jkhuggins

Sigh. Voluntary compliance plus random enforcement.

There's no cop sitting outside my door waiting for me to file my 1040 tax returns every April 15th. On the other hand, if I don't file my return, there's always the possibility that I might get audited, with much more severe penalties if it turns out that I owed the government money.

I agree that there's abuse of the system, and I agree that people ought to follow the rules. I'm just not sure that your prescription isn't worse than the original problem.

'Cause I got no problem with it. If you're comfortable with a python hanging around your neck, so am I ...

Always Flyin

I guess I just got confused when you said above: "Some laws are enforced through involuntary compliance; others are enforced through voluntary compliance." I guess you didn't mean what you said.


Nor am I. See? We agree on something!

jkhuggins

What I said was true, but incomplete. If that's sufficient cause to criticize my integrity, so be it.

I noticed nobody jumped all over ND Sol's back when he misstated the acronym of the relevant agency as ACCA. But, hey, that's life in the NBA ...

Never in doubt from my perspective ...

Always Flyin

Ok.

ND Sol! You bad person. You misstated the acronym of the relevant agency as ACCA.

Ari

That brings me back to my original suggestion:

ND Sol

Off to goalie's penalty box for me since I typed a "C" instead of an "A".

(BTW, ACAA is not an "agency", but is a law, but don't worry, I won't jump all over anyone's back.)

CDTraveler

Your suggestion of an official training and credential system is ridiculou$, exce$$ive and complete overkill for the scale of the "problem" as you describe it, and in no way comparable to the parking permit system.

I have a handicapped parking permit. To get it, I took the form to one of the specialists I see, she completed it and I mailed to the DMV, who in turn mailed me my parking permit. Cost: 1 first class stamp. Every state has something similar: a form to be completed by a licensed physician and a permit given out by the existing government agency which deals with motor vehicles and no additional bureaucracy was created for the permit process.

You want legislation to set up an agency of the government, which would first hire staff, then solicit expert testimony and eventually set standards for training, then hire and train evaluators, and set up offices in all 50 states because that's the way federal programs work. These offices would then issue credentials to tested and approved trainers of service animals and eventually to the animals themselves after testing.

Next anyone who needed a service animal would be required to have the animal trained by an authorized, licensed trainer to standards set by the federal government, which may or may not match the needs of the individual, and then tested by government evaluators to a government set standard in order to get a credential to take their service animal out in public or on a plane.

The cost of federal program would of course be borne by the taxpayers, and come from the current "surplus" in the federal budget while the individual needing the service animal would pay out of pocket for all the extra training and testing, and you know, don't you, that medical insurance does not pay for service animals, even guide dogs for the blind?

All this so you won't be disturbed by a barking dog on a plane?

FT's ToS prohibit me from stating exactly what I think of such an attitude.

BStrauss3

So we already have a useless bureaucracy dealing with air travel. It's pretty simple: you get a form, take it to your mental health provider, s/he fills it out and you mail it to TSA with a picture of the service animal. They send you a placard which you hang from the service animal.

Other than training a few service animals to open the mail and run a lamination machine, we already have what we need.

Ari

Just to clarify, an "emotional support animal" is not the same as a "service animal" in the eyes of the law (and also in many practical ways).

CDTraveler

Maybe you should read the whole thread before responding.

The poster I was responding to wants every service animal to have standardized training and certification of the training to be carried with the owner. Mental health providers have zip to do with service animals, they might suggest emotional support animals to their clients.

... and not many animals of any species would put up with a placard hanging from their neck.

InkUnderNails

Back to the OP. WN charges $75 for a carry on pet (cat or dog) and nothing if it is a "service animal." Not really hard to figure out.

4nsicdoc

Yeah especially the disabled vets with PTSD who got it just to inconvenience TSOs and to get to fly with pets with them, right? I was told by a TSO at SDF that if I was unable to walk into the scanner and "assume the position" that I and my wheelchair should "just stay home."

doctall41

That's the bottom line. And what kind of papers does WN require upon check-in or boarding? any idea?

I think we hit a nerve here with this topic.

CDTraveler

Here's the law:
from this article, which also explains the laws relating to "credentials" required for emotional support animals.

darwin76

Give it a rest. I've never seen a service animal cause a problem on a plane. If there were any allergies, they can be resolved quietly and privately.

Half the flights I take are disrupted by loud, bratty, seat-kicking, irritating children that can't even maintain the composure of a dog or a cat. We should worry about those and moving them to the back behind a soundproof barrier.

By the time the kids are raising hell at 30,000 I'm already worked up after the TSA abuse at the checkpoint. When the stewardess comes by with the booze to soothe the nightmare of air travel, that too has been jacked up in price to larcenous levels.

An occasional bark would be a huge improvement from the almost guaranteed screaming, whining, and seat kicking which have become an accepted part of air travel.

Please, if you're on my next flight, and you have an emotional comfort animal, share him with me. Meeting a well behaved animal companion will be a nice break from the stress.

Besides, air travel is already a three ring circus, so there have to be animals somewhere. The service tigers could not make it past the TSO tasked with stealing our pen knives and nail files.