Please help me transport 7 cats across the Pacific Ocean!

The amount of issues commercial airlines have with pets is very very rare mathematically compared to the millions of pets that travel on them.

HAH, for $ 31K I think each cat should have a private litter box and personal scooper too.

Each airline is different. United, after several incidents, has implemented a Pet Safe program and has 80 planes with climate controlled areas designed for pet transport. Also, breed and age are important. United will not transport Burmese, Exotic Shorthair, Himalayan, or Persian. I'd be hesitant then with other breeds which are close such as Ragdolls.

There are many companies that specialize in pet shipping. I'd suggest checking some of them out and talking to them.

I'd say one other thing. Consider carefully what is in each cat's best interests. Rehoming may be for one or more. I don't know the type home they've had in the US or if they're indoor or outdoor or what your situation in Australia is. I have friends who live in Australia and have small dogs and have to be extremely careful because of the risk outdoors to small pets. There is very different wildlife than in the US. Air is still the best way. I can't imagine the strain on a cat of traveling for months on a boat with strangers when it's never done so before. I'd also think that would entail significant risk from illness at sea to leaping off the boat.

We have been traveling with kats onboard for 16 years now. They really do not like it. Some got used to it, others did not.
Something about the motion on a boat. Our big Orange was fine in a head run, beam rolls made him sick.

We luv kats and kritters big time. No way I'd be taking anything to a foreign country where they are really not welcome.
If the kats were left behind and are surviving well with friends & family, then leave them there.

Unless these are show cats I would leave them in America with her friends. There are so many pets that are homeless it boggles the mind. No personally I wouldn't do it. My big old tom sleeps in the engine room where its safe and prowls at all hours when we are in a port.

Pet Safe has been in place for decades. Every airplane out there built after 1980 has climate controlled pressurized cargo holds. There are, indeed, large numbers of animals transported safely every year.

For emotional comfort and "hedging" of risk I recommend shipping on separate flights.

I was thinking "power or sail?" and "what brand of cat?"

Well, OP Cat Boat has yet to ad additional comments.
Would like to hear the final plan from the OP one day.

Did we chase them off or reality set in???

Do you have ANY idea how much more risky it is to take them across the ocean on a sailboat?????? You're worried about an airline and a 12 hour flight, versus maybe 30 days at sea????

$2 million per cat would be my charge but I'll give you a discount, 7 cats for $10 million.

It's not that your question isn't taken seriously, it's that the experienced folks on this forum understand the implications of the request. I am not a cat person, but I'm sure that a month's worth of cat food, water, and kitty litter would require a significant amount of space and resources to manage. Can you imagine cleaning 7 (or ?) litter boxes in 15 foot seas while throwing up from seasickness? Oh, and many animals get seasick.

Yes, this forum can be snarky, but they really mean well.

I'll ride with the kats airborn (In a Ralph sized shipper) and hand hold them till we arrive. Even go thru quarantine with them for $2M USD (plus expenses).
I have had kats on my boat for 16 years. Cuddled them every time one got sea sick (read my old post).
My passport and shots are up to date.

Your not a kat luver.

Well, we love all creatures including cats and that love would never allow me to subject one that's never been on a boat to weeks on one and to do so away from anyone it's ever known. The rate of survival would likely be as bad or worse than airlines. Then there's the entire entry and quarantine and everything else involved. I know cats that require sedation for any type of transportation. You can't keep them sedated all the time a water crossing would require. You can't let cats that are new to you and to boats roam on the boat and yet keeping them caged would be extremely traumatic when the boat tossed about in the water and they were unable to use their instinctive abilities to compensate.

I'd also ride with one airborne before I would take one across on a boat. Not in your arms though unless on a private or chartered plane.

View attachment 83703 Ah, charter me a plane and my rate is half (plus expenses)..
I know I'll either end up in jail, fined, Baker Acted (or the Australian version). That's the expenses.

Our kats are loose on our boat. When it gets ugly they stay inboard. They usually find a secure place them selves.
Tiger stayed on deck but hated beam rolls.