Which airlines carry a dog in the cabin to the UK?

Very few. British Airways does not accept dogs and cats as baggage, in the cabin or the hold; Ryanair, easyJet and Wizz Air accept no pets on any route; KLM has a UK embargo and SWISS accepts transfers as cargo only.

Do European rules still apply to the United Kingdom?

No. After Brexit the UK no longer applies Regulation (EU) 576/2013 and has its own requirements, published and kept current by the British government on gov.uk.

Does Ireland follow the same rules as the UK?

No. Ireland is in the European Union and applies the common regulation, plus the tapeworm treatment required for dogs. Northern Ireland, however, is part of the United Kingdom.

Flying with a dog to the UK: what changed after Brexit

This is the most honest page we can write about the United Kingdom, and it also says what we do not know. After Brexit the country no longer applies the European pet movement regulation: the rules are British, they change by British decision, and they are not verifiable against the same source we use for the rest of the site.

We do not publish the British documentary requirements here. Not because they are secret, but because they change at short notice, and a list that goes stale on this page is worse than no list: someone would read it, trust it, and turn up at check-in with a document that is no longer valid.

There is one source to use, kept current by the British government: GOV.UK — Bringing your pet dog, cat or ferret to Great Britain.

What we can tell you for certain

It concerns the airlines rather than the paperwork, and it is the part that surprises people the most:

Most airlines do not carry pets in the cabin to the UK. British Airways does not accept dogs and cats as baggage, in the cabin or in the hold, on scheduled flights. Ryanair, easyJet and Wizz Air accept no pets on any route.
Some airlines that allow cabin pets elsewhere do not to the UK. KLM has a pet embargo towards the United Kingdom, and SWISS accepts transfers to the UK as cargo only.
Cargo is not the same as baggage. It means a separate shipment, with a specialist agent, costs measured in hundreds of euros and its own timings. It is not something you add to an existing booking.

The practical outcome: from many Italian airports there is no direct flight a dog can board in the cabin towards London. That is why so many people end up considering the train or the ferry, which follow different rules.

The dates, worked out for your flight

Enter your departure date and your pet's weight: the planner turns this list into real deadlines, and tells you which airlines can carry it.

Open the planner

The airlines, case by case

Pages with the verified policy and its verification date:

If the destination is Ireland, it is a different matter

Ireland is in the European Union and applies the common regulation, plus tapeworm treatment. The rules are the European ones and they are documented here: flying with a dog to Ireland. Be careful not to confuse Ireland with Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom.

Sources

Airline information comes from their own official pages, with the verification date shown on each landing. British documentary requirements are deliberately not reproduced here: they should be read at the government source.