neekolas86

Can anyone tell me if I will have issues flying between EU (Ireland, specifically) to US (ORD, specifically) with a small dog registered an emotional support animal. I'm a US citizen and the dog would be with me on the plane. Our travel back to the US wouldn't be for another couple months or so and we haven't decided on a specific airline yet but are considering American Airlines, Delta, United. Thanks!

ISTFlyer

Nothing to do with the COVID-19 situation but all airlines ( according to the US Department of Transportation regulations ) should accept emotional support animals on flights from/to the USA. Not sure about connecting flights if you decide to make a transfer at a non-US airport so I would suggest that you take one of the carriers that fly direct from Ireland to the US.

It wouldn't matter which carrier you take ( UA, DL, AA, EI, ... ) on direct flights, by law, they are obliged to take your emotional support animal if you have the necessary documents.

erik123

I would check the travel with pest forum as many European airlines prohibit cabin pets except service animals (not esa's). Or bringfido.com

FYI - Delta seems quite good but requires a connection. Aer Lingus has a non-stop but does not allow pets in the cabin.

Often1

Be aware that DL has very specific requirements for ESA's along with a time deadline. These will be in addition to any health requirements at the point of entry.

Submit the Emotional Support and Psychiatric Service Animal documentation at least 48 hours before your flight. Currently, we require documentation that is no more than a year old (prior to the first flight in the itinerary) from a certified mental health professional indicating need for an emotional support animal, plus certification of the animal’s health including rabies shot verification. Documentation can be provided with a digital copy, and a professional license number is recommended, but not required. Download the required documentation and upload it through the Accessibility Service Request Form located in My Trips.

bhomburg

You are not restricted to the US airlines here. On direct flights between Europe and the US, all airlines including the European carriers accept ESAs, because they have to. They also have their procedures and requirements listed on their websites.
Caveat: This does not apply to intra-European feeder flights. No European airline accepts ESAs on flights other than direct ones to the US anymore. Turkish used to accept them on all of their network until about a year or so ago, but that's history now.
You can still carry him/her on in the cabin on airlines that allow pets in the cabin for the intra-Europe feeder flight but would need to pay the appropriate fee and adhere to size and weight regulations for that segment.
Caveat II: If your flight is not scheduled for a long time, the DOT is currently working on revising the regulations pertaining to travel with ESAs and ESANs (click). If the airlines get their way, things will get a lot harder. Check the policies closer to your planned flight date.

Edit. when doing your research, never ever rely on sites like bringfido. ALWAYs use the airline's website and make sure to include the fine print. Things change far too fast for third party sites to keep up. AA has changed their polices like three times in the last year-and-a-half alone.

bankops

AF/KL/LO/OS/LH/LG/LX/BA all accept small dogs (max. 6kg) on all flights. Doesn't matter if it is an ESA or not. Once you move to ESA's other than dogs, not allowed. ESA dogs greater than 6kg are effectively not allowed except for the TATL flight. Exceptions: BA, AF, OS permit ESA's>6kg on any flight WITH PSYCHIATRIST PAPERWORK, plus proper paperwork for the dog. Most airlines now will require official paperwork from a doctor. Even US airlines are permitted by DOT to request this, but it is up to their discretion.

bhomburg

To clarify, and since there have been recent policy changes, here's the rundown of how the bigger EU carriers treat ESAs.

Generally, European airlines require origin/destination to be in the USA w/regard to ESA acceptance. Flying them on itineraries not beginning or ending in the USA, ESAs will generally not be accepted for travel but need to be treated as pets. Exceptions to this rule may be with AY, AZ and SK who lump ESAs with service dogs and anecdotal evidence suggests it's possible to fly with an ESA on these airlines, but YMMV. Officially, only TK accepted ESAs on all of their network just like the US carrriers, but that's history now.

LH has a long-standing policy to explicitly NOT allow ESAs on flights other than direct ones to and from the USA. For all connections after the TATL flight one will have to check the animal as a pet either in the cabin or in the hold, depending on size and weight. For larger animals who need to travel in the hold as they aren't acceptable as pets in the cabin, this necessitates planning of layovers with enough time to leave the transit area and do the complete check-in procedure at the counter. Transiting Germany on LH with an ESA that needs to be checked in the hold for an onward flight also necessitates full compliance with EU animal import rules. Especially @MUC customs has stepped up enforcement and routinely checks animal paperwork. Wording on the website as of April 2020:
Transporting an emotional support dog (Emotional Support Animals – ESAN) in the cabin is free of charge on non-stop flights operated by Lufthansa to and from the USA.[...]
On all other routes, including connecting flights to/from the USA, there are no special conditions for emotional support dogs. On these routes, the dog will only be transported for a fee and in a transport container appropriate for its size and weight that you must bring with you. If possible, the dog will be transported either as additional carry-on baggage in the cabin or as excess baggage in the cargo hold.

LH subsidiary EW allows ESAs on US and feeder/connecting flights under very specific circumstances only (flights have to be on UA code and connection has to be to an UA flight). Not accepted otherwise. Wording on website as of April 2020:
It is possible to transport an emotional support (ESAN) dog free of charge in the cabin on Eurowings direct flights to/from the United States and on feeder flights with UA flight numbers to/from United Airlines U.S. flights

LH subsidiary OS does allow ESAs on feeder/connecting flights: (wording on website as of April 2020) :
Dogs are also accepted for therapy purposes in the passenger cabin on Austrian Airlines flights to and from the U.S.A. including our feeder- and onward flights under following conditions[...]

