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Delta Air Lines Tightens Rules for Service and Support Animals
- pfarnsworth 9y agoI'm glad. I hope this spreads across the entire industry. Emotional support animals are the biggest scam. I have friends who openly get emotional support certificates for their animals on the Internet, and brag about how they are avoiding paying extra fees for their animals. It's selfish and it hurts people with real needs. I think they should only allow real service animals with proper medical documentation and not emotional support animals on planes.
- js2 9y agoNot sure why you were down voted since it's absolutely an example of why we can't have nice things. There are properly trained support animals that their owners are absolutely justified in having. But sadly, there are also definitely some folks taking advantage in order to bring their poorly behaved pets into places they wouldn't otherwise be allowed. It's pretty disgusting actually. From the story – there's absolutely no excuse for this: > In June, a 70-pound support dog mauled a passenger on a Delta flight in Atlanta, biting the man’s face multiple times. Disclosure: dog owner for many years.
- cobookman 9y ago> There are properly trained support animals that their owners are absolutely justified in having. ESA's do not require training. Only service animals are trained.
- js2 9y agoThanks. I didn't know the difference till now. Apparently w/regards to airlines, ESA's fall under the Air Carrier Access Act. From what I've read, the ACAA is less restrictive than the ADA (which only requires service animals be allowed access) but airlines can be more restrictive than FHAA. I wish we could have nice things, but this is why we end up needing licenses/permits/fines.
- discoursism 9y agoEven with actual emotional support animals, I don't understand why anyone needs a seventy pound dog as an emotional support animal. Is a twenty pound dog insufficiently supportive? Are there a certain number of support units per pound? In everything there's a balance between personal freedom to do whatever you want, and the accommodation of other humans who may have conflicting needs or preferences. When there are such conflicting needs and preferences, I feel it's incumbent on the party imposing unusual requirements on others to minimize their imposition. When it comes to selecting an animal to accompany you on flights, this entails choosing an animal that is likely to fit comfortably, not be unusually odorous or violent, and otherwise be relatively inoffensive to one's fellow passengers, at least to the extent one is able. (I understand that only certain breeds of dog are suitable as seeing eye dogs, and for that I will gladly make an exception, as these animals are usually exceptionally well-trained and are also almost necessary for their owners to function).
- exabrial 9y agoThey should just all have turkeys: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/01/15/someone-just-used-a-federal-law-to-bring-a-live-turkey-on-a-delta-flight/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/01/1...
- rectang 9y agoIt's a messed up situation. The ADA requirements around inquiring about service animals have the good intention of preventing endless harassment, but they're too sloppy and subject to abuse. A targeted fix would solve the problem. But because many congresspeople would rather repeal the ADA in its entirety, it won't get patched.
- cobookman 9y agoWhy can't we just enforce a fine for fraud? Say $2,000 + having to vacate your apartment in 48 hours. With the money going to the landlord or service provider who calls them out.
- ffumarola 9y agoI have a pit bull who is amazingly well behaved, including having a CGC (Canine Good Citizen) training certificate. However, moving in to an apartment in San Francisco was damn near impossible. I was on the brink of leaving the bay area because of how hard it was to find someone willing to rent to me, until I found a private landlord who took pity on me. Many times I had friends suggest I just lie and say my dog was an emotional support animal. It was quite tempting because of how awful it can be to find a place to rent in SF with a dog. If you think it's bad and you're not a pet owner, imagine it being 10x worse. The only reason I didn't do that was because I didn't want to contribute to rules like this which make it harder for people who really need the ESA.
- cobookman 9y agoFYI most large apartment management firms in the bay area are so used to calling out fake ESA animals, that they'll end up finding out.
- ffumarola 9y agoFind out what? There is nothing to find out, it's easy to prove any dog is an ESA with the help of a friendly doctor. You may be suggesting that lying about service animals is easily discoverable, which is indeed true. This is already illegal.
- cobookman 9y agoThey'll call your doctor and go to the full extent of the law if your animal is really an ESA. Sure you can still go to a doctor and mention that you're depressed an how an animal will really help you out...etc. But I wouldn't assume that large apartment complexes just stand by idle. Most are tired of fake ESA animals that cause them insurance & tenant issues.
- closeparen 9y agoThere are a lot of things I like about city/renter/transit-oriented life, but if I'm forced to choose between that and a dog, I'll choose the dog.
- j_s 9y agoStop Faking Service Dogs | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15178803 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15178803 (September 2017)
- exabrial 9y agoWhy is it so hard to fly with a dog? A person can fly with a cello if they buy an extra seat. Source: https://gregorybeaver.com/the-2017-guide-to-flying-with-a-cello-f27439d329ec https://gregorybeaver.com/the-2017-guide-to-flying-with-a-ce...
- cobookman 9y agoA cello doesn't give people allergies, or make noise. Honestly I don't see a reason why you shouldn't be allowed to travel with a 70lb dog if you buy another seat though.
- tdb7893 9y agoMy dog is 80 pounds and he's a good boy but between the alergies, the fur, the possibility of disrupting other passengers, and the fact that he takes up two seats (a dog would have to be pretty small to comfortably curl up in one seat for multiple hours) I can see why airline companies aren't keen on it.
- duck 9y agoYou realize that some people don't like and/or afraid of dogs, right? That said, you can "easily" fly with your dog when you check them in.
- Judgmentality 9y agoI don't like crying children, but I am still forced to fly with them. Children are often a source of germs as well and may make you sick. I would much rather be on a plane with a well-behaved dog.
- pavel_lishin 9y agoI don't have any scars from a cello bite.
- chrisper 9y agoThen don't put your finger in the dog kennel.
- fapjacks 9y agoMy best friend uses a (very well-behaved and trained) emotional support animal for PTSD that completely changed my perspective on emotional support animals. They would change your perspective, too. I agree with other posters here that some kind of minimal documentation is acceptable, and completely agree with a big fine for abuse of the system. With respect to this news item, and since the law is pretty clear, what exactly do they mean by "documentation" here? "... it would require documentation about their health and, in some instances, a promise of good conduct" Oh, so basically... Nothing worthwhile. These are the kinds of changes that just gum up any system and end up causing a bureaucratic nightmare after the whole thing gets tons of these totally useless processes and requirements slapped on. You wanna talk about fining people for something? There should be a fine for creating this kind of inefficiency.