# Ruff Tough Kennels - airline approved??



## Denney (Oct 23, 2007)

Has anyone used these crates for flying a dog/pup? 
I've called RTK and Delta. Neither were of much help. 

Thanks in advance.


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## Happy Gilmore (Feb 29, 2008)

all airlines have their guidelines on line

http://www.delta.com/content/www/en...needs/pets/pet-requirements-restrictions.html


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## Denney (Oct 23, 2007)

I have read them. I do not have nor seen RTK to know if it meets the requirements.


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## Dave Farrar (Mar 16, 2012)

My pup flew in a cheap Remington crate. My Ruff Tuff is 100X better. Make sure you secure the door with zip ties and tell the person on the recieving end that they will need cutters.


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## Happy Gilmore (Feb 29, 2008)

The kennels with "latches" to hold the top and bottom together are one of the few things I know that are not acceptable. The kennel must be screwed/bolted top and bottom.


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## EKavanagh (May 15, 2009)

When I flew Delta last fall, TSA secured the crate with zip ties after they inspected the dog and kennel. After the 20+ min with the gate agent you wheel it over to TSA so they can do their thing before your kennel goes on the plane. That is how it went on both legs of my trip out west.

Ed


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## Jason Ottinger (Jan 17, 2012)

Different airlines have different rules, and obviously certain airline employees follow these rules more meticulously than others. I'm a fan of the ruff tough kennels, but one of the people I flew a puppy to recently said that in their research they found that they weren't allowed to use that type of kennel for some reason (I believe it was through AA). However, I've seen people get approved when their kennel was in violation of almost every rule, and I've also known people to get rejected for the smallest deviation of that airline's regulations.

If you're shipping a puppy/having a puppy shipped to you, you may look into buying a "lesser" crate for now that is sure to adhere to the airline's shipping standards, and then buy a more permanent kennel (like the ruff tough kennel) to use as the puppy grows into adulthood.

I've never conclusively found out whether or not the Ruff Tough kennels are allowed these days, so this is just what I've heard. Good luck finding specific answers from the airlines - some of them are very accommodating and quick to help you find out what you need to know, while others require a little more persistence.


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## 2Shot_Chet (Mar 15, 2008)

Went through this about a month ago, I to wanted a RT crate to ship pup, called AA Cargo, and RTK. From what I learned their is a governing body that sets the requirements for live animal shipment by a set of standards and rules. RTK sent me a copy of these standards and from what they told me, their crate meets what is described in the standard. The problem as best I can determine is this airline doesn't look at the whole standard and just took a piece of it, whereby the crate needs to be two piece and bolted together being able to be secured with wire ties, forget logic whereby the RTK is one piece, didn't matter when I was corresponding with AA Cargo. Bottom line is it didn't meet the airline crate description even though the RTK is a much better crate. One thing about the RTK is that their are no holes in the crate to wire tie the crate door to the body of the crate, though this could most likely be remedied by drilling a 1/4" hole in each corner of the crate along the door.
To limit any shipment problems we got a medium size crate from PetSmart (Grreat Choice), for an 8 week old pup. It's more than big enough and was easy to carry through the airport, and it is a pretty nice crate. You then can either keep what you bought, or return it and trade up to a bigger crate.

If RTK wants to sell more crates they, really should pursue getting their product definitely approved for airline use; otherwise, shippers aren't going to deal with the aggravation at check in time, and being turned away come shipping day because of the crate.

Good Luck


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## Denney (Oct 23, 2007)

Thanks everyone for your responses. I don't feel comfortable that RTK would meet the requirements. I'd hate to get to the airport and find out that it doesn't meet the requirements then be in a panic to find another crate.


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## GBUSMCR (Oct 5, 2004)

This has been an interesting read. Glad you posted. I have both RTK and a metal Zinger Winger crate and both would not be approved by AA. Wow!


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## claycruncher (Dec 10, 2012)

I also faced this issue a few weeks ago. I purchased an RTK and thought I would use it to have my pup transported by AA from the Dallas area. One of the crate requirements is that the crate have a metal door. RTK doesn't meet the requirement. I contacted RTK and the owner, Doug (I think I remember his name correctly) told me that it did not meet that requirement but they sold a metal door cover that, if installed, would then meet the requirements. The cost of shipping the crate was significant so it was cheaper to buy one from Petco and have it shipped directly to the breeder.

As others have pointed out check the specific requirements of the airline you will be using and when ordering have the crate shipped directly to the point of origin. When I thought I would ship my RTK to the breeder, UPS wanted $100.00...Ouch! You can see why I just ordered another one with shipping to the breeder.


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## The Snows (Jul 19, 2004)

Although structurally more sound than the standard approved kennels, the airlines may also not be too keen on approving the RTK due to the heavier weight for their overall cargo load per flight.


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## Hawaii (Aug 20, 2021)

Update on this Ruff Tough Kennel airline post. We were NOT ALLOWED to ship an RTK crate on American Airlines last week due to "holes on the lower half." Didn't make much sense as every crate I've ever seen has an open door on the lower half...go figure. Tried contacting the manufacturer and they represented their crates were "airline certified." Long-story-short, it appears that the gate agent you draw when checking in your dog will decide what the travel rules are. American Airlines seems to be particularly disagreeable and varies widely between agents. As much as we like RTK, not sure we can take the chance of being rejected at the gate in the future.


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