I saw a woman at Loblaws with a dog with a service animal vest (easily bought with no evidence on the internet), and the dog was eating off the table in the dine-in area of the store, and sniffing around in a dog-like manner. A stunt dog trainer I remotely know (i.e., dogs who act in movies and live dog trick shows) puts a vest on the dogs to travel by air. While waiting in the boarding lounge, the dogs are often doing tricks to entertain the passengers...

A real service dog sits under the table and shuts up when not performing that service. That depends on what disability is being served, of course.

Depending on where the flight is serving, the Americans with Disabilities Act, as I understand it, does not allow a business to ask for certification of the service animal (dog or miniature horse permitted). However, they may ask the person what service the animal performs for them. There is another piece of legislation in USA that might alter those parameters, but I am not sure of the details. There was a tweetfest Friday for those interested: #acaa30ncd

Many people with disabilities are tired of people second-guessing our accommodation needs, and would like to see certification for the dogs.

That said, I would like to think that I "look normal enough", although I also am deaf. If I had a dog (I'm allergic, so no), you'd never know by looking at me why. It's not like the dog is a sign language interpreter. Dogs for deaf people work in the home (or hotel), not out in public. You travel with them to get them from point A to point B.

I agree with this.

Complained in a US supermarket last year about this issue. "Support dog" not even wearing a vest. Manager knew this was not a legitimate support animal but said they couldn't do anything because there would undoubtedly be a lawsuit.

Question, is there a fee to bring a service animal onboard?

That's a good news that AC limits it to dogs. The last thing I would want is to be seated beside an emotional support turkey...

Widow Takes Turkey on Flight For Emotional Support: 'She's Been There For Me'

Chill, buddy. A little stressed?

I asked a simple, innocent question. A pax boarded last night, with a service dog in a vest.

(Yes, I am familiar with service dogs, having travelled 2.5 million miles in the last 20 years. Don't presume people are idiots or have an agenda; you might find life is easier than way, you know?)

I couldn't hear everything, but the lead FA was questioning the individual;I heard her clearly make the comment that they didn't have the 'meta' information on the pax/dog, and she was going to talk to the cabin.

Then some sort of kerfuffle ensued. I was in the front and so I am not sure what transpired

And so I merely asked if this type of thing occurs.

Thank you for the insight everyone. Fascinating topic.

And TPP, do you always fly off the handle so quickly? You might consider some stress relaxation techniques before writing such a barbed response. Hey, maybe you should go pet a pooch! I understand that it helps to relieve anxiety!

When I last saw a dog in the line ahead of me (at checkin) they certainly seemed to be there quite a while, so I assume this was due to validation.

There was no kerfuffle or noise though, it just took a long time. I think as long as people get the appropriate documentation, it should be fine. To be honest as long as the dog is well behaved (which I find applies to 95% of service dogs as opposed to 10% of other dogs regardless of what their owners think and this includes many friends!) having it on board isn't a major problem. Obviously the dog should also be clean.

I do wonder how AC deals with it if one is allergic to dogs and gets seat allocated next to one. I mean having a customer weeping and sneezing for 12 straight hours could be irritating for many people.

Just my 2 cents.

For All destinations except USA. You are correct that it is 48 hours for regular circumstances and that is the guideline. It was bumped from 24 hours.

https://beta.aircanada.com/content/a...ce-animal.html
However, the 24 hour rule is applied for enroute changes etc. (This is what was explained to me by someone who has volunteered with an organization that provides guide dogs for the blind, and yes it seems unworkable, so perhaps there is wiggle room.)

However for USA, the requirement reads as;
If you are travelling on a flight segment scheduled to take 8 hours or more, you must advise reservations within 48 hours, so I read that as no advance warning required for USA flights.

My wife noted some additional details this morning that I didn't mention:

- the dog was carried in the arms of the person onto the plane; are most service dogs not in service and walking?

- my wife heard the FA ask for the paperwork for the dog, and the lady did not have any

- the FA did go in and talk to the captain after asking about the paperwork

I watched the video and although it seems crazy looking at the "headline", it looks totally legit.

In addition, in light of what she has gone through with the death of her husband, I don't have any issue with this at all.

AC treats allergies the same way they treat other conditions or disabilities that need accomodations.

Knowing that dogs and cats are allowed in the cabin, if you have a serious allergy, let AC know ahead of time and you will be accomodated with a buffer zone.

Just as you can't show up unannounced with a "fake" service animal, you can't decide you're seriously allergic to an animal once you see it.

Now I know many with pet allergies may not do this, but if they haven't reported their allergy ahead of time, the passenger with the animal will be accomodated with priority.

Then why should anyone have to pay to have their pet carried in stowage on a plane? Why not just bring them all on-board?

While the manager might have issues asking... As a member of the public, can you ask about it? And if the passenger does have a fake service animal, and admits to you that it's fake - can you report it?

Of course there's a fine line between nicely asking what a service animal does, and just being plain rude (since there's a good chance it's a genuine service animal), but given how many pet owner's I've overhead talking about how they obtained fake "certification" for their animals, I don't think I'll hesitate to ask what duties a potentially questionable animal is fulfilling.

(It's quite bad: I've overheard friends of friends, people at my office, and even people in public talking about fake certifications just to avoid paying a pet fee.)

Accommodation for a Severe allergy to dogs was tossed out by the courts. The courts found there was insufficient basis to conclude there was evidence of a severe allergy to dogs that warranted accommodation under disability legislation.

There are quite a few who don't want to pay the pet fee, or don't want their larger dog to go in cargo and they will claim that it is an emotional support animal. It also seems that some of them are able to get supporting documentation and certification from medical professionals.

These people are likely "related" to those who would use the handicapped parking spots because it suits their own personal needs at the expense of others. This is the world we live in and not all humans are honest and fair.

Air Canada and other airlines really don't want to be the pet police nor do the cabin crews want to be the judge of who is entitled and who is not. The person who is attached to their dog and wants it in the cabin with them, will find a way. At least AC has details of allowances on their website.

I'm sure some of you recall my photos in the LAX MLL thread where some woman and her dog (fake vest?) were parading around the food areas and quite a few of us reported it to the desk agents. She was asked to leave and refused and well, LAX right.

Here's an interesting anecdote from many years ago. At that time when arriving in YVR you had to walk down a long corridor in the basement to get to the customs hall. About half way along there was a revolving door to prevent people from walking back up the corridor the wrong way. I was walking along one day and spotted a blind man with a dog just ahead of me. I had no idea the dog was on the fight. When they got to the revolving door the dog didn't know what to do, so it sat down and stopped the owner. A couple of us had to stop the door and assist them through, and off they went on their way.

So service dogs on aircraft are nothing new.