How Much Does It Cost to Ship a Pet from the USA to Thailand?
A dog or cat moving from the United States to Thailand needs an import permit from the Department of Livestock Development and a USDA-endorsed official health certificate, and on arrival the quarantine station issues an import license for a fee per animal. Airline freight is quoted per booking on this lane. Figures checked August 2026, and the Thai charges September 2026.
Airline freight, and why the crate decides it
Airlines price live animals on chargeable weight: whichever is greater, the actual weight or a volume figure worked out from the crate. For pets the volume figure almost always wins, which is why crate size drives the flight cost more than the animal does. The volumetric divisor is the industry standard 166 cubic inches per pound.
Freight on the Thailand lane is priced per booking once the crate size and dates are known. For scale, published long-haul lanes carry minimums of $690 to $720 plus a $150 processing fee, and a large crate frequently bills at 60 to 70 kilograms of chargeable weight. Our cost estimator shows how the other lines add up while freight is quoted.
Whichever carrier takes the booking sets its own hold conditions, crate rules and pet charges, and those vary more between airlines than the fares do. Our list of the airlines that carry pets internationally covers which carriers accept live animals out of the US, and our comparison of US airline pet policies puts the big carriers side by side.
The rest of the bill
| Cost | Amount | Who charges it |
|---|---|---|
| DLD import permit and license | No fee given for the permit; 500 baht per animal for the license, issued on arrival | Department of Livestock Development |
| USDA export endorsement | From $101 per certificate, band depends on tests | USDA APHIS |
| IATA crate | $65 to $378 depending on size | Retailer |
| Vet exam and certificate paperwork | Set by your clinic | Your vet |
| Quarantine | Possible detention if the pet fails a requirement, at the importer’s expense | DLD |
The endorsement is per certificate, not per pet, so two animals on one certificate share it. Thai Customs also charges duty and taxes on a pet arriving with a passenger; its pet travel page gives no amount.
What is not included here
Your vet sets their own fees. The examination, the certificate paperwork and any blood draw are priced by your clinic and vary between practices. Ask your vet directly. Every laboratory we checked states plainly that the draw is the clinic’s charge, not theirs.
Ground transport at either end is quoted per route.
What moves the price
Crate size is the single biggest lever, because it drives chargeable weight. Direct routings cost more per kilogram than they look but remove transfer handling. Season matters too: summer heat embargoes narrow booking windows, and winter cold rules do the same on some routings. Two pets on one certificate share the USDA endorsement, while each extra pet adds its own crate and freight.
Figures and sources
Export process from USDA APHIS, US to Thailand, checked August 2026. The permit, the import license and its fee from the Washington embassy’s instructions for pets from the USA and the DLD’s Suvarnabhumi requirements, and the duty from Thai Customs, all read September 25, 2026.
Want this priced for your pet and dates?
Send us the route, the breed and roughly when you want to travel. Request a quote and we will reply with an itemized plan, a timeline and clear next steps.
For entry rules and the full paperwork timeline, see our guide to pet shipping requirements for Thailand.
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