Emotional support animals will no longer be considered service animals on flights
 

Fair, and overdue, IMHO. My only concern is for military vets who need emo support animals for PTSD. Hopefully it will be made easy for them to get certified. No restrictions on breed, which is a little surprising.

Emotional support animals will no longer be considered service animals on flights, DOT decides

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has announced that emotional support animals will no longer be considered service animals on flights, updating its final rule on the controversial travel topic.

DOT shared the news in a Wednesday news release, explaining that the revision to the Air Carrier Access Act followed over 15,000 comments on the proposal, which was first pitched in January.

“The final rule announced today addresses concerns raised by individuals with disabilities, airlines, flight attendants, airports, other aviation transportation stakeholders, and other members of the public, regarding service animals on aircraft,” the agency said.

Now, the DOT will define 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.”

While the DOT "no longer considers an emotional support animal to be a service animal,” the department will require airlines to “treat psychiatric service animals the same as other service animals.”

Moving forward, the department is allowing airlines to require DOT-approved forms affirming a service animal's health, behavior and training before travel, and allowing carriers to cap the number of service animals traveling with a single passenger at two.

In addition, the DOT has given airlines the OK to require a service animal to fit within its handler’s foot space on the airplane, and mandate that the animal be harnessed, leashed, or tethered at all times on the plane and within the airport during the travel journey.

The DOT further supports a carrier’s agency in refusing transport to service animals acting aggressively, while barring airlines from refusing to transport a service animal based on breed.

The subject of emotional support and service animals on airplanes was a major travel news topic of 2018, after an emotional support peacock named Dexter and his owner were denied boarding on a United Airlines flight. Months later, a French bulldog died in the high skies after being accidentally placed into an overhead bin by a United Airlines flight attendant for the duration of the trip. From there, emotional support cats, squirrels and hamsters continued to make headlines and spark debate.

Various carriers have since tightened the leash on their respective rules regarding the transportation of both emotional support and service animals; the DOT’s latest update will be a game changer for policy.

https://www.foxnews.com/travel/dot-s...nimals-flights

Even if the pet wears a mask?

They shouldn't be, period. But it's a start I suppose.

Get those m***********g snakes off those m***********g planes.

The problem with "service" animals is that it isn't tightly regulated.

You can get a smock online, slap it on your dog, and take it anywhere. Nobody can do anything about it for fear of the backlash.

SERVICE animals need to be trained and certified. That fixes the problem.

What am I going to do without my emotional aardvark?

The issue in California is that the police and/or any government officials aren't allowed to ask the person if their service animal is actually a service animal due to privacy laws.

I've run into this problem at Lake Hollywood this year because due to the pandemic, it's become a hotspot for families, joggers and walkers who often times bring their huge or small dogs with them at the lake, which is prohibited by law.

But the security guards aren't allowed to ask for proof, so it's become a disaster.

I know of a woman who can get you some emotional support crabs.

I have an emotional support snake in my pants.

I know more people than I care to admit who do exactly that. To the point where if you fly commercial it's a negative status mark to fly without one. Yes, they are all women. They get the forms from a Psych doc, aren't patients of, and pay once a year to renew.

Hopefully these new requirements will curb a lot of those loopholes:

Now, the DOT will define 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.”

The department is allowing airlines to require DOT-approved forms affirming a service animal's health, behavior and training before travel,

https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/...trip=all&w=700

Am I supposed to take my pony on the train now?

I wonder if the federal DOT laws will override those local laws, especially for interstate travel?

I had a dude across from me cuddling with two cats the whole flight.

I mean, I'm not anti-cat, but bro...
Plus from what I've seen those unpredictable bastards are anything but calming.

Privacy laws are very important in California so there may be a court battle on the horizon. I don't fly as much as I did pre-kids and while I'd see people, generally females, with tiny dogs in their carry-on bags or even purses, I'd never had or seen a problem with animals on flights.

My biggest issue with flying now will be obtaining a Read ID. I just can't freaking believe that to fly, I'll need to either renew my passport or take my birth certificate and Social Security card to the DMV to apply and pay for a Read ID, just to travel domestically.

It's a load of horseshit.