Email Address: info@actionpetexpress.com
tel: 1.304.263.8188 Toll Free: 1.888.234.5028
The REAL SHOCKING Truth About IPATA
The Independent Pet & Animal Transportation Association Inc
Be sure to read page 20 concerning the Ethics Violation of PetRelocation of Austin, TX; and the refusal of IPATA to even respond to the complaint !
MAJOR NEWS FLASH !!!
New Flash 20 Nov 2010
IPATA has NO requirement for membership other than having money to pay your dues !! NO test. NO classes. NO questions. You need NOTHING but money to join. Of course, registration with USDA, but this cost no money, and requires NO knowledge of the pet shipping business ! Oh yes. One other little thing..... How could I forget?? You MUST tow the line. Mr Walter Woolf of Air Animal in Tampa rules with an iron fist. I found this out the Hard Way. One MUST not make any waves.. You MUST NOT critisize ANYONE. You MUST NOT make any suggestions to improve the organization, unless His High Potentate, Walter, ok's it. I spoke the truth about 3rd party pet shippers, and found my self out. No trial, no oportunity to rebut. Walter submitted several lies to the Ethics committee, and out was I....... He had his lawyers send me a factless letter of lies. I corrected them to the lawyers, and have never heard another word from them. I presented this all to IPATA Ethics Com and they would NOT respond to me. Sir Walter snapped his fingers and that was it. And yet, he remains in business, taking your money at a very high and unnecessary level.
Recently IPATA produced a new rag sheet called Animal Tracks. They felt it was necessary to re-write history. Told the membership their new version of the founding of IPATA during the Blizzard of 1978-9 in Chicago. Big Deal. Seems all of a sudden, six, not three, wisemen and their families appeared out of the storm into a stable (Chicago hotel), and thus founded IPATA. They felt it was NOT necessary to tell the 'rest of the story' as the late Paul Harvey would say. That is, as I have told later on this very page, that the 3 original wisemen, Frank, Sam and myself, held founding meetings long before the Big Blizzard. Just a little petty, but that is IPATA for you......
I am sorry..... Does seem that IPATA does NOT care about our
returning service families. No one has seen fit to reply to my
emails, shown below.......
I am sure that a major factor is: The fact that many IPATA
members, in foreign countries, are making HUGE profits from the
current TSA and U.S. Gov't policies.... Pet animals do in fact,
pose absolutely NO, repeat, NO, security threat whatsoever.....
What is the difference between pets returning as Excess Baggage,
with no special security inspections, as opposed to cargo
shipments?
I suggest pet owners make a real effort to find a freight forwarder
or other cargo handler, OTHER THAN, a pet shipper to do the
pet shipping to the USA. Save BIG money.....
Also, you might go so far as to boycott these very expensive
ipata pet shippers.......
Let's be powerful and do something about this outragious
policy........
Read On ........
Since I have NOT heard from ANYONE as of this date, 2010 02 Oct. I can only believe that you have NOT received this first email. I know IPATA most certainly
supports our troops and their families!!
It is MOST urgent that I have your current stance on this subject ASAP.
Of course, I understand, that you can NOT dictate prices charged by IPATA members... I have always thought you might be able to make some suggestions, however...
As we ALL know, the handling charges of the pet shippers are WAY out of line. Since these pet shippers are NOT American, they of course do NOT have the same
concerns about our military families as we Americans do....... And, as I have pointed out elsewhere, many of these foreigners HATE America anyway, so, they will
do anything they can to stiff the American.......
Thanks in advance, Jerry Mishler
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 2010 9:15 PM
Subject: URGENT requiest for update
Dear Friends.
As you represent the administration, officers and directors of IPATA
I want to be 100% certain of facts for my documentation of this subject. Who better to provide this to me than you folks?
What, if anything, has IPATA done to help relieve the financial burden of our returning military families for the unaccompanied shipping of their pets to CONUS?
Due to TSA requirements; and the out of mind charges of many required pet shippers, most of whom, are IPATA members, many families are being forced to give
up their pets.
Has IPATA made any attempt to persuade TSA to lighten up on their requirements? Especially the fact that the U.S. government trusts these very people to shed
blood on the battlefields for their country, but that the government will NOT trust these very same people to ship their own pets to CONUS..... Does the U.S. government
also NOT trust their very own State Department people to likewise ship their own pets?
