We took Sami on his first intercontinental flight. Or so we thought. I filmed the entire preparation - documents, grooming, even a pre-flight diet - and then, once we were actually on the plane, they canceled our flight. This is the diary of that day.

The days before went exactly to plan, which should have been the warning. Vet visit for the health certificate to enter the United States: done. Weight check: 8.05 kg - five grams over the 8 kg cabin limit, cue mild panic. The vet's prescription: smaller meals and no dinner the night before, targeting a svelte 7.7. Then grooming: I always get Sami a short cut before flying so he looks as small as possible in his travel bag - no gate agent has ever accused a freshly-shorn puppy-cut Westie of being too big for the cabin. Three hours at the groomer and he came out looking absolutely adorable.

And then, on the plane, seated, dog stowed and behaving beautifully: cancellation. All that preparation, the diet, the timing of the health certificate's validity window - all of it now hostage to rebooking. There are no words. I filmed myself saying exactly that, because there were, in fact, no words.

What the day taught us, and what I'd tell anyone flying with a dog: build slack into every deadline. Health certificates have validity windows; a canceled flight can push you outside them. A dog at the weight limit stays on the diet until you have actually taken off. And a dog who's been carrier-trained within an inch of his life will handle the chaos better than you will - Sami treated the whole ordeal as an unusually boring day with extra sitting.

We did make it to New York in the end - that trip produced the Westie parade story, so it was all worth it.

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