Plan pet travel
on Croatia Airlines.

Before paying

Prepare flight numbers, operating carriers, dates, species, breed, age, animal weight, loaded weight and carrier measurements. Get animal-space confirmation for every sector, the complete charge, accepted documents and airport reporting time. Recheck after an aircraft change. A passenger ticket alone does not confirm animal acceptance.

The conditions cover dogs and cats, require appropriate containment and applicable health, vaccination, transit and entry documents, and allow additional airline conditions. Ordinary animal transport is outside the free baggage allowance.

Sources: Conditions of carriage.

Cabin pets and flight capacity

Cabin: dogs or cats, 8 kg including carrier, one animal in one carrier per passenger. The carrier stays under the seat throughout, has a waterproof bottom and a maximum dimension sum of 118 cm.

Cabin flight quota: two dogs or two cats; a dog/cat combination is excluded. The breed section instead retains 115 cm. Soft bags are standard; a limited hard-shell exception covers certain transfers/returns, subject to fit.

Confirm individual measurements and resolve the 118/115 cm difference before buying a carrier. A flight quota is separate from the passenger allowance; it does not reserve space for you.

Sources: Animal FAQ · Pet rules and restrictions.

Hold transport and shared crates

Hold fee bands: 80×55×55 cm and 125×75×85 cm; the latter applies to A319/A320. A220 height limit: 80 cm. Sharing: three same-litter puppies/kittens, each up to 8 kg, or two cohabiting adults, each up to 14 kg.

IATA’s general guidance requires comfortable standing, turning, sitting and lying space. It describes shared adult crates for compatible, similarly sized animals and warns that familiar animals may behave differently during travel. The airline can impose stricter conditions.

Obtain confirmation of hold availability, maximum loaded weight, crates per passenger, aircraft-wide quota and any mixed-species restrictions. Shared-crate numbers are not aircraft capacity. The reviewed airline wording does not explicitly authorize dog/cat sharing in the hold.

Sources: Pet rules and restrictions · IATA pet preparation.

Breeds, age and routes

Snub-nosed dogs/cats are excluded from the hold; listed fighting breeds/mixes need CR82 crates. Dogs exceeding 18 kg with their crate require stronger construction; rigid-plastic crates are excluded. Check health and pregnancy restrictions. Minimum ages: 12 weeks, 15 to/from Germany, 16 to the USA. Owners must travel on the same flight.

No ordinary pets Croatia–UK outbound; UK–Croatia is allowed except Gatwick. Hold transport is excluded Ireland–Croatia and on OU4001/OU4002; Croatia–Ireland is allowed.

Check the complete breed lists and crate construction rules with the airline. These directional restrictions must not be reversed or automatically extended to service dogs. Airline age limits do not establish government-entry eligibility.

Sources: Pet rules and restrictions.

Booking, prices and contacts

Book animal transport in advance. The FAQ excludes online booking/payment and directs passengers to sales offices. Cabin prices: domestic EUR 32 plus 25% VAT; within Europe EUR 50; outside Europe EUR 70. Hold prices depend on route and crate category.

The pet page also permits Contact Centre booking.

Contact Centre: +385 1 66 76 555 or contact@croatiaairlines.hr. The contact page provides a message form and the sales-office directory.

Ask which office will confirm and take payment, the exact pet-booking cutoff, refunds and any departure-day surcharge. Do not treat the general assistance notice below as a pet-booking deadline.

Sources: Animal FAQ · Pet rules and restrictions · Contact Centre.

Service dogs: cabin arrangements

Trained guide, assistance and search dogs travel free in the cabin, on a leash. Reserve ahead and bring a muzzle for possible safety use.

The pet page gives a 25 kg service-dog maximum, with heavier dogs possible after aircraft-specific assessment.

The accessibility page separately states no size/weight restriction for guide dogs accompanying deaf, blind or paraplegic passengers. It requires a harness, no passenger seat and no roaming; guide dogs need not be routinely muzzled or caged.