Has IPATA taken any stand on this subject? Has IPATA made any suggestions to their own membership to show some degree of mercy on these families regarding
high handling fees?
It is VERY important that I have the most correct information and stance of IPATA........
p.s. I still plan to visit with you all in Montreal
Chapter # 1
IPATA was actually born in Chicago during the winter of 1978-9
With every birth there is an inception and gestation period.
This occured during the mid 1970's when Sam Wheeler of
Wheeler's Airport Shelter in San Francisco; Frank Hasenauer
of Jet Pets in Los Angeles; and, yours truly Jerry Mishler, held
a series of meetings that became the germ that became IPATA
Without these meetings, there would be NO IPATA today.
This was a time with NO computers; NO websites; NO emails:
No call forwarding; NO call waiting.
The ONLY real form of advertising was in the yellow pages of
the printed telephone directory.
To this day, the IPATA administration refuses to acknowledge
these facts. They deny the fact that: Sam, Frank and myself
did indeed begin IPATA......
In late 1978 I sold my business in San Francisco to Nanci
Wechsler, who changed the name to: Pet Express. I had
founded the business in 1969. To this day, Pet Express denies
there was a business before Pet Express of 1978.
Why are so many people in such a state of denial......
Chapter # 2
In the early to mid-2000's when the pet purchase scams became
very busy, I was one of the first to be affected. My website was
the first to be compromised and copied by the scammers. When
I became aware of this, I contacted Cherie Derouin, the IPATA
Association Director with what I thought was a fine idea. I could
see this scaming thing as something to deal with IMMEDIATELY!
I was so innocent that I thought IPATA might take a stand, and
perhaps contact news sources such as USAToday, CNN, etc
to provide a warning to the public. Oh! So innocent was I !!
Cherie made clear to me that this would NOT be a function of
IPATA, that they were too busy. That I should take this project
on by myself if I felt so strong about it. Not too much longer,
the scamers went after the websites of some of the "movers and
shakers" of IPATA. Then, you know what? The .... hit the fan.
Suddenly IPATA decided to take this on. Just took the right
people to get shaken.
Chapter # 3
About 5-6 years ago, IPATA held their annual convention in
Amsterdam, Netherlands. Just prior to this, KLM, decided they
would no longer take live animal bookings from the general
public. They appointed only certain 'special' IPATA members to
be the ONLY ones that the public could book thru. NOT all
IPATA members were so annoited. I was not!! Thus, handling
fees went way up. The pet owning public be Damned. If you
needed, or wanted, to use KLM, you will now pay a super high
price!
KLM said this made life easier for them!
So, little ol' innocent, stupid me!! I again contacted IPATA to
register my indignation. I thought this was VERY unfair to
the pet owner. Thought IPATA might be able to take this up at
their coming conclave in Amsterdam.
Turns out the 'special' IPATA members who were selected to be
KLM approved booking agents, totally suported this KLM policy.
Why not? They were now able to make new, huge profits.
Recently, Lufthansa and Air France have also taken up a similar policy.
Singapore Airlines have had a similar policy for quite some time.
Here we have foreign airlines operating out of the USA, taking such UNFAIR
advantage of pet people. This is NOT a security situation, no matter what
you are being told. This is indeed a profit motivated situation in which
many IPATA pet shippers are reaping huge profits from YOU......
Fortunately, NOW, Action Pet Express can come to your rescue!
Chapter # 4
Recently another shipping kennel fell apart while in my custody.
This had been provided by the owner, and seemed to meet
minimum safety standards. We of course replaced it with an
appropriate one.
Finally, I sent an email to Petmate, the manufacturer. Also,
copied IPATA administration, as well as the head pet people at
several airlines, and also to Petsmart and Petco.
I have tried several times in the past to try to get IPATA to help
address this issue of poorly constructed kennels. And, the fact
that Petmate continues to put tags on these kennels that they are
airline approved. In many cases, these kennels are NOT airline
accepted. At most, some might be approved for in cabin carry
on.
The ONLY response I received was from customer care at
Petsmart, thanking me for my interest. Petmate, nor anyone else,
responded. I called Petmate and the customer service lady said
she had received my email and had passed it on !!!! It was her
conclusion that the client should further check out the worthiness
of the kennel, and so passed the buck.
