When we used to ship dogs from Maine to Florida\Florida to Maine we would use Delta. If we were flying also they would be on the same plane as us and we would always be on the run way when the crate was put on the plane ( we had a Very Bad Experiance with another airline not putting the crate on the plane). If we were just shipping the dog we would use Delta Cargo. Then we would also be there when the crate was placed on the plane. I'm not sure if all this is still possible this was 10+ years ago. Like thats alot of help right!!! LOL

i got this off another forum but i think it might be helpful here.

As recently as this past March, we've used and HIGHLY recommend Continental Airllines "PetSafe" program for shipping of live cargo (our furbabies). We purchased another pup today, and she will be shipped here from the breeder per our request via "PetSafe" on Monday. Continental's live cargo areas are not only pressurized, but climate controlled. They have NO temperature limits because their "PetSafe" cargo area feels exactly like if they were flying in the passenger cabin (pressure and temperature-wise). Shipping to/from ANYWHERE in the continental USA was $99 in March and is now $109.

This past March, we were so impressed when we picked up our little girl at Continental's "PetSafe" pick-up area (they do not utilize their regular cargo area for live-cargo pick-up). Our little girl had been hand-carried from the plane at arrival, and taken via mini-van to their off-site "PetSafe" pick-up area, which is about 3 miles away from Detroit Metro Airport. The attendant was so knowledgeable about our baby - he said, "We were expecting her yesterday - what happened?" The breeder had called us the day before saying she couldn't ship our puppy because it was too cold and Continental wouldn't accept her. Before calling her bluff, we decided to call "PetSafe"s 1-800# to verify that they hadn't "suddenly" changed their program. We then figured she had something more important to do than ship our puppy on the originally scheduled day. Needless to say, our new puppy is from a different breeder.

Several months ago I was surfing the web and happened upon a site which I think was called something like "lawsuits.com". They listed Delta Airlines as having the highest live-cargo death rate, and listed respective lawsuits filed, pending, and closed.

If you have any questions re: "PetSafe", call them on the 1-800# listed on Continental's website. You have to listen to a long "general info" recording before getting a live person, but they'll verify all the info I listed, happily answer all of your questions, and make arrangements for you ... "PetSafe" cannot be scheduled on-line.