Originally Posted by
physioprof
"airlines will be allowed to question passengers whose disability is not clearly visible about the nature of their disability and how the service animal is of assistance"
This will be disastrous.
Originally Posted by
SFO 1K
This is nothing new. It's the same as the present rules and regulations.
Just a point of clarification:
Business Insider mis-paraphrased the DOT's "Interim Statement of Enforcement Priorities". What the Statement actually says is as follows:
Originally Posted by DOT
If a passenger’s status as an individual with a disability is unclear (for example, if the disability is not clearly visible), then the airline personnel may ask questions about the passenger’s need for a service animal. For example, airlines may ask “how does your animal assist you with your disability?” See 73 FR 27614, 27660.
https://www.transportation.gov/sites...-statement.pdf
That is what current regulations allow. That is different than asking "what is your disability?". Under
Business Insider's butchering of the ACAA, an airline could ask a person with a seizure disorder about how many seizures that person has per day ("the nature of their disability") rather than "what does your service animal do?" (Anticipated response: my animal alerts when I'm about to have a seizure). While the answer to the question may reveal the nature of the disability, the airline doesn't get to inquire further. The key is that the airlines get to ask about the services of the animal, not the nature of the disability.
Business Insider is just wrong on the law. Fake news.