Need to move your pet to and from Chicago, Illinois (ORD)?

Our Chicago pet shipping services include:

• Door-to-door transportation, both international and domestic
• Travel consultation, planning, and flight reservations
• Coordination and communication for health requirements and documentation
• Local pet taxi service to and from the airport, your home, veterinarian or kennel/boarding facility – available in the Chicago area as well as throughout the surrounding areas
• USDA endorsement of health certificate
• Pre-completion of the correct health certificate for country of import
• Local and long-distance ground transport delivery to and from ORD
• Meet at airport facility for flight check in when pet pickup is not needed
• Customs clearance in Chicago and delivery to your home
• Airline approved travel crate that meets all IATA and USDA regulations; provided with bowls, stickers, absorbent bedding, personalized labels, identification and emergency notification instructions
• Boarding reservations

With smaller municipal and domestic airports served by airplanes that do not have pressurized cargo holds for live animals, Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) may be the closest airport we can get your pet to with flights available. For such situations, Transcontinental Pet Movers can help arrange pet-friendly land transportation from your home to this airport or straight to your destination. We can arrange ground transport for pets traveling to or from Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan & Kentucky.

Shipping a pet to or from Chicago

Chicago O’Hare International Airport handles over two million metric tonnes of cargo a year, ranking in the top 20 globally and first by freight value among all airports in the Americas (Chicago Department of Aviation cargo page).

Alaska Air Cargo’s Chicago station is at 517 Express Center Drive, Chicago, IL 60666, open daily 4:00 am to 10:00 pm, and offers Pet Connect, its live-animal service.

Alaska takes no animal shipments into or out of Chicago when temperatures are over 85°F, with a full embargo from June 1 to September 15 (Summer 2026 embargo table). The summer season generally runs May 1 through October 16, and exceptions may apply. From October 1, 2026 at 12:01 a.m., Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and Horizon Air no longer accept certain short-nosed dog and cat breeds in the cargo hold (notice on short-nosed breeds). If your pet has a short nose, read our guide to flying with snub-nosed pets.

United Airlines no longer lets you check pets through PetSafe. Pets can fly in cargo only when traveling with certain active-duty military or State Department employees. American Airlines Cargo will not accept pets when temperatures are higher than 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Read our airline pet policy guide to compare how the airlines carry pets.

For a pet imported from another country, the Illinois Department of Agriculture requires, when Illinois is the final destination, an official health certificate issued within 30 days of entry and rabies vaccination for dogs and cats 16 weeks of age and older. A pet that is only passing through Illinois does not have to meet these requirements. Check the final destination state’s rules instead. Read our post on the international health certificate for more on the document.

Transcontinental Pet Movers is a professionally run, dedicated service for international and domestic pet moving. We’re IATA, IPATA, USDA licensed and CBP Bonded.

To ensure your pet is well taken care of, we are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.