The Air Carrier Access Act recognizes emotional support dogs and requires airlines to transport them. The related regulations allow airlines to require certain documentation that an emotional support dog is required for a person’s disability. (pdf: http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/rules/20030509.pdf). The Southwest language above seems in accordance with the Air Carrier Access Act reg.
In contrast, the Americans with Disabilities Act doesn’t recognize “emotional support dogs” or “therapy dogs” as service animals. Redirecting…
The regulations I link to above make it clear that airlines can challenge people about their service animals. They can ask whether it’s a pet, ask follow-up questions like, "What tasks or functions does your animal perform for you?’’ or “What has it been trained to do for you?” or “Would you describe how the animal performs this task (or function) for you?” If the passenger doesn’t provide “credible assurances” that the dog is a service animal, the airline can request documentation. Again, this differs from the ADA which doesn’t allow people to ask for documentation. Airlines can always ask for documentation about emotional support animals.
Airlines can also deny disruptive dogs, such as barking, growling, aggressive animals or animals that relieve themselves inappropriately.
This may have been a fully documented animal. Emotional support animals don’t require any special training. Alternatively, the airline can allow any animal it wants on the plane. Maybe they were feeling generous or didn’t want to get in a Twitter war with a passenger they turned away.
Small or sissy looking dogs can be service dogs. Stores can also decide that they will take the risk of allowing small or sissy looking dogs because they don’t present much threat to the store or its customers while still denying access to German shepherds and such. If I ran a crowded antique store, this would probably be my policy. It’s not like there is a civil rights law protecting owners of big dogs. Turn them away at will.
As for lying to get your dog on the plane with you – don’t. It’s likely fraud and it makes you a bad person.
I would not want my dog in cargo either. I used to sell pet carriers on my doggie boutique website, and it was my understanding that the dog had to fit under the seat, in a carrier.
Here’s what I learned about dog deaths from riding in cargo. (I’m glad you started this thread)
Bingo, Zsofia. I would no sooner put my dog in cargo, than put one of my kids in cargo. It seems cruel and she would be terrified.
My dog is very well behaved and I see her sitting in the middle seat with a leash on-I would just buy her a ticket as if she were a toddler. She would not fit in a carrier that fit under the seat & most airline’s policies that I’ve read give specific dimensions of the carrier (they vary by airline, but are close) & the dog has to be able to turn around in the carrier. My dog is too big for that.
I appreciate all the ADA & SA suggestions, but want to clarify that I do not have a disability and while I could probably make a case that my dog offers me emotional support (she does), I have kids and can’t imagine saying “Hey kids, I found a way to exploit the system so our dog can travel in the main cabin with us!!”. Just not the kind of values I wish to instill in them.
So if I’m understanding the consensus, the only way I can fly with my dog in the cabin is to fly private, which unfortunately would be too expensive.
If anyone knows of any commercial airlines with more lenient pet polices, please let me know. Thanks!
awwww…Just like in the car!
Now, am I the only one imagining a dog with it’s snout poking out of the window at 30 000 feet?
And out of curiosity,I just thought of another image: how many service animals are allowed on a flight?
Suppose a bunch of blind people travelling as an organized group: could you put, say, 50 seeing-eye dogs in a narrow, enclosed space?
There *are *legitimate emotional support animals. IME on the airlines the number of pets that are falsely labeled emotional support animals outnumber actual emotional support animals probably 50 to 1.
I read **Omar **as saying that his travel experience encompasses legit support animals for non-emotional needs and pets fraudulently claimed to be emotional support animals. What he has *not *seen is a real live actual emotional support animal.
Cargo compartments are not much noisier than in the cabin. It’s not much cooler. It’s exactly as well ventilated. It is however absolutely, positively dark.
Every so often a cargo handler is inadvertently carried from A to B. In countries with less stringent airfield perimeter security, stowaways get in cargo compartments occasionally.
They report it’s boring; very boring. But otherwise a perfectly tolerable way to travel.
The dogs I see coming down out of our cargo holds don’t look any more upset than they do going into them. I imagine the airplane ride itself is the calming sleeping part of the journey. It’s all the checking, handling, waiting, loading, unloading, handling, and turnover back to the owner that’s full of strange people, strange sights, sounds, smells, etc.
You should definitely do whatever makes you most comfortable. But good decisions should stem from real information.
I bet if we offered that service for a reasonable fee and sold kid carriers at the gate many customers would gladly chip in to pay for it. For other people’s kids. So it wouldn’t cost the parents a dime. Win-win!!
Seriously I have seen kid carriers used in the cargo hold. There was a prize goat breeder who shipped his freshly-sold baby goats to their new home via our carrier. They were adorable in their little crates with their water bowls and bags of goat chow attached
Kids. Get it? I’ll be here all week. Try the veal.
We will not have enough time to drive across country. It’s only a 5 day trip to visit relatives for Christmas, but the drive back and forth would take 4 days. Too bad they live so far away.
Don’t be an asshole: the new golden rule as far as I’m concerned. I might stitch it into a sampler. Next to it I’ll add “Just because you can do it, doesn’t mean you should.”
I really don’t want to travel with other people’s pets in the air. I’m not crazy about it in Home Depot or other stores, but I have the option of leaving and the person with the pet has the option of leaving. On a plane, we’re kind of stuck with each other. And while your pet may be the most well-behaved and docile animal on the planet, until it’s logged a few dozen flight hours, I don’t believe you can really predict how it will behave.
Yeah, I hear people complain about animals in public all the time. Like, I get that dogs can be filthy and break things, but… have you seen people? They’re way worse. Especially the young ones.
I’d rather fly on a plane with a hundred dogs than one screaming infant. But you don’t see me trying to shame parents or make laws against bringing children into planes and restaurants.
Also, no matter how nice a cargo hold is, my dog isn’t going in there. If I have to bring my dog somewhere, we’re driving. Planes are bad enough for people. Unless we’re talking a private jet or something.
I don’t judge anyone who decides to put their dog in cargo, it’s just not a decision I am comfortable with for my dog-she was never crate trained and doesn’t like to be confined to small spaces. I know it is mostly safe, but I do know someone personally whose dog died on a flight from Atlanta to LA (heatstroke) & there are certainly numerous other examples.
And before someone says “Well the plane could crash and your dog could die anyway”. or “Your dog could get hit by a car, so are you never going to walk her?” Yes I understand life has risks and there are no guarantees ever for anything. But bottom line, I’m not putting my dog in cargo.
Yeah if your dog is a service dog. I was out with my hearing dog and a woman came up to me to tell me she just came back from a trip and she saw a mini horse on the place. It was a guide horse for a blind person and it was in the main cabin.
