There is a third option.  Bunnies can be shipped in a pressurized, normal atmosphere cargo area too.  We are working on getting 4 bunnies from California to Pennsylvania that way.  If you have someone to deliver the buns to the plane, and then someone to wait for them when they arrive, their time without care is minimized.  I think most airlines only allow one animal in the cabin at a time, so you’d be looking at multiple trips to do it that way.

I read an article about travelling with bunnies that suggested driving and setting up a pet friendly hotel in the middle.  Bring and xpen and a litterbox with you, and let the buns run around in the hotel until it is time to leave the next day.

Congratulations on the new job, and good luck with the trip!

I’ve never driven THAT far with buns but Pepper handled 6 hours just fine.  I seat-belted her carrier and a pan into the back seat with her litterbox in it.  She spent the whole trip in the litterbox.  I stopped once at a rest area for about 15 minutes so she could have water and some quiet time.

I’ve stayed at hotels with her a couple of times, and I found it easier to cage the wires than to cage the bunny!  She has impeccable litter habits and spent a fair amount of time exploring and bouncing around.  Mostly on the bed at 2AM, but it was nice that she was having fun!

Lillys longest trip has been about 4 hours in a day.. we hold her on our lap.. LOL that spoiled girl wont have it any other way.. we try leaving her in the carrier but she puts up a fit.. she bit through the mesh air holes and put her head through!!!! Its adorable!! Of course I had to fix it though.. and we are going to get a new carrier.. one without mesh.. hahah! So when she starts gettng grumpy.. we let her sit on our lap/chest during the car (that is assuming both of us are there.. and so far there hasn’t been a car trip where we haven’t been).. My bunny doesn’t seem especially afraid of travelling though.. which makes me scared if I everever decided to get another bunny for bonding purposes!! .. but I think that you should drive.. you could stop in rest areas.. pet your bunnies.. give them treats.. etc. On a plane.. you couldnt do that..

congrats on your new job!

that’s a hard decision. i think i’d be more inclined to drive, just so i could really keep an eye on them. when we were talking about moving I envisioned traveling via car much like what Osprey suggested

We flew with Edward from the UK to California, he went as checked baggage-on the same flight as us- in his posh pet cargo cabriocarrier! (I think cabrio ’cause the top opens). We spent about 3 months getting him used to the carrier, hiding nice treats in it and taking him on little walks around the garden. He did pretty well (better than me!) and didn’t seem any worse for his flight. When the girl from customs brought him out to us at LAX we could see his cute little head bobbing up and down, taking every thing in. When we let him out in the hotel room on our first night he muched his way though a pile of veggies and then flopped down next to his dad on the bed and watched TV. I think if you could get a carrier the right size you could put them in together.. then you wouldn’t have to split them up. We flew with United but I’ve also heard that Cotinental are good with bunnies on domestic flights.

We have also driven with them both to San Francisco (7hrs) and they didn’t seem too bad from that either except Josephine kept trying to stand up to have a look around and doing little backward rollies when we went round a corner!

I think eitherway they would be fine as long as they have something that smells familier to them. It’s what ever you feel most comfortable with.

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He’s a big chicken really and normally doesn’t do change well… we had him since he was a baby and he had the same routine for 2 years. We went on holiday once and my sister took care of him at our house, he would come out of his bed for the whole 2 weeks! We were so worried he wouldn’t cope but I guess he’s not so chicken after all! He did have his bear and his daddy’s t-shirt for company though!

They travelled to SF in the same carrier… it really is bigger than it looks in the photo. I also find that the more space they have when we are travelling the more nervous they seem. If it’s dark and enclosed they seem to do better. I guess it’s a bit like being in a warren! They have enough room to streach and turn arround and we let them out on the back seat for a streach when ever we stopped for gas. They had hay and a few pellets to eat and a bottle of water too and we had the AC on all the way- I was freezing!

We also have this collapsable dog crate which we use  if we go away as their pen/bed. I got it at petco and I guess you could put them in that if you stopped at a hotel. They are not hard to put up.

Ooo! Also that vet bed fleecy stuff you can buy is amazing for travelling with. It pulls the peepee down into the bottom layer and from the top you wouldn’t even know they’d been! Just like pampers! As long as you can wash it at the other end!

We’ve had people travel across country with "rescue rabbits" in the cabin. I’ve always been told never to put them in cargo because of all the uncertainties and since they are soo sensitive to temperature change, going from in inside to outside to inside the plane, can sometimes cause problems. I know couple of vets have also warned against cargo travel. (Except it sounds like Osprey has another option.  I haven’t heard of that, and am interested to learn more)

It really depends on the rabbit too. Some rabbits really stress out, while others handle it well.

Do you have anyone to travel with you so you can take all your rabbits? 

I found these articles that have some helpful traveling tips:

http://www.rabbit.org/journal/2-12/to-fly-or-not-to-fly.html

http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/flytips.html

http://www.kindplanet.org/airtips.html

http://www.rabbitsinthehouse.org/newsletter/hurdlingthroughspace.pdf

Health certificate info:

http://www.rabbit.org/chapters/san-diego/health/health-cert.html

Here is a thread from the past about traveling: Check out  dmh426’s experience https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/view/topic/forumid/2/postid/3236/Default.aspx