Again, I have always felt that IPATA, should have taken some
stand regarding the construction of shipping kennels.
A copy of this email will soon appear on p.3 Pet Travel Safety of
my website. Watch for it.
I asked the lady at Petmate if she recalls ever hearing from IPATA
regarding this issue. She said: "Who is IPATA?" Enough said.
Chapter # 5
On 14 and 15 August 2010, The Mysterious Pet Traveler requested
the following information from over 2 dozen prominent (?) and
well versed (???) IPATA pet shippers. Also contacted was:
Cosmopolitan Canine Carriers ( a non-ipata member) and also
Action Pet Express. The question posed was:
Is there a cheaper and/or alternative way to ship pets from the
USA to the UK under the Pet Passport Program. The answer is:
YES. However, hardly anyone knows this......
Some IPATA members simply chose to ignore this request. Perhaps
they just did not know; or, they did NOT want the public to know
the true answer as this would reduce their high profit margin!
Air Animal in Tampa; Animalland in Atlanta;Happy Tails in Tucson:
and Pacific Pet in Los Angeles did NOT respond......
Others who responded, for the most part, had NO clue; or, again,
did NOT want the public to know the truth.....
Puppy Travel in Salt Lake City stated they did NOT know what was
meant by cheaper? She indicated that they do NOT consult
without fees !!!
Club Pet Cargo ONLY. Approved routes ONLY.
Pets Fly and Jenni Redmond Approved routes ONLY. Clearly
stated she does NOT know what is meant by Continent ????
Pet Relocation in Spicewood, TX. Matt said: Cargo ONLY.
Their minimum charge was approximately starting at $1800 for
a small pet. Cargo ONLY
Shady Springs Had NO clue. Asked: Alternative to what? Cheaper
than what?
Animal Motel in Milwaukee. No. Cargo ONLY.Custom Kare at Nashville. Absolutely NO clue
O'Briens in the San Franciso area. Vanessa had no clue. Wanted
to know what was meant by continent?
Pet Air Carrier in Atlanta. Nancy wanted to know cheaper than
what?
VIP in Portland. Sandy stated she does NOT understand the
question.
Jet-a-Pet Stated flatly that there is NO other way than cargo from USA to UK
Bobbie's World in Florida stated NO other way.
Life Unleashed. Kathleen is not aware of any other way
Canine Carriers. Kathy had NO clue
Pet Express in San Francisco. NO clue
The biggest surprise came from: Sally Smith of Airborne Animals in New Jersey. She is the
current president of IPATA. She certainly should know the correct answer.
BUT, get this..... She stated that the pets MUST travel ONLY as cargo; or go into
quarantine.........
The current program as proposed by DEFRA would have pets going as cargo only to UK
from the USA. HOWEVER, a lesser known way is this:
Pets CAN travel as excess baggage (checked baggage) with a passenger, to the Continent.
This is MUCH cheaper. Also, allows for the use of many other airlines !!!!!
Pets would then apply for the EU Pet Passport, and receive the tick and tapework treatment
at the appropriate time, then travel on to UK at the very lesser expensive way by road and
boat. That way there are NO excessive entry charges for the pets into UK. My understanding
is that air travel from the continent to UK is still as cargo, and more expensive. So, pets from
USA would travel to UK same as their european cousins can do. Of course, ALL pet entry
into UK has to meet other UK pet entry requirements (blood tests, 6 mos wait, etc)
All subsequant correspondence from the Mysterious Pet Travelor indicated that pet owner
was relocating to UK from USA and had to buy his own ticket. So, this should have opened
up to ipata pet shippers that the owner would be available to take pets as excess baggage
via Europe.
ONLY one ipata pet shipper knew the truth, and was willing to pass this on to the public.
This was: Rosemary Filippelli with World Wide Pet Transport in New York City.
Of course, Action Pet Express ALSO knew the truth, and we always pass this on to the
public!!
The BIG question here is: Are you still willing to have these pet shippers take care of your
precious pet family members? Do they know the truth? Are they willing to pass on to you
the true facts, even though it might reduce their profits?
To think that ALL the above IPATA members did NOT know the true facts about shipping
pets to UK; or, they would NOT pass this info on to you because it could reduce their profits!
Suggest you ALWAYS get several opinions. ALWAYS, demand total itemization of ALL charges.
Or, simply contact Action Pet Express for ALL your needs !
