== Site Navigation ==

Main Page Past Shows About Us Show Hosts Comment

== Project Sites ==

Disability Law Lowdown Podcast Disability Law Lowdown Podcast
en Espanol
Disability Law Lowdown Podcast
in ASL Southwest ADA Podcast

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution - Noncommercial - No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

[ Listen | Download | Transcript | Printer Friendly Version (New window) ]

[Background music] You are listening to the Disability Law Lowdown Podcast, show number 50 with your host Jacquie Brennan.

Jacquie Brennan: Hi, and thanks for tuning in to the third part of our three-part series on service animals. Today, we're going to be discussing service animals under the Air Carrier Access Act. The Air Carrier Access Act prohibits discrimination because of disability in air travel. It applies to all domestic airlines. It also applies to foreign airlines that fly into or out of the United States. Although there are some differences and we'll discuss those as we go through the material.

Air carriers are required to allow service animals traveling with people with disabilities to sit with them in the cabin of the aircraft. Now, the definition of service animal is different under the Air Carrier Access Act than it is under the ADA. It includes guide dogs, signal dogs, psychiatric service animals and emotional support animals or what we sometimes call comfort animals or therapy animals. Persons traveling with pets, as opposed to service animals or emotional support animals, do not have any rights under the Air Carrier Access Act. Air carrier personnel may ask questions and request documentations in certain circumstances to determine whether the person is entitled to travel with the service animal.

A common misconception among passengers is that once you invoke disability, questions are forbidden. The types of questions that may be asked vary, depending on the disability and the animal. Additionally, documentation may be required. The level of documentation that may be required depends on the person's disability and the type of service animal. So, you might wonder why it depends on that, because shouldn't all disabilities be treated the same? Well, the reasoning behind the variation includes that many people with disabilities who travel, do not have obvious disabilities and the need for service animal is not apparent and even for some individuals with obvious disabilities, the need for the service animal may not be apparent. So if the person has an obvious disability and the animal is wearing a harness, tags, vest or a backpack, or the person provides identification cards or other written documentation, or the person provides what the law calls credible, verbal assurances that the animal is a service animal, then the airline should permit the animal to accompany the person on the plane. If personnel are not certain of the animal's status, even after being told that it's a service animal, then personnel can ask things like, “What tasks or function does your animal perform for you? What has the animal been trained to do for you”; or, “Would you describe how the animal performs this task or function for you?”

Now, in terms of emotional support or psychiatric service animal, the rules are a little different. The airlines may request very specific documentation, diagnostic documentation, to be provided 48 hours in advance of the flight. The documentation must be current, meaning it is not more than 1 year old. It has to be on letterhead from a licensed mental health professional. It has to state that the person has a mental or emotional disability recognized in the DSM-IV and it has to state that the animal is needed as an accommodation for air travel or for activity at the individual's destination. Also, the documentation should state that the health professional is treating the individual and include the date and type of the mental health professional's license and the state or other jurisdiction in which it was issued.

This documentation does not need to state the person's diagnosis. Unusual animals like miniature horses, pigs, monkeys, may be allowed to travel as service animals. It really depends on a couple of different factors. The airline may take in to account the animal's size, the animal's weight, and whether the animal would pose a direct threat to the health and safety of others or cause a significant disruption in cabin service. If there are restrictions on the animal at the final destination, and this would be in terms of going to another country, if there are going to be restrictions at the final destination, the animal may be denied passage.

Snakes, other reptiles, ferrets, rodents and spiders will be denied boarding the plane at all, as they may pose other safety and public health concerns. Foreign carriers are required to transport only dogs as service animals. If a service animal barks, growls, jumps on people, or misbehaves in ways that indicate that the animal has not been properly trained and has not been trained to behave properly in public settings, or poses a direct threat to the health and safety of others, or poses a significant risk of disruption in airline service, the animal may be denied boarding. Service animals cannot be denied passage because other customers are allergic to, annoyed by, or afraid of animals. The airlines will make accommodations to assure that other passengers are comfortable. If a passenger with a severe allergy that rises to the level of a disability cannot travel in the same cabin as the animal, a carrier may rebook one of the passengers on another flight. Passengers with the service animal may request pre-boarding and ask for a bulkhead seat or a seat that better suits their needs. A person traveling with a service animal may request any seat unless it blocks an aisle or an area designated for emergency evacuation. If the person cannot be accommodated in a requested seat, then the person must be given the opportunity to move to another seat within the same class of service. The airline does not have to ask other passengers to give up all or most of the space in front of their seats to accommodate space for a service animal. The airline may try to find someone willing to do that, however.

The airline can voluntary receipt a person traveling with a service animal to a business or first-class seat to accommodate a service animal, but it is not required to do so. In-flight services and facilities do not have to be provided for service animals. Owners traveling with animals must provide for the animal's food, care, and supervision. In the airline terminal, though, airlines must provide animal-relief areas and must provide escort service to individuals traveling with service animals to those areas when requested. Airlines are not required to make modifications for service animals that would constitute an undue burden or would fundamentally alter their programs.

So that covers service animals under the Air Carrier Access Act. Remember, any time you have questions about anything to do with service animals, you can call us at 1-800-949-4232, and we'll be glad to answer your questions. Thanks for tuning in.

The Disability Law Lowdown is brought to you by the Disability Business Technical Assistance Centers, which are a network of ADA centers that provide training, technical assistance and materials on the ADA and other disability-related laws. Funding for the centers is provided by a grant from NIDRR, the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. You can subscribe to the Disability Law Lowdown at our Web site at DisabilityLawLowdown.com or on iTunes.



The Southwest and Rocky Mountain ADA Centers are part of a program of Independent Living Research Utilization at TIRR - Memorial Hermann in Houston, Texas, and is funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. If you have questions about disability law or would like to request materials or training, please call 1-800-949-4232. This podcast is protected by the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No-Derivative-Works 2.5 License. For more information and transcripts, visit www.ada-podcast.com.