I don’t fly on USAir / American very often, but when I did last week, my flight included two full-size dogs. These dogs had none of the usual service dog signage, nor were they in any kind of container. They just boarded with everyone. The one nearest to me had been trained to stay under the seat and did so through the hour-long flight.
Both of these dogs were quite well-behaved, but the issues here are obvious: What happens when the inevitable asshole boards with an ill-behaved dog whose doggie downers wear off halfway through the flight? What if the plane needs to be evacuated?
Is this a American Airlines thing? Is it a new policy?
redshirt
What about my service Llama?
Patricia Kayden
That’s interesting. Not sure if I’d really want to be on a flight with other people’s dogs though. I’ve been on a bus where a poor seeing eye dog started vomiting. Felt sorry for the dog and its owner and for the passengers who had to endure the smell.
the Conster
I sat next to a lady with her cat in a little carrier at her feet. Didn’t know you could do that either.
Calouste
These might be emotional support animals. You can bring them on board a plane if (roughly) you have a note from your psychiatrist or other medical professional stating that they are important for your emotional well being.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_support_animal#Airlines
Cervantes
Here’s the general rule:
There are exceptions.
elmo
The Americans with Disabilities Act makes it unlawful to require any particular set of documentation, signage, gear, harness, or other accoutrements to allow a service dog access to any place of public accommodation. My wife’s service dog has always worn a harness with a clearly visible badge, but that’s for her convenience. It can’t be required. All the company can legally ask is whether it is a dog (or other animal) required for assistance with a disability. Can’t even ask what the disability is. If the answer is in the affirmative, they have to back off unless and until the animal affirmatively becomes a nuisance or danger.
sharl
Reminds me of a story last year about a Los Angeles-to-Philly flight where things didn’t go so well (the two-hour flight delay certainly didn’t help): Dog diarrhea on cross-country flight forces emergency landing
But hey, the dog’s apologetic owner wanted everyone’s contact info, so she could make amends by sending them Starbucks gift cards, so there was that.
I didn’t originally read this story at the AJC site I linked above. Wherever I read it last year – probably Gawker or Wonkette, I’m guessing – they had comments, and a lot of commenters voiced their knowledge (or suspicions) that there is a LOT of abuse of the service dog provisions that airlines offer, i.e., maybe a lot of those passengers claiming their companion pooches were service dogs actually just didn’t want to leave home without Fifi (though I suppose emotional support is a kind of service; a good lawyer could maybe make that work…). I rarely fly so cannot speak to it myself, but this seems to be just one more thing to make an increasingly unpleasant experience even more so.
ETA: Ah, I see Calouste at #4 has addressed this issue with actual information!
Howard Beale IV
Each carrier is different when it comes to transporting animals. It was only recently that Southwest allowed dogs and cats to travel inside the cabin, before that they had a hard and fast rule that no animals would fly on their aircraft either in the cabin or as luggage in the pressurized section.
And it ain’t cheap either should you wish to travel with your pet. And if you have a large dog, it’s worth advising the lead flight attendant that you have your pet on board so they can relay that back to the flight deck.
I only traveled once with my cat from Detroit to Chicago. Thankfully, no issues.
During certain travel periods, animals with drop-kicked faces (Persians, Pugs, etcs.) will be prohibited from flying when temperatures reach a certain level.
Botsplainer
How does a dog know how to equalize for pressure differences on altitude changes? I think it presents a real mood issue for the average dog – true service animals are trained around surprise and discomfort issues.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@the Conster:
I knew you could fly with cats in a carrier in the cabin, but it has to be an airline-approved carrier that’s able to fit under the seat. I don’t think anyone would be comfortable with a cat loose in the cabin, including the cat.
elmo
@Patricia Kayden: Ugh! That’s really unfortunate, and it’s not like the blind person can decide “Heck, I’ll drive today instead of taking the bus.” Having raised and trained service dogs for more than twenty years, and living with one myself, I have to say that scenario is one of my nightmares.
The only thing worse is the dog suddenly getting the runs. Which can also happen. To a trained dog, that makes him just about as miserable as it makes everyone else, which doesn’t help.
elmo
@Howard Beale IV: I traveled with a very large German Shepherd (trained as a balance dog) on Southwest back in 2003. We had the bulkhead seats, and he just lay in front of us.
Eric U.
I try to avoid flying as much as I can. The airlines have determined that torture and extortion is the best way to make money. I can’t believe people get excited about it. Sure, I like to travel, but not via airline. Since I’m about to go flying for the first time in a year, this notion has really not made me happy. If my flight was diverted because someone had to bring their animal on board, I might have anger issues.
