Petmate Sky Kennel - For Air and Travel, Airline Compliant Dog Crate for Pets up 15-30 lbs, Heavy Duty Dog Kennel, Made in the USA- 28 Inches

I used this and the metal screw additional set to bring my pets to japan. I had a large one for the dog and a medium one for the cat. I didn't have any issues with Japan airlines.The crates were really spacious, and I feel like I could've bought smaller sizes because of how much room they actually had in there. It was easy to assemble and very sturdy. The design fit airline standards for international travel, but you will have to buy the extra kit for the screws.Both pets made it in one piece, so it served its purpose. The downside was that that take up too much space, so carrying them is impossible, you need a luggage cart. And then finding a vehicle to fit them in was expensive. We needed to rent a large van. And then no closet would fit them, so I had to disassemble them and store them outside, until I realized I really didn't need them, then I had to pay for large item pickup to dispose of them.

The media could not be loaded. I was a little bit skeptical about purchasing this item and wanted to confirm it met all the requirements with the Airline. I’ve never flown with my pet before, but this kennel was very sturdy, spacious and easy to assemble. I recommend it to anyone who’s planning on traveling with their pet.

We love these kennels. When we do need them, they are high quality, durable, and strong.

Purchased September 2023 for October 16th 2023 travel date. For those PCSing overseas; I will preface my review with 2 things: 1. Review the most current IATA guidance 2. Everything depends on which check in Agents you have on the day of your flightFor those not moving overseas, These kennels are great on their own without any modifications needed at all. If you’re just looking for something to keep in the house or a drive across the US no modifications are required. They make a great kennel option, that you can reasonably consider safe and secure for your pet.For overseas travel on commercial aircraft here are my observations:I purchased 2 XL kennels for 2 dogs, one dog weighing 48 lbs (black and white mix of many breeds) the other 68 lbs (half Sheppard half lab). The XL was slightly too large for the 48 lb dog and slightly too small for the 68 lb dog. Both were close enough to pass, and within the requirements of the IATA regulation. It’s hard to measure a dog, mine were afraid of the tape measure. I got the most actuate measurement of them while they were sitting in the old kennel I had for them, held the tape up against the side while they were sitting and got their height by interpolating between which cross bar of the kennel that their ears came closest to.Call the airline you plan to travel with to get their specific guidance on kennel requirements, some airlines add stipulations to the IATA regulation. I found that some of the additional requirements were based on outdated IATA rules, or simply misinterpreted IATA rules, example: red LIVE animal stickers. This rule actually applies to LAB animals, not pets. The IATA guidance still specifies green live animal stickers, but the airlines use live animal stickers with pictures of live animals, not the words “live animals”. They also use large up arrows to indicate the up direction of the kennel (see pictures). But, I still used the Live animals stickers that came with the kennels, because better safe than sorry. I covered the stickers with 3M packaging tape to keep them from wearing off from moisture. It held up from Dallas to Dusseldorf no problem. The person you talk to on the phone can’t change the airlines policy, so just oblige as best you can and get along with it.The IATA guidance has specific instructions on how to construct your own kennel. If you can’t find one in the correct size and are somewhat handy with tools, it might be worth the time to build your own BUT you need to know the weight limitations your airline has for the kennel plus the dog or animal, so keep that in mind if you choose to build your own (yes you can build your own kennel or pet carrier for cargo pets, follow the IATA guidance)Pet beds/kennel pad/absorbent material: I purchased 2 pet pads, one for each kennel (I shipped 2 dogs) the kennel size I purchased was the XL here’s the link for the pet bed that closely fits the XL:Washable Dog Bed Mat Reversible Dog Crate Pad Soft Fluffy Pet Kennel Beds Dog Sleeping Mattress for Large Jumbo Medium Small Dogs, 41 x 27 Inch, Gray https://a.co/d/gZE7hWMThese dog beds are thin but super plushy and soft. I went as far as searching for