jamesteroh

You're right banning ESA's and pets is a never ending debate.

There's always threads popping up that pets shouldn't be allowed in an airplane because they are annoying to some and threads popping up infants should be banned from first class because they are annoying. Neither is going to happen.

MSPeconomist

Some airlines do ban pets.

jakers3200

Here's a situation that happened to me & my wife. Aisle & middle seats on the flight; I have the aisle & my wife has the baby in the middle seat; airlines recommend having an infant in arms in the aisle seat, presumably due to the possibility of falling luggage & cart collisions; I digress. Last person on the plane is a woman with her small dog. In her lap.

So now, our very inquisitive, grabby baby (8 months) is seated next to an unknown dog (probably a chihuahua or similar) with lots of energy & nails that would easily cut my baby's very soft skin if pawed. So I'm concerned with the baby grabbing the puppy and getting hurt in response, or the dog just being overly friendly and inadvertently scratching him.

We asked for reseating & the flight attendant pretty much told us to deal with it (with only a few empty seats). So long as she didn't dare sit in a premium economy seat, of course! The dog, although untrained, was fine & the woman understanding. Still, it was nerve wracking until my wife found an empty seat for the dog's owner, who kindly moved.

I know there were other possible solutions to keep pup & babe apart, and had it been a 50 pound dog on the lap next to him, we would have left the plane if there were no other options. I'm wondering, do airlines have policies about seating ESA next to children or infants in arms? Do airlines even know when they're coming? And is there any way to avoid a repeat?

Punchline is that while the dog was fine while there, the ~4 & 7 year old girls in front of us were screaming & kicking most of the flight, whereby I eventually scolded one by saying very calmly yet forcefully something like "would you please stop screaming so my baby can sleep."

beachmiles

Has anyone ever seen an ESA in Business Elite/ Delta One on a transatlantic flight with lay flat seats?

jamesteroh

I was wondering the same thing, can ESA's be in Delta one with flat bed seats? I know a pet in a carrier can't since there's no room under the seat in front of them.

If someone is flying international I can see people getting their pet registered as an ESA just so they can sit in D1 (and not to mention the fee is even higher on international for a pet than Domestic).

If I had to travel international with a cat I don't think I'd want them in D1 just because I like to sleep on long hauls and would be hard to do it if I knew my cat carrier was in the aisle and worrying about passengers stepping on it when using the lav or FA's accidentially stepping on him or running into him with the carts during service (not to mention it being a pain for the FA's during service and passengers using the bathroom).

jrl767

I've occasionally seen a passenger with a small dog-in-arms on the LAX-JFK redeyes ... never more than one in D1, although on at least one occasion there were two or more in the back as well

tvtd

I'm glad Doc beat me to this. To compare ESAs to infants...I think I'll stop there.

One can only hope.

MSPeconomist

YES, although not literally TATL. It was the ATL-EZE flight on a 767, IIRC shortly after the D1 renaming in that I believe it was called D1 and not BE at the time. There were a number of empty seats in business class, some of which were filled with nonrevs. The seat map was maybe 40% empty before the GA cleared upgrades at the gate. I would *guess* that none of these were GUC upgrades, as I had the impression that DL had realeased upgrade inventory earlier.

Shortly after takeoff some nonrevs moved up to business class and brought their luggage up into the business class cabin at that time. One party was a woman with two children, one of which was about four and the other perhaps six years old. Another one to move up, at either the invitation of with the acquiescence of the purser, was a woman with a dog in a container. The dog was small, but not really tiny.

She had the dog out of its carrier for the entire flight, including taking the dog with her when she used the lavatory or visited the FAs in the galley to chat. At one point, a different nonrev in D1 was holding the dog for maybe a half hour. A few others visited the dog, including one FA who made an enormous fuss about the dog. It was very annnoying on an overnight flight, even though the dog didn't bark much. I said something to the purser about pets not being allowed in D1 and the purser shrugged and said that it was an ESA.

Upon arrival in EZE I noticed that the woman with the dog didn't seem to go directly to the immigration lines. I don't know whether she stopped to talk to some airline employee buddies or took the dog somewhere for a bathroom break.

I later asked someone at DL about this and was told that nonrevs can travel with ESAs but I couldn't get a clear statement about whether it was allowed for them to bring the ESA into D1. My impression was that the GA had assigned the EC seat rather than D1 because of the dog, but then the cabin crew looked the other way when they shouldn't have.

Widgets

Without looking it up, I'd say that it would be bad policy to discriminate against nonrevenue customers with disabilities by saying "your need for an emotional support animal disqualifies you for Delta One access." It wouldn't be fair.

MSPeconomist

However, pets aren't allowed in D1 because there's no underseat storage for the pet's carrier.

It wasn't clear to me whether the dog in question with the nonrev was officially declared to be an ESA or just a pet. As I said, I couldn't get clear answers about whether what I observed was allowed or not, although I do know that a nonrev is not allowed to sit in a premium cabin when bringing a four year old child (also traveling nonrev, not having a separate revenue ticket).

Widgets

Nonrevs can't bring pets in Delta One, so what you saw must've been a support animal.

MSPeconomist

However, the presumed nonrev with the dog was NOT assigned a D1 seat by the GA. This was some sort of a self upgrade on after takeoff. I assume there was some reason that this nonrev wasn't assigned a D1 seat by the GA. OTOH, it could have been a revenue passenger who know some of the cabin crew and therefore they upgraded her on board. I know for sure that the woman with the kids and some of the other people sitting around me were nonrevs, but it's possible that this was someone's friend who decided to move up too.

Corryn

AMEN. Period.

Today I went to a doctors office. At the desk trying to chit chat with the secretary's was a patient with his medium-sized dog in his arms. In a doctor's office. I refused to go up to the desk because the dog was level with my face and I didn't want to chance getting bit. After a minute, the man realized I was waiting and he backed away from the desk so I could check in.
I have a fear of dogs. I am also allergic to cats.
What happens if I board a flight and find out the person next to me has brought their dog/cat? What happens then? When do my rights as a Human Being come into play? And do "Emotional Service Animals" have precedence over my right as a Human Being? How about MY emotional instability due to an Emotional Service Animal?
How does THAT play out?

JohnnyRockets

I don't think fear of dogs is valid for any request. If I am afraid of men of all ages and woman under 18 but over 25, what can I do?

On the other hand, when you tell them you are 'allergic' to cats. They should try re-seat you. But hey there is debate over fake ESA why not add fake allergies into the mix.
Cats are also not uncommon so you should have your meds with you anyway. That should be enough to get you re-seated.

If you have emotional instability due to an ESA, you should either get your own ESA or drink drink drink.

Corryn

I do what everyone else does on the plane and order a glass of wine!