JPL
My son traveled from Chicago to Atlanta with a tiger but it was crated.
It did growl or whine though and the son didn’t like that.
D58826
totally OLT but looks like the GOP isn’t satisfied with wars in Afganistan, Iraq, Iran, Yeman, Libia, and Syria. Now they want to risk war with Russia to prove what exactly? That Rubio has bigger stones than Putin?
Or maybe that he has stones where his brain should be.
I
MomSense
I had a dear friend, FSM bless his memory, who always bought a ticket for his beloved German Shepherd to fly first class with him on SwissAir when he visited friends and family in the US.
I have known and loved some magnificent dogs but that dog (FSM bless his memory) was the most impressive dog I have ever experienced. I would rather sit next to him on a plane than any human I can think of.
redshirt
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/20/pets-allowed
A funny article from the New Yorker about service animals.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@sharl:
There have been some really sad stories of pets that have died while being transported in the cargo hold (of either heat or cold) or who have been lost by the airlines, so I can understand why pet owners would rather make sure their pet is with them on the flight.
redshirt
I vote United for worst US domestic airline. Anyone disagree?
Schlemazel
I used to take the bus to work in the pre-dawn hours. Not long after starting the route I was seated behind a guy I had seen but not paid any attention to. I felt a gentle tugging on the cuff of my pants. It was the only time I can honestly say I felt the hair on my head stand up! I looked down & saw that there was a service dog under the guys seat (he was blind) and I was stepping on his paw. Made me feel like a shitheel!
D58826
@efgoldman: Actually that makes it very simple. Declare war on everybody. We’re bound to stumble in to the ‘right’ country eventually.
Seriously though what ever other political difference I have with the GOP, their insane desire to play king of the hill with other peoples lives disqualifies them from holding any office higher than picking up dog poop in a public park. Assuming they could tell the difference between poop and mud pies.
Schlemazel
@redshirt:
US Scareways, hands down. Delta is duking it out with United for #2.
pacem appellant
I fly infrequently, but once I had to ask to move seats (assigned seating, can’t remember the airline, so–not Southwest) because the woman next to me was traveling with her cat. While adorable, a five-hour flight next to the one thing I most allergic to in the world was not going to make my happy, regardless of the amount of Claritin I took. I got re-seated easily about six rows behind the cat and was fine. I never heard the feline. The only annoyances on the airplane were children, as usual.
justsomeguy
What about allergies ? I am extremely allergic to cats, and there must be people that are allergic to dogs. How is it OK to bring a cat onto a flight if it will cause me to need medication that will (in that situation) not be available ??? On the other hand, some people are allergic to perfume/cologne – and there are no restrictions on that.
Cervantes
@redshirt:
I’d be inclined to vote for all of them.
redshirt
@efgoldman: I give Southwest slack since it seems like you should know what you’re signing up for: Cheap.
United is expensive and terrible.
redshirt
@Cervantes: I’ve had good luck on JetBlue.
Rafer Janders
Yes, sitting close to a dog or cat for any length of time over five minutes will result in me not being able to breathe, sometimes to the point where it’s required a hospital visit. Anyone who brings a pet into an enclosed space such as an airplane with hundreds of other people is forcing others to take a severe risk with their health.
sharl
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): Yep, that’s definitely true. Tough choice for a pet owner who has such limited options.
SiubhanDuinne
I am filling my tank with what may be the slowest gas pump in the world.
Oh, well, the price isn’t bad. And I don’t have an appointment or anything.
A guy
That’s what happens when society does a dumb thing and starts granting animals rights
NotMax
Woman in the seat in front of me on one leg of the recent trip had an unsecured lap dog (one of those types that looks like a dust mop with teeth), which surprised me.
Quite a few people have allergies to animal dander.
Elizabelle
Years ago, I escorted a friend’s two cats up from Virginia to JFK, so the cats could fly on to Europe. Their carriers were in the bulkhead row; I sat just behind, and I remember some very large and tall man staring daggers at the three of us for a long time, because he would have used the legroom the cats were oblivious to.
ETA: They did pretty well, but they mewled a lot. We were originally booked on an earlier flight that day, and I checked and checked that the plane was catsafe. Get to the airport and board the plane and “who owns these cats?” is announced. So we all flew up on the next suitable aircraft.