Resolve this weight-policy difference for the exact dog and aircraft before paying. Confirm safe floor placement, space, behavior expectations, and whether any additional restraint is needed. No numeric service-dog limit per passenger or per flight was established in the reviewed public pages; the two-pet cabin quota is not a verified service-dog quota.

Sources: Animal FAQ · Pet rules and restrictions · Accessible travel.

Training evidence, forms and emotional support

The reviewed accessibility page does not name an accreditation scheme, an owner-training pathway or a dedicated service-dog form. Its hearing/vision section says a doctor’s certificate is unnecessary; MEDIF appears under separate medical-clearance needs.

Ask Croatia Airlines which training evidence it accepts for your dog and route, including individual-trainer or owner-training evidence. Do not assume a certificate is universally required, universally sufficient, or that silence guarantees acceptance. Emotional support alone is different from disability-task training; no Croatia-specific ESA accommodation pathway was verified.

For journeys covered by EU Regulation 1107/2006, recognized assistance-dog carriage remains subject to applicable national rules. The regulation does not establish a single certificate that guarantees recognition everywhere.

Sources: Accessible travel · EU accessibility regulation.

Assistance notice and booking channels

Croatia’s general assistance page recommends 72 hours’ notice and states no later than 24 hours. Notify agents when booking by phone or at an office; for website bookings it directs requests to flyonline@croatiaairlines.hr. Later requests can go to the Contact Centre. Guide-dog accompaniment should be declared when booking.

EU airport-assistance provisions use 48 hours’ notice; without timely notice, the airport must make reasonable efforts. Assistance-dog notification also follows applicable national rules.

These are differently scoped provisions, not interchangeable animal-booking deadlines. Contact the airline early, preferably before purchase, and obtain confirmation of the documents and submission deadline for the complete itinerary.

Sources: Accessible travel · EU accessibility regulation.

Connections involving the United States

For a flight to/from the U.S., check the operating airline’s DOT process separately. DOT recognizes disability-task-trained dogs, including psychiatric service dogs, but excludes emotional-support animals and dogs still in training. Airlines may request the DOT transport form and, for flights of eight hours or more, a relief attestation; separate government animal-transport documents can still apply. Safe accommodation and appropriate behavior remain necessary.

The DOT form permits an individual trainer’s details, including the handler’s own details for a self-trained dog, without a training certificate. Forms go to the airline. Advance submission can be required up to 48 hours before departure for earlier bookings; bookings made within 48 hours must be allowed to submit at the gate. Missed advance submission requires reasonable accommodation efforts, not an automatic refusal.

A U.S. connection does not by itself establish that the same documentation rules govern every Croatia Airlines sector wholly outside the U.S. Confirm each operating carrier and segment. This section is not a claim that Croatia Airlines operates a direct U.S. service.

Sources: U.S. service-animal guidance · DOT transport form and instructions.

Government entry is separate

Use the European Commission’s pet-movement guidance to distinguish travel within the EU from entry from a non-EU country, then check the destination authority’s requirements.

For U.S. dog entry, CDC requires a minimum age of six months. The airline’s 16-week wording is therefore insufficient; use CDC’s complete route-history-dependent requirements, including for service dogs.

Verify departure, transit, arrival and return veterinary rules for pets and service dogs. Airline acceptance is separate from border clearance and local assistance-dog recognition.

Sources: EU pet-movement rules · CDC dog-entry FAQ.

Related planning

Related reading: Service-dog planning · Connections.

Official sources and scope

• Pet rules and restrictions
• Animal FAQ
• Accessible travel
• Conditions of carriage
• Contact Centre
• IATA pet preparation
• EU accessibility regulation
• U.S. service-animal guidance
• DOT transport form and instructions
• CDC dog-entry FAQ
• EU pet-movement rules

Official sources checked October 18, 2026. Resolve published differences and obtain acceptance for the exact flight.