trouble747

Uh, allergies to animal dander are fairly common.

trouble747

One generally doesn't have to keep a psychiatrist on retainer. And in fact these documents are incredibly easy to come by:

One excerpt:

HMO

While there are reputable professionals who only attest the need of an ESA for his/her patient after several sessions, with profound understanding about the patient problems, unfortunately there are also so called professionals who attest the need of an ESA after a single phone or web interview. You just need to pay the doctor's fee. It's sad, but also true.

This New Yorker reporter wrote an article about it. She got letters from several doctors (who never saw her personally) stating she was in need for an ESA. Sorry, for several ESAs.

morelegroom

Here is the DOT on emotional support animals.

Require documentation for emotional
support animals: With respect to an animal
used for emotional support (which need not
have specific training for that function),
airline personnel may require current
documentation (i.e., not more than one year
old) on letterhead from a mental health
professional stating (1) that the passenger has
a mental health-related disability; (2) that
having the animal accompany the passenger
is necessary to the passenger’s mental health
or treatment or to assist the passenger (with
his or her disability); and (3) that the
individual providing the assessment of the
passenger is a licensed mental health
professional and the passenger is under his
or her professional care. Airline personnel
may require this documentation as a
condition of permitting the animal to
accompany the passenger in the cabin. The
purpose of this provision is to prevent abuse
by passengers that do not have a medical
need for an emotional support animal and to
ensure that passengers who have a legitimate
need for emotional support animals are
permitted to travel with their service animals
on the aircraft. Airlines are not permitted to
require the documentation to specify the type
of mental health disability, e.g., panic
attacks.

jrl767

the operative phrase that occurs twice in that paragraph is "airline personnel may require ..." ... not "must"; not "shall"

Gongzuokuang

By a show of hands, how many people think the airlines (at least the domestic legacy carriers) are doing a good job of managing this?

I do most of my flying now on the Asian carriers, and while they are light-years ahead of the domestics on customer service, and accommodating customer wants/demands, I just can't picture them rubber-stamping a dog boarding pass they way it seems to be done here, just in an effort to keep a pax happy. I imagine they would expect real, legit documentation.

Of course, this doesn't take into account the regional flights, as note earlier with pigs and chickens! :-)

drvannostren

Can't wait to bring my emotional support croc on my next flight. He's usually very calm unless he smells food or sense fear, don't look him in the eye.

I get the service animals thing, it's a sticky situation for sure. I've managed to never be on a flight with one, I've seen a few people bring carriers on board and I've actually managed to never hear a peep from one of those dogs, but I'm kinda waiting for it. Because I'd be pretty choked if I'm trying to sleep and someone's dog is going off like an alarm clock.

But for those of you who've been on board with service dogs, the ones I've seen are NEVER small, I dunno if it's a breed thing, but they're usually pretty big dogs. Do people just sit there and expect me to deal with the fact my small amount of legroom now is no legroom? Or does the crew usually try and just move people out of the seats next to them?

I can't even get into the emotional support animals, I dunno, people can flame me all they want and maybe it's just because I don't currently have these types of problems, but if I'm that desperate to have a pet next to me, I'm not flying.

ou81two

I'm on a flight right now. Up to 16k miles this year. No dogs, period. Writing an article on that stuff is pretty hard if you can't find anyone to give you said letter now isn't it. The New Yorker is a magazine. That's a writer, not a journalist. How about you call a statistically significant number of MHP's and get back to me on the number that will hook you up over the phone.

Was in two terminals of ATL today as well. 0 dogs.

There's this thing you need to do called reading since you're posting in a thread based on your speculation of how things work. Read the airlines' pages on this sort of thing. They require a letter, they call the MHP and then they put it on the flight record. The person traveling doesn't need documentation with them other than their boarding pass. Again, please read about things before you speculate on how asian airlines would treat this. Those airlines, when flying to the US of A, are bound by American law.

mczlaw

There's this thing you need to do called not assuming your own experience is representative of others. Not being snotty when expressing your views is another handy tip.

My experience (about 25,000 miles so far this year; around 150,000 in 2014): increasingly more animals, mostly dogs, on flights the last couple years than ever before; not coincidentally, IMO, as airlines have jacked up fees for carrying pets. Most recent example, yesterday, passenger in AS F, LAX-PDX, had small dog on her lap prior to take off. FA said dog needs to be in zipped carrier under seat in front of her. Next, dog in carrier, zipper open. Another admonition from FA. Finally, zipped in and the little dog cried for a good portion of the flight. Hardly the first time, IME. Dogs in terminals becoming so common, some airports creating "pet relief areas." There's one in SEA near the QX gates. Not sure about ATL. Was through there weekend before last, but wasn't looking.

Lastly, journalists work for magazines as well as other sorts of publications. Not sure where one would get the idea that "writers" don't include journalists. Rather an ignorant comment, frankly.

--mcz

JRTGRL

Hi Everyone!

I will soon be traveling with an emotional support dog, and I am now PETRIFIED. I didn't know people got fake letters, and the last thing I want to do is get yelled at or be perceived as one of the people who take advantage of this benefit.

My father was murdered recently (total TMI, I know, but since this is anonymous I feel okay talking about it) and I had a stress seizure due to not sleeping for two weeks. My dog has always been very important in my life, but since the death of my father, she has gone everywhere with me. NOT grocery stores or restaurants, but places dogs are allowed...I am aware she is not a service dog, so I don't push it.

Since my trip is almost 3 weeks long, my doctor suggested I take my dog along. For the passed 2 months, we have done extensive training. She will also be taking something to make her a little sleepy on the plane so she can relax, prescribed by my vet. I have read articles about when is the latest you should feed your dog before air travel, and how to make them feel safe during the flight. I also got one of those duffel bag things that she doesn't exactly fit into (she fits in it laying down, I just can't zip it up) so she has a place to lay and not bother passengers that don't like dogs.

This thread has been very helpful/frightning and I really hope no one gets mad at me. If anyone has any tips, I would love to hear them.

Thanks!