Scout211
@efgoldman:
Southwest is the only domestic carrier that I will fly. 2 free checked bags and open seating make a much less crazy boarding process. Plus, the cancellation and rebooking process is much easier with no extra fees.
But yeah, they had larger seats than the other domestic carriers for years . . . until recently. Now they have smaller seats with less leg room like the other carriers.
Elizabelle
Talked to a lady in California who said she could hear her beagle barking in cargo hold over several states. Lovely.
Too bad Pet Airlines is not still around. It was a cool idea, but kind of expensive …
MomSense
@JPL:
Ok, you are the coolest person ever.
shell
@MomSense: Is Britain the only country that still requires a months long quarantine for dogs?
MomSense
@shell:
I have no idea. This guy was connected. He usually flew from Geneva to Boston and I would pick him up at the airport.
ETA Didn’t a movie star (Wahlberg?) make news recently concerning breaking an Australian quarantine rule?
Mustang Bobby
I traveled with Sam in a carrier that fit under the seat in front. He was well-behaved (and also pleasantly stoned). The thing that irked me is that American charged me $50 for him even though he was in a carrier and slept the whole time, whereas the people behind me had a baby that screeched the entire time. Now I know that babies can’t pop their ears and the change in altitude causes pain, but …
By the way, do babes in arms fly free?
Roger Moore
@shell:
Nope. There was a big thing recently about Johnny Depp getting in trouble for bringing his dog to Australia without going through proper quarantine. There was a threat of arrest for him and euthanasia for the poor dog.
NotMax
@MomSense
Dunno about Marky, but there was the instance of Justin Bieber, his monkey, and Germany not all that long ago.
MomSense
@Roger Moore: @NotMax:
I think it was Depp.
Cervantes
@Mustang Bobby:
You don’t need to buy a separate ticket for one.
If that’s what you mean.
Ruckus
@justsomeguy:
Was going to bring up the same issue you did, perfume/cologne. I’m allergic to most of them and being on a plane or even in an elevator momentarily is excruciating.
On another note I’ve seen small dogs in carry on for a number of years, probably close to 15. Never noticed a cat.
Luthe
A lot of airlines these days have rules about what temperature it has to be that they will and won’t allow animals to fly in the cargo bay. And if they aren’t allowed in cargo, they are flying in the cabin.
Booger
As long as the passengers aren’t evacuated.
Maeve
A service dog is a dog who has been trained to perform a task to assist someone with disability – they are not required to wear signage and they only questions that can be asked are:
http://www.ada.gov/service_animals_2010.htm
(Also “emotional support” animals don’t count as service animals because they are not trained to perform a specific task. Dogs trained to help people with PTSD are service dogs because they are trained to do things like recognize panic attacks and nudge and distract the person.)
I sat next to someone with a dog (a husky type dog) who curled up under the seat. I didn’t ask but the woman across the aisle did – the dog’s person was comfortable saying he was a seizure alert dog. So I would assume the dogs were service dogs.
I’ve never heard of airlines letting other than tiny dogs in the cabin – if the weather is too hot/cold then they just won’t let them fly and the person has to figure it out. My sister had a heck of a time trying to fly a cat to a new home – she lived in Texas and the new home was on the east and the window when it was both not too hot a one end and not too cold at the other was small. Some airlines also won’t fly snub-nosed dogs.
Elizabelle
Love the title of this blogpost. Makes me smile.
Zattarra
Most airlines will do nothing to accommodate an allergy so I’m not surprised that they let animals fly in the cabin with no regard to the number of people who might be allergic. They pretty much tell you it’s your own problem. Fly with a peanut allergy, tell the airline, tell the gate agent, tell the flight attendant when you get on and then watch them still have give you and the people all around you bags of nuts. They won’t just not serve nuts on flights anymore because “it’s inconvenient to the other passengers.” So you know, if your allergic to stuff fly at your own risk but can’t leave little fluffy at home because you’ll miss your pet and it’s come right aboard.
Snarki, child of Loki
IIRC, some story about a USAir flight where a pair of pot-belly pigs (not the human type) got loose and running around under the seats.
Hilarity ensues.
Hey, could I take a SNAKE as an emotional support animal? On a plane? Sounds oddly…appropriate.
Anoniminous
@redshirt:
That’s like asking, “would you rather be burnt at the stake or dipped in boiling oil?”
Anoniminous
@JPL:
Where would you like your Internets shipped?
PhoenixRising
My kid’s dog is 15 pounds and hypoallergenic; she bathes him the night before flying and he stays on leash or indoors to minimize his impact on those with allergies. He’s not allowed out of his carrier inside the plane, or the gate area, was our understanding of the dog-airline interface.