a fleece bathroom mat to fit the xl kennel because I had a hard time finding a thin dog bed that would fit. These beds are great because they are not very thick, so they don’t add much to the head room or weight, which in my case I needed to preserve for my larger 68 lb dog. They are slightly too big for the XL kennel, but they are thin enough that they have a good bit of give to them and fold up when the door is closed.Under each pet pad I placed an adult bed absorbent pad, made for adult incontinence. I purchased these at wal mart for $17 for 40 pads. I taped one down in each kennel with 3M packing tape around all the edges, and put the pet mat over the top of that. They worked great. The pet palace crew at Frankfurt added their own pet pad. The material was what I’d call a “pigmat”. This is a highly absorbent material we used to use any time we had a fuel leak on an aircraft on the flight line. Also used for soaking up oil and hydraulic fluid in an aircraft maintenance hanger or on equipment with a leak. It’s a thick Cotten like absorbent pad, comes in a box of about 10 for use of the aforementioned purpose. Neither of my 2 dogs had any accidents, but the incontinence pads I put in the kennels soaked up the water that spilled out of their drinking container.Drinking bowl and food bowl: I purchased 4 of these from pet smart (see photo) They are about $9 each. The IATA regulation says that the drinking and food bowl must be secured to the door with a screw on fastener. The ones I purchased from Petsmart have that, but they don’t stay fastened because they are plastic. I drilled two each 1/4 inch holes in each bowl and zip tied them to the kennel door. Every bowl or container I looked at would either break off from the dog or the crew loading it. So I went with zip ties.Dog food/water bowl provided with purchase of kennel: The ONE dog food and water bowl that comes with this kennel is about the size for a cat. It’s small. It doesn’t secure to the door with a screw mechanism, it snaps on the door. This would be fine for a small dog or cat, but probably would not pass the initial inspection for a dog UNLESS it was drilled thru with 1/4 inch drill bit and zip tied to the door. But you would need 2 of them. The IATA regulation requires one food and one water container. This one would likely fall off during flight. Not to mention it’s pretty shallow and has no lip around the rim, so most of the water will splash out when it’s moved even a little. You can use a water bottle style that mounts to the outside, but the IATA regulations says it has to be fillable from the outside of the kennel without having to open the door, so the provided one would only be suitable for a food container. I initially was going to use the provided container as a food dish, but my 68 lb dog has a fetish for chewing plastic and it only lasted a few days before she discovered it could come off the door and then turned it into small pieces of plastic.Provided bolts: the bolts are 10-24 size. This size is very close to a 3/16. So close that if you purchase a box of 50 or so 3/16 lock nuts from ACE or your hardware store, you can double up on the lock nuts on each bolt to satisfy the “no sharp edges” requirement of the IATA regulation. The screws/bolts provided are 10-24 carriage bolts, and are a little longer than 1 1/4 inch. Most airlines require a metal fastener to secure the kennel top and bottom, which comes from the IATA regulation. These kennels come with a plastic “nut” that satisfies the no sharp edges requirement, but not the metal fastener requirement.Zip Ties/cable ties: I flew on Lufthansa, the zip ties they had at the check in counter for Lufthansa at Dallas were huge. To large to fit in the pre drilled hole to secure the door closed to the kennel (don’t do this yourself before TSA inspects the kennel, you’ll have to have the kennel inspected by tsa prior to putting your dog inside). I brought 16 zip ties, enough to close them in and re-secure the door if I was able to let them out at Frankfurt, my connecting flight. I also brought a pair of diagonal cutters so I could cut the zip tie ends and be able to remove the zip ties (cable ties) if able at my connection at Frankfurt. The current TSA rules say you can bring hand tools in a plier configuration as long as they are less than 7 inches when assembled. Thankfully Frankfurt has a “puppy palace” team which lets them out on connections, plays with them, feeds them, adds absorbent padding, etc. I did need the diagonal pliers aka (diagonal cutters, dikes, etc.) once I picked up the dogs at the Dusseldorf baggage claim so I