Vicuna Expands Pet Travel Network
Launched on August 23, Waypoints connects pets and owners across Europe with transport and hotel stays to Vicuna’s New York–Brussels route.
What Changed
Who It Affects
Vicuna Air’s new Waypoints service links pet owners to flights via pet-friendly ground transport and hotels across Europe.
Vicuna Air announced on 2026-08-23 that it is extending its pet-first travel model beyond the aircraft with a new service called Vicuna Waypoints. The service is designed to connect travellers and their pets between cities across Europe and the airline’s transatlantic gateways, including its New York–Brussels route. Instead of focusing only on the flight, Waypoints aims to coordinate the harder parts of pet travel: getting from home to the airport, arranging suitable overnight stops, and continuing onward after landing.
What Vicuna Waypoints Actually Adds
Waypoints is named after the navigation points used in aviation to guide an aircraft along a route, but Vicuna is applying the idea to the whole pet travel journey. The service connects passengers with pet-friendly transport and hotel stays before or after their Vicuna flight. For travellers using Brussels as a European gateway, that could mean a more joined-up journey between the airport and another city rather than arranging a pet taxi, hotel, and transfer separately. The key benefit is convenience, especially for long-distance pet owners who need every stage of the trip to be suitable for an animal, not just the flight.
Who Should Consider Using It
The service is most relevant to international travellers moving with pets between North America and Europe. It may be useful for people relocating for work, families spending an extended period abroad, digital nomads travelling with animals, or owners who do not want to navigate multiple suppliers in an unfamiliar country. It could also help travellers whose destination is not Brussels itself, but another European city reached after the transatlantic flight. If your pet is anxious, elderly, large, or subject to special handling needs, an integrated journey may reduce uncertainty, provided every stage is confirmed in advance.
Questions to Ask Before Booking
Before paying for a Waypoints itinerary, ask Vicuna Air or its booking team for a clear written breakdown of every segment. You should know who operates the ground transport, whether the vehicle is private or shared, how long the journey is expected to take, and whether rest stops are included. For hotel stays, confirm the exact property, room type, pet fees, size limits, and rules on leaving animals unattended. If the journey includes a flight, hotel, and ground transfer, check whether one booking reference covers all elements or whether each supplier has separate terms.
Practical Tips
- Tip 1: Ask Vicuna Air for a full door-to-flight itinerary before paying, including pick-up time, vehicle type, hotel name, transfer duration, rest stops, and the exact airport handover process for your pet.
- Tip 2: Check pet entry rules for both your arrival country and any country crossed during the ground transfer, as vaccination, microchip, tapeworm treatment, and health certificate requirements can differ across Europe.
- Tip 3: Build in a buffer night near the gateway airport if your pet is nervous, elderly, large, or travelling after a long-haul flight, because a direct same-day onward road journey may be stressful.
- Tip 4: Confirm what is included in the Waypoints price, such as crates, cleaning fees, hotel pet supplements, waiting time, driver assistance, and emergency veterinary support.
Mistakes to Avoid
- ✕Mistake 1: Assuming the service replaces border paperwork, because pet passports, health certificates, vaccinations, and customs checks remain the traveller’s responsibility unless explicitly handled in writing.
- ✕Mistake 2: Booking tight flight-to-transfer connections, as pets may need time for document checks, feeding, walking, crate inspection, or recovery after the flight.
- ✕Mistake 3: Relying on a hotel’s general pet-friendly label without checking size limits, breed rules, number-of-pet restrictions, cleaning fees, and whether pets can be left unattended.
- ✕Mistake 4: Forgetting to check cancellation terms for each part of the journey, since the flight, transfer, and hotel components may not all follow the same refund rules.
Quick Checklist
- Request the full Vicuna Waypoints itinerary in writing
- Check pet import and transit rules for every country involved
- Confirm crate, microchip, vaccine, and health certificate requirements
- Verify hotel pet fees, size limits, and room access rules
- Save backup pet taxi, hotel, and veterinary contacts
