Say goodbye to the emotional support peacock allowed to fly with you in Row 4 Seat B because the U.S. Department of Transportation has ruled that they will now only recognize trained service dogs as the only service animal allowed to accompany a passenger on a flight free of charge. The DOT defines a service animal as "a dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of a person with a disability.” Other animals are allowed but will be recognized as a pet rather than a service animal. The difference is that for many if not all airlines, a service animal travels for free whereas a pet does not thus why many people were trying to get away with passing their pet off as a service animal to get out of paying a fee.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has also permitted airlines to make various requests from patrons. Some allowed requests include the following:
Passengers with service animals must:
- Complete and submit to the airline a form, developed by DOT, attesting to the animal’s training and good behavior, and certifying the animal’s good health.
- For flight segments of eight hours or more - complete and submit a DOT form attesting that the animal has the ability either not to relieve itself on a long flight or to relieve itself in a sanitary manner.
- ^ Provide these forms up to 48 hours in advance of the date of travel if the passenger’s reservation was made prior to that time. As an alternative, airlines may require a passenger with a disability seeking to travel with a service animal in the cabin to provide the forms at the passenger’s departure gate on the date of travel.
- Ensure that service animals are harnessed, leashed, or otherwise tethered onboard an aircraft and includes requirements that would address the safe transport of large service animals in the aircraft cabin.
You can read the full announcement from the U.S. DOT about their final rule on service animals, HERE.
There are some critics of this decision made by the U.S. DOT. One group in particular, PetCerta, a company/service provider that offers emotional support screening, certification, and letters for your emotional support animal, strongly disagrees with this final rule. They told CNN that this rule is: "a great disservice to those facing mental health challenges that get emotional support from their animal." Do you think so? They suggested that a better solution would have been providing clearer guidelines for certification and vetting various companies in the emotional support animal industry, such as theirs, that would be a better solution to cracking down on the amount of animals trying to be passed off as emotional support animals and thus service animals.
What do you make of this "final rule" from the U.S. DOT? The airlines are thrilled. American Airlines in particular was very pleased with the decision and told CNN this: "This new rule reflects a respect for individuals with disabilities who travel with legitimate service animals, which we share, while providing clear and practical guidelines that will eliminate the abuse of the system that has been a source of concern for our team members and customers."
I tend to agree with that statement from American Airlines. I think people did abuse the system and ruined it for others with legitimate disabilities, whether that is physical or emotional. I like that they are cracking down on what can be acceptable as a service animal because I don't think anyone should be subjected to being in the same cabin as a peacock...that's a bit ridiculous. While cats and other pets could certainly be considered "therapy" or "emotional support animals" for various individuals, unfortunately those animals are not always public friendly; meaning they do not have the same capability of public discipline as dogs do. Dogs are a proven species to be well trained for various services...peacocks, spiders, squirrels, rabbits, etc. are not. I'm glad they are allowed to travel within the guidelines of travel for pets but unfortunately I do not think they can be trusted to be out in the open as a normal service dog would be so I think the DOT made the correct decision here with only recognizing dogs as service animals while allowing other animals to travel but within different criteria or guidelines. What do you think?
-Producer Lightning