But apparently if we can get a(nother) shrink to DX her with anxiety–which she definitely suffers from, and the dog helps her a lot–he becomes a prescription medical device, or something, and all bets are off.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/05/us/four-legged-roommates-help-with-the-stresses-of-campus-life.html
raven
@Scout211: we flew them from LAX to ATL today. We paid the extra for a better seating position and, after seeing how it worked on the way out, sat in the window and aisle seat close to the front. There were not many empty seats and we would have moved to the middle but no one asked so we were comfy. I’m glad because we left for the airport at 3am and I only got about an hour last night.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Zattarra:
Milk, eggs, wheat, soy, and shellfish are also very common food allergens, so you’d pretty much have to ban all food from airplanes. Your pretzels could be causing your seatmate just as much danger as his/her peanuts are to you.
Vince
@efgoldman: Yeah, the contraband sniffing dogs wear signs IDing them and also warning people to not try and pet them.
WaynersT
Delta charges $300 roundtrip for an in cabin pet. Plus the pet counts as your carry on so you are forced to check any bag adding an extra $50 round trip. My last trip home my dog costs were $25 less than my own ticket. I actually wrote a letter to each member of the transportation committee in congress to complain.
On the way home a chick got on with a full sized pit bull “service dog’ who had never flown before and sat on her lap ( and it was a big dog). She was originally sitting next to me until they realized 2 dogs in the same row was not a good idea and moved her. She said he’s supposed to lay down on the ground but I never saw him move from her lap. He never made a sound and just chilled out in her lap the whole flight. I have an hilarious picture of him sitting upright in her lap if Ballon Juice ever allowed attachments.
Rafer Janders
@PhoenixRising:
I can not count the number of times someone has told me their dog is hypoallergenic and I have subsequently wound up doubled over with my airways constricted and unable to breathe.
Central Planning
@WaynersT:
I wonder if Andy Capp could get that rate for his wife?
PhoenixRising
@Rafer Janders: Sorry to hear that.
Did you miss the part where she’s responsible about the thing you are probably reacting to, which is that dogs without fur (‘hypoallergenic’ means something in fact, it’s not just a thing people like to say to injure you with no social consequences) still have hair, which needs to be cleaned and kept free of dust, pollen and other allergens until the flight?
Allergies suck. Almost as bad as hypoallergenic (read ‘annoying poodle mixes that bark at everything) dogs.
raven
When Raven was still with us we flew him out to Phoenix. I was in the kitchen at my folks house and my genius lawyer brother (he was doing a good bit of airline work in those days, sat on the couch with my bride and told her that they lose a lot of dogs and you only get a couple of bucks a pound for them if they die (in baggage). That was it, no more.
Ecks
You don’t need quarantine to the UK anymore. You can apparently get your pet tested for rabies instead, and then they get a little doggie passport.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
Also, too, as usual the problem is usually with the rude, self-absorbed people who are unwilling to modify their wants to accommodate other people. If I were flying and the stranger next to me let me know that they’re highly allergic to nuts or peanuts and could I please not eat any during the flight, I would do my best to help them out (and would be squinting at the fine print on my granola bars to see what was in them). If I had to fly cross country with my cat and they put me next to an allergic person, I would ask to be moved away from that person, because it’s just common courtesy. But I realize that there are jerks out there who can’t be bothered and make it uncomfortable for people with allergies to make polite requests.
RSA
@Vince:
The last time I was in an airport, I struck up a brief conversation with a TSA agent and his dog, to ask a few questions. He told me that the dog had just passed his last exam, and he gave me what looked like a baseball card–except on it was a photo of the dog, her name (by now I’ve forgotten it), and a bunch of stats and a listing of skills. It was pretty cool! I think the idea was aimed at kids, to make them feel comfortable with dogs roaming around.
Scout211
@raven:
Yes, we pay the “early bird” fee and take an aisle and a window seat, too. That works quite well.
And almost all the flights I have taken on Southwest in the last few years have been full.
Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA
@Rafer Janders: I refer to my two dogs as “supposedly hypoallergenic.” One is a poodle mix (who does not, in fact, bark at everything), the other is a mini schnauzer. I’m allergic to dogs, but fine around them most of the time — but if they go more than a week without a bath, I notice.
I’d never assume someone else with dog allergies would be okay around them, though. It all depends on the individual. ETA: I wouldn’t feel comfortable flying with either of them for that reason.