could let them out to go potty once more before the 2 hour shuttle ride to our final destination. Each corner needs a cable tie. The holes on these are large enough to accommodate the airlines massive HVAC sized cable ties, but that is overkill and for good reason. If your dog is an escape artist, let the airline cable tie the corners with their big ties. If your dog is generally tame and doesn’t typically dig or weasel their way out of a plastic bag, a normal size zip tie will Work.Price: I think I paid $176 per kennel on Amazon, which is pretty good compared to a pet store, however I found on the empty shelf for the exact kennels at the BX for $167. If you’re at a larger base or post, check your BX, PX, NEX, etc to see if they have them in stock or can order them, chances are you could save a few more dollars if you have time to wait. I did not have the time to wait, I needed time for my 2 fur monsters to acclimate to the new kennels quickly, which they did and they seem to love them. I have 2 kennels here in Germany, but they seem to prefer to sleep in the same one at night together.Durability: no issues with any parts failing or breaking on any leg of the trip. They are not indestructible, but they also aren’t a solid wooden table from the 20th century. A 50 lb kid could jump on them and they’d give a little, but still work. It isn’t a work bench.IATA “gotchas”: there are pictures in the IATA regulations that show needing 1 inch by 1Inch 3mm thick welded wire mesh over holes in the kennel. I believe this pertains to homemade kennels, not this specific kennel. I did purchase the materials to cover the pre drilled air holes in the back of this kennel, but ended up not installing it because the IATA regulation says all holes must provide bite protection for handlers. The holes that are pre drilled are small enough to provide bite protection from a larger dog (provided a handler doesn’t insert their finger into the hole), so I did not install and my kennels were accepted on all legs of my journey.Check in agent: I read the IATA rules a dozen times, called Lufthansa half a dozen times to get their interp of the rules. It all came down to the agent at the desk at the time of check in, she was brand new. She didn’t know anything other than I needed to show a health certificate, she didn’t check the vaccination record, she forgot to charge me for the flight of the dogs, she forgot to print out and attach the baggage transfer stickers (aka IATA tags) to the kennels. She was very nice and clearly overwhelmed but handled it well, and I was very patient with her. The supervisor was bouncing from agent to agent checking on them and reminding them of “do this, check that” sort of stuff. Luckily the tsa agent was also chill, but she’s the one who realized the bag transfer tags weren’t on the kennel. Had she not caught that, my dogs would have probably stayed at Frankfurt when I left for dusseldorf. That’s why I believe it’s largely going to be up to the gate agent, animal inspector and tsa agent at the airport to make the call if you’re good to go or not. Also things like how busy the terminal is at the moment, # of people checking large cargo, etc. I showed up 3.5 hours early for my flight and the line was 100+ people long. They set me to the side with my 4 bags and 2 kennels and 2 dogs and I waited patiently, had a good attitude and was compliant with their requests. They did not make me change one thing or have any problems with the kennels or the dogs. No one measured the dogs, or viewed them inside the kennel to ensure size, in fact they didn’t even weigh the dogs. They just asked me what the weight was. They did weigh the empty kennels.I hope that this review helps and that your experience PCSing with a pet using one of these kennels is as smooth as mine and I wish you the best of luck in your journey.

Overall good product, fair price.Easy to assemble, 5 minutes at most once you have all the pieces ready to assemble.No missing parts, actually got some spares bolt and nuts.Loved the door locking mechanism, the kennel is made of heavy duty plastic, ventilation in all sides so airflow certainly will go through.It comes with a food/water bowl attachable to the door. Also comes with some stickers where states live animal and you can put additional contact information.Handle seems to be sturdy, although initially thought was going to break, but after testing with my dog (Mini goldendoodle, about 17 lbs) didn’t noticed any tear or damage (I’ve ordered the 28-inch size, if it helps for reference).Also enough space, my dog could move around, stand up comfortably.