Originally Posted by
notquiteaff
Do we know that travelers with disabilities don’t already do that? And does AS have a magic tool to prevent misconnects and rebookings for these travelers?
I hope we hear back from the OP with more info.
Honestly...based on the number of "issues" I've seen at boarding gates, something tells me most "service" animal owners don't. This doesn't apply to those that live with what I would call the true disabilities. Mobility, Vision, Hearing. I've talked with friends that deal with these and even they know they have to reach out to the airlines in advance. Those with service animals...not so much. Oh hey...bringing a service dog along. You are going to just take care of me right? I guess my overall rant is really more directed to those folks that have taken to abusing the service animal loophole. And it is. It's rather obvious if the animal is well trained as a service animal vs the house pet and someone has "anxiety". And out of the last 7 dogs I've seen on planes as "service" animals, only one acted as a true service animal. He walked with his owner, was unfazed by anything going on around him, and promptly curled up under him once seated. Those are the folks I feel bad for. Everyone else, go take a pill for the flight. It's not fair to your fellow passengers, and it's sure not fair to the dog that stressed out by the flying experience because they weren't trained to handle it. So I guess in summary, I feel bad for those with true disabilities, not those faking it.