JustRuss
@JPL:
I’m feeling a movie, get me Samuel L. Jackson…
Cervantes
@Snarki, child of Loki:
A friend once took an otter on a long flight. It started out in his coat …
Cervantes
@Rafer Janders:
A good allergist would tell us that means less than people think.
People keep believing and doing as they wish.
Pogonip
@redshirt: And what about my service fleas?
redshirt
@Pogonip: lol. My emotional support lice.
Warren Terra
I’m surprised no-one has yet linked the 2014 New Yorker story about how easy it is to have a fraudulent or even ludicrous “emotional support” animal (which is obviously different from a trained and certified service animal).
@PhoenixRising:
I don’t know for certain about dogs, but for cats the principal allergen isn’t in the hair – it’s in the saliva. It’s dispersed on the hair, because cats spend all that time licking their fur “clean”, but a hairless cat would be quite allergenic (especially if it cleaned its hairless skin), and dogs might be similar.
Warren Terra
@Zattarra:
Actually, while honey-roasted peanuts were a cliche of airline travel in, say, the 1980s, I haven’t seen them in years, usually in favor of honey-mustard pretzel pieces, or cookies of some sort (if anything at all). I’ve always assumed this was a response to the increasing prevalence and/or awareness of peanut allergies.
Also: anyone with a severe allergy should obviously carry an epi pen, but also I am quite certain the flight attendants will have one and will be trained in its use. Situations like that are why they’re there; they were really only responsible for blankets and sodas, some bargain airline would have gotten rid of them years ago.
redshirt
@Warren Terra: I linked to it.
skwerlhugger
@Mustang Bobby: and in turbulence or the sudden deceleration of an accident, babes in arms are a.k.a. “human cannonballs”. Might as well argue you don’t need a seat belt, because you’ll just hold onto the armrests.
Lizzy L
Dogs who are being trained as guide dogs for the blind fly unsecured in the cabin (except for a lead, of course.) I traveled on a flight last year — sorry, can’t remember the carrier’s name — with a very well behaved German Shepherd and his handler. The dog rested quietly and no one appeared to have a problem.
CONGRATULATIONS!
I raise seeing eye puppies. I get them for the first year of life for basic socialization (it’s a 24/7 approximately one year unpaid volunteer job, but you get to work with the best dogs ever put on the planet) if they pass then they go to NorCal and go to the actual school.
There are two problems with dogs on planes:
1. The provision of the ADA that says what Elmo posted up above:
Problem being that a lot of folks just go to PETCO, plunk down 20 bucks for a vest, get a “support dog” patch off eBay and then bring a completely untrained and unprepared animal into a closed tube with no bathroom facilities for at least two hours and frequently more than five, all because they don’t want to pay for a proper crate and the fee. This sort of thing pisses me off like you would not believe. And there is no remedy. If the dog starts shitting everywhere or freaking out, flights can be diverted or people injured or worse. A dog having a panic attack is bad news.
2. Allergies. I have a family member who is seriously, dangerously allergic to dogs. If I go to his house I have to change into dander-free clothing, and he can’t come to my house at all. His last airline trip, he was located next to a service dog. Asked to be moved, no dice, no free seats. Spent the whole flight – LAX to Charlotte – standing in the back near the flight attendant station. He then spent the next week flat on his back with a massive respiratory infection. That’s a baby the courts are eventually going to have to split and it is going to be ugly, because for some people that allergic reaction isn’t annoying, but lethal.
I (not speaking on behalf of the organization I work for, want to make that very clear) would like to see some sort of permitting for these animals. And I’m not anti-PTSD dogs or anything like that (far from it, I think the PTSD dogs are the single most effective treatment modality I’ve ever seen) but I think that if you’re going to allow a dog inside the passenger space of an airliner, that they need to have some serious training and the ability to deal with that sort of environment.
TJ Carb
Two nice dogs boarded your plane and were not a problem. End of story. Please go on with your life and quit trying to make something out of nothing. People with allergies need to get a shot, take a pill or stay home. The world can’t revolve around your problems. People all around you are suffering from all sorts of things and they don’t ask you to take care of them. There are real problems in the world outside of your little spheres. Be thankful that you could afford to take a plane trip in a free country. You have a home to go to and enough to eat. I fly all the time and would love to take a flight with a plane full of dogs. So much better behaved than a lot of people.
Nutella
@Snarki, child of Loki:
Yes, and the owner claimed the pig was a service animal. As far as anyone could tell, the only service it provided was crapping on the carpet and getting in everyone’s way.