DeafFlyer

To be of service, they require training, but to be a "service dog" they don't. It's one of the loopholes in the ADA. All I have to do is claim it's a service dog and magically it is. Training, vests, and certification are all irrelevant.

flyingfran

It is nearly impossible to provide a plane that does not have residue of pets. Your flight may not have animals on it, but the people who just left the plane could have had pets that left dander and allergens behind them.

My daughters are allergic to cats. I would never trust the airline to guarantee a "cat free" flight. I just make sure that they have epi-pens.

Yaatri

Easy. Send one of them on a later flight and offer IDB compensation to the one delayed.

CDTraveler

No, not easy at all. Have to yet to find an airline that thinks life-threatening allergy is grounds for IDB - they say, "Your seat is waiting" and basically if we decline, we're at their mercy for rescheduling. If I have it in the reservation in advance that there is severe dog allergy and then they book a service dog, they usually re-book without a fee, and that's the best I can hope for.

nomad1974

How about a sensible, first-come first-served approach?

Both the person with a severe allergy and the dog-owner are obliged to notify the airline at the time of booking. Consequently, if there's a dog already booked on a particular flight (service dog or otherwise, btw, small non-service dogs in cages can also travel in the cabin), the allergic person is notified and asked to book a different flight; or vice-versa.

CDTraveler

Service dogs and pets have different status, but both are still dogs and cause allergic reactions.

Service dogs take priority. I can't tell you for certain if that is the law, but it is the practice of airlines. Generally if I have notified an airline of the dog allergy, they tell me they won't book a pet dog on the same flight, but we could be forced to accommodate, i.e. change our plans, if a service dog is booked on the flight. But that change doesn't amount to IDB in their eyes because it is based on our medical decision, not their availability.

nomad1974

Interesting, thanks. But at least there is a logical procedure; just wonder whether it is properly communicated to all involved.

Yaatri

Still simple. What's more important to a person wit allergies. Compensation or being able to avoid severe allergic reaction?
I empathise with your situation. It may be difficult to choose as to who goes first between a person with allergies to dogs versus a blind person with a guide dog, but it should be easy when the dog is not guide dog. I prefer not have animals in the same cabin as I,

longwaybackhome

I'm basically allergic to everything with fur, thankfully not anaphylactic, and I just assume that there's going to be pet hair on the flight. If I'm flying, I take my allergy medicine. (I take it almost every day unless I'm staying home all day.)

My former friend once had her cat in a cat carrier on a plane with a young girl who was evidently flying to a hospital because she had horrible respiratory problems, and she agreed to have the airline put her up in a hotel overnight and fly out the next morning.

m90291

It is possible for a human to be allergic to another human who wears purfume.

Going OT a bit, is it possible for a human to be allergic to other humans? We share pretty much the same hair/dander/skin oils as our mammal cousins so it seems like it could be possible. How would an airline handle that one?[/QUOTE]

cepheid

I'm pretty sure it's the law. The ACAA (the airline equivalent of the ADA) prevents discrimination against protected classes, which include people with recognized disabilities. At this time, allergies - no matter how severe - are not recognized as a disability (or at least not one that comprises a protected class) under the ACAA, hence the need to accommodate the service dog would take priority. While the ADA may protect your son in certain cases, the ACAA has somewhat different restrictions. (Disclaimer: IANAL.)

No, it's not. The other human is irrelevant to the equation... the first human is allergic to the perfume, whether or not it happens to be on another human.

Actually, we do not. Some of the specific proteins found in the dander and/or saliva of other mammals (e.g. cats, dogs, etc.) are sufficiently different from ours, which is why the human body can see them as antigens that provoke an immune response. In principle, if one human's dander contained proteins that were sufficiently foreign to another human, it could provoke an immune response, but in practice I don't think such distinction ever occurs. Some humans' immune system fails to properly recognize innate proteins and attacks them, but this is generally considered an auto-immune disease, not an allergy (since allergies almost by definition refer to foreign proteins).

Italy98

[/QUOTE]

I was sprayed going through a department store and had an immediate asthmatic reaction to whatever fragrance had been sprayed. The store paid the associated medical bills and implemented a policy restricting sales associates to spraying strips of paper oriented towards the floor instead of in the air.


Back to the original topic - how does someone with an allergy to animal dander handle the issue if after boarding they start having an adverse reaction to a service animal on board from the previous flight?

KatyEmm

Wrong.
The loophole is designed so that a bus driver, a restaurant server or a grocery store cashier is not privvy to a detailed explanation of a disabled persons medical condition.
I work with a service dog. I am legally disabled. I have a psychiatric condition. No, my service dog is not a "emotional support animal".
To qualify as a service dog, there are many, many conditions a dog must meet.

Please see my post in the question on perceptions of a service animal thread.

In regards to allergies: If it is minor and causes only discomfort, please come prepared with your own medication and do your best to politely be reseated. A person with a service dog is not out to get you, or to make you have a bad trip, and they probably feel bad enough already if your are suffering a reaction.
If it is major anaphylaxia, you should be proactively dealing with such a situation in the same way peanut anaphylaxia is dealt with - call the airline well ahead of time, inform them of the severity of your allergy, ask that if a service dog is boarding in your cabin that you be reseated to another cabin, and come prepared with epi-pen in case of emergency.

WildKat

Are you sure it wasn't a service dog for another disability, or that the owner wasn't totally blind? I have a guide/service dog that is a Siberian Husky. People don't realize I can't see because I don't act like they think I should. I've also been told that it doesn't look like my dog is guiding me, but it's because we work so well together it's had to tell.

The biggest compliment I can get is when that happens because it means we work really well together!

WildKat

Not necessarily! A lot of service dogs are taught "paws up" and the owner could very well have told the dog to do that.