The U.S. Department of Transport (DOT) is proposing a new rule that would make emotional support peacocks, snakes and other weird and wonderful animal species a thing of the past for the nations airlines. If enacted, dogs would be the only species recognised as a ‘service animal’ and emotional support animals would be treated as pets.
An aviation industry body estimates that over a million passengers flew on US-based airlines with a service animal in 2018 and Delta estimates it carries around 700 service animals every single day.
The growing popularity for passengers to fly with a service animal in the cabin hasn’t been without its problems. In 2018, airlines received more than 3,000 complaints about service animals and there have been a number of high profile incidents involving service animals biting flight attendants and passengers.
“Passengers have attempted to fly with many different unusual species of animals, such as
a peacock, ducks, turkeys, pigs, iguanas, and various other types of animals as emotional support or service animals, causing confusion for airline employees and additional scrutiny for service animal users,” the notice of proposed rule making from the DOT reads.
“Disability advocates have voiced concerns that the use of these unusual service animals on aircraft erodes the public’s trust and confidence in service animals. Airlines, meanwhile, have expressed concern about the heightened attention these animals have received and the resources airlines expend each time an unusual or untrained animal is presented for transport on an aircraft.”
The DOT says some passengers are claiming their pets are service animals because they don’t want to pay the fees associated with carrying a pet onboard a flight. Online services are allegedly issuing letters claiming a pet is an emotional support animal just so passengers can circumvent airline rules.
But that could soon be a thing of the past of the proposed changes are made law. Some of the key changes include:
Changing the definition of ‘service animal’ to “a dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of a qualified individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability.”
Giving airlines the option not to recognise Emotional Support Animals at all and instead treating them as pets.
Making owners provide documentation that animal was properly trained and would not need to relieve itself during a flight.
Limiting the number of service animals to two per passenger.
Requiring service animals to be small enough to fit in the foot space of the passenger.
In addition, the DOT proposes to keep a current rule that prevents airlines from banning certain breeds – at present, Delta bans all pit bull-type dogs for fear they are a risk to passengers and crew.
“The safety of our people is paramount. In 2018 alone, more than 40 instances of aggressive animal behavior occurred aboard a Delta aircraft,” explained Alison Ausband, head of in-flight service in a memo late last year.
Delta says it continues to work with the DOT to find a solution but it looks like officials want airlines to assess animals individually rather than issuing blanket bans.
The notice period for comments to be made opened today and the whole proposed rule making can be found at regulations.gov under docket number: DOT-OST-2018-0068.
The final rule making is expected to be made later this year.
