabies certificates; the health certificate states fitness for air travel and is issued within seven days, subject to destination rules. Carry originals, required international permits and indemnity copies: two direct, four connecting. Arrive at least three hours ahead.

The pet declaration includes ownership, itinerary and signature fields, carriage-risk acknowledgements and potential veterinary/liability costs. Read it before signing; it is not a health certificate.

Ask whether each segment needs its own copies, including itineraries with more than two flights. Have the accepting office reconcile airline certificate timing with government validity windows. Document approval does not replace the airport inspection.

Published domestic charges are INR 7,500 cabin or INR 16,000 checked, plus tax. Charges apply per sector; the service is generally non-refundable/non-transferable, with an airline-condition exception.

The PDF’s international fare table differs from the passenger webpage.

Obtain an itinerary-specific quotation with currency, taxes, every segment, cargo/handling charges, payment deadline and change/refund terms. Do not use a quoted fare as evidence of route eligibility.

Cargo is a separate arrangement

Air India Cargo requires confirmed space and prior arrangements. Contact cargocare@airindia.com or +91 9667106666. Its service is airport-to-airport; the stated acceptance cutoff is four hours before departure, subject to booking and customs clearance. UK pets require an Air Waybill and Heathrow/Gatwick routing; Birmingham is excluded. Personal pet cargo is currently unavailable on ultra-long-haul flights over 12 hours to the USA and Canada.

Cargo’s page conditionally accepts snub-nosed pets below 25°C, unlike the passenger-policy hold ban. Its certificate wording also differs from the passenger guide.

Treat these as different published arrangements needing explicit confirmation from the accepting cargo office. Do not turn the cargo wording into a checked-baggage exception. Obtain a breed-specific written decision, complete document timing, crate approval, route and weather restrictions, acceptance/collection locations, agent requirements and an itemised quote. Confirm what happens after delay or aircraft substitution.

Service dogs: route and training evidence

Air India describes free cabin travel for individually disability-task-trained dogs, subject to country rules. Its U.S. section expressly accepts fully trained psychiatric service dogs on direct U.S. flights and states two per passenger on U.S.-bound flights.

The assistance FAQ focuses on vision/hearing dogs, requests medically supported need documentation, harnessing and muzzling, and asks for accommodation requests when booking.

Ask which requirements apply to your domestic, international and connecting sectors. The reviewed airline pages do not establish a general ADI/IGDF-only recognition rule or a complete non-U.S. owner-training pathway. Describe the trained tasks and available evidence; ask who assesses them and what proof is accepted. Do not buy a certificate or vest expecting universal recognition.

The pet FAQ rejects emotional-support animals.

The service page treats animals in training as pets rather than service animals.

Emotional support alone is not task-trained service-dog eligibility. Ask separately whether ordinary-pet carriage is available; do not promise it from the airline’s inconsistent wording. Obtain a route-specific answer for every animal.

Service-dog space, control and restraints

Dogs must be controlled, clean and restrained by harness, leash or tether. They fit at the feet/under-seat area; limited safe lap placement is described. No seats, exit-row seating or blocked aisles. Final safe-fit approval occurs at the airport. Uncontrolled disruptive behaviour can cause refusal or pet treatment.

Discuss the dog’s dimensions and safe space before ticketing. Clarify the assistance FAQ’s muzzle requirement against the rules for the actual route, and request an individual accommodation if needed. The pet carrier/weight rules are not a substitute for a service-dog space assessment.

If safe cabin fit fails, the airline describes rebooking, extra-seat purchase or free checked-pet transport.

Do not assume a hold alternative is suitable, available or mandatory. Ask for the reason, safe alternatives and any extra-seat costs before agreeing. Keep veterinary, border inspection and clearance costs separate from free airline carriage.

U.S. forms and outdated airline wording

Air India requests U.S. forms 48 hours ahead and allows airport completion for tickets bought within 48 hours. Its page says relief paperwork applies over eight hours and still references a temporary CDC suspension.

Current DOT guidance applies to flights to, within and from the U.S. It recognises disability-task-trained dogs, including psychiatric dogs; emotional support and dogs in training do not qualify. The relief-form threshold is eight hours or more. Other required service-animal documentation is limited to government animal-transport requirements.

The current DOT transport form and instructions accept owner-training details without a training certificate. For bookings made within 48 hours, gate submission must be allowed; missing advance submission requires reasonable accommodation efforts. Submit to the airline, not DOT.

Use the current DOT relief attestation when required.

Airline-hosted DOT copies display a 2023 expiry date.

Get the current forms from DOT and confirm Air India’s submission channel. Ask the airline to reconcile its medical-proof, muzzle, count and timing wording with the requirements for your U.S. sector; do not transfer U.S. recognition automatically to an unrelated connecting flight. For an accessibility dispute, request the airline’s Complaints Resolution Official.

Check government entry separately

CDC’s current dog-entry framework depends on vaccination location and countries visited during the previous six months. Use its decision path rather than the airline’s old suspension wording.

India’s AQCS website provides separate dog/cat import procedures and regional contacts.

For India, obtain the procedure applicable to your animal, ownership/travel circumstances, entry airport and direction. Ask the responsible authority about permissions, veterinary certification, identification, tests, deadlines and arrival inspection. This is not a complete India-entry checklist.

Verify departure, transit, destination and return rules independently. Service-dog status does not create universal border admission or public-access rights. Keep written flight acceptance, equipment/seating decisions, original papers and arrival instructions together. Use the service-dog reference and connection checklist for remaining questions.

Related planning

Related reading: Service-dog planning · Connections.

Official sources and scope

• Passenger policy
• Pet FAQ
• Cabin guide
• Pet declaration
• Contact
• Support portal
• Cargo
• Express FAQ
• Older airline article
• Service dogs
• Assistance FAQ
• US guidance
• Current transport form
• Current relief form
• Airline-hosted transport form
• Airline-hosted relief form
• Indian authority
• US entry guidance

Official sources checked October 18, 2026. Air India pages contain unresolved differences; confirm the exact itinerary with the accepting team.