LH subsidiary LX does allow ESAs on feeder/connecting flights: (wording on website as of April 2020):
Emotional support dogs are only accepted free of charge on SWISS flights to/from the USA (including direct connections). For flights outside the USA the emotional support dog will be transported in the cabin or cargo department depending on weight and size and additional charges apply.

Both of them used to adopt LHs policy of not allowing ESAs on connections down to identical language in the CoC and the websites but changed this at some point.

AF still allows ESAs on feeder/connecting flights (wording on the website as of April 2020)
You can transport your emotional support/psychiatric service dog (ESA) in the cabin. This service is offered free of charge on direct flights operated by Air France to and from the United States, and flights that connect to them.

KLM does not allow ESANs on feeder/connecting flights anymore: (wording on website as of April 2020):
As of 15 March 2019, bringing your emotional support dog into the cabin is only allowed on direct flights to and from the United States.

TK stopped accepting ESAs on flights other than IST-USA flights around this time as well. Until the policy change, they used to be the only large, alliance-affiliated carrier outside of the USA accepting them on all of their network, basically treating them the same as service dogs. Now, they have this regulated down to a level of detail that's rarely found elsewhere, not even on AA, DL and UA. TK website as of April 2020:
We accept ESAN dogs free of charge only in flights from Istanbul to US or from USA to Istanbul. In connection flights before and after these routes, your dog will be transported for a fee in a cage in passenger cabin or aircraft hold. Related fee will be collected at the initial departure point. Passengers having connection flights are required to carry empty cages in strictly appropriate dimensions. Cage will be free of charge.


BA does not allow ESAs on any flights except direct ones to/from the USA.(wording on website as of April 2020):
Emotional support dogs can only be accepted in the cabin on direct flights to or from the United States of America. If your journey is not to or from the USA, or includes a connection onto a non-USA flight, your emotional support dog will need to travel in the hold
Note: It is a really bad idea to use BA for anything involving animals due to their general requirement that all animals except genuine assistance dogs which have to meet UK qualification standards (and ESAs from/to the USA) have to travel as manifested cargo, which is complex and very expensive.

IB accepts ESAs on feeder/connection flights. Wording on website as of April 2020: We also welcome emotional support dogs which can travel with you to/from USA,

AY, AZ, SK and EI have no special provisions for ESAs and treat ESAs the same as service dogs w/regards to where and how they may fly.
With EI, that means the (strict) Irish regulations governing service dogs also extend to ESAs. The overwhelming majority of US ESAs do not meet these criteria. I have no idea how EI reconciles the differences between the US and Irish definition of an ESA in practice.
AY makes policies and regulations only available upon request and they are not publicly available on their website, but I can personally attest that they are very easy to use with a service dog across all of their international network.
AZ's policies are rather ambiguous. Find them here. I have found them to be flexible and very easy to work with, and enforcement of animal-related rules rather lax.
SK's policies are straightforward and refreshingly simple in comparison.

SU does not accept ESAs on flights other than direct US ones (website as of April 2020): Carriage of emotional support dogs is available only on flights from/to the USA
They have very cheap-in-comparison charges for transporting animals as checked baggage.

DY accepts ESAs on direct flights to the US only.. On all other flights, they need to travel as pets. Wording on the website as of April 2020:
Emotional support dogs are only permitted in the cabin on direct flights to and from the U.S (excl. flights to the UK).
As the aren't approved as an operator with the UK PETS travel scheme, their BOS/DEN/JFK/LAX/MCO/ORD/SEA - LGW flights can only be flown ex-UK but not ex-USA with any sort of animal, including ESAs.


And due to a new amendment to the IATA animal rules, most airlines now have added more requirements for animals in the cabin on flights over eight hours block time. More (more or less silly) paperwork that's a direct result of too many people taking untrained dogs into airplane cabins with too many 'accidents' happening, leaving crew to clean up the mess.
Things definitely aren't getting easier.
We'll see how this translates into a post-corona market where demand looks to be very weak for awhile and some players might even disappear (Norwegian, Level, La Compagnie...looking at you there). If airlines will have to fight for customers again instead of taking them for granted, well, one can hope....

CDTraveler

With whom is the dog registered as an ESA? The US government does not require or respect any of the online ESA registries, and no airline is obligated to accept any such registration as proof the animal is a genuine ESA. However they can require documentation from a mental health professional treating the ESA owner.

You might want to keep track of changes in the regulations regarding ESA's as it looks like the U.S. government is considering major changes which might allow airlines to ban in-cabin emotional support animals, consider them as pets and charge fees to transport them. One article on the proposed changes https://apnews.com/c78235bd8a3408e39de28847c482ff84 and the actual DOT proposal: https://www.transportation.gov/sites...20-%20NPRM.pdf

knownothing

All of the airlines have cracked down on ES dogs. Most have a max time in air. For example can fly NYC > Paris but not the reverse as because of head winds it is over the time limit

You also need a shrink (not reg MD) to sign off that you need it

RSSrsvp

Please provide your sources to support your statements.

RSSrsvp - Moderator

knownothing

cf Delta or American or United rules. As moderator you should know this and not ask. I am disappointed

RSSrsvp

I am merely asking for you to post the links to the AA, DL and UA rules.

PS, this isn't my first rodeo, please don't tell me what I can and can't do as a moderator.

garykung

Here:

https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly...e-animals.html

So at least, UA is now cracking down the abuse by requesting documentation.

Enough?

RSSrsvp

I was merely asking for sources, how about AA & DL so everyone is brought up to date?

garykung

Seriously?

AA:

https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/...ce-animals.jsp

DL:

https://www.delta.com/us/en/accessib...ervice-animals

FWIW - the crackdown that knownothing mentioned was actual, especially given the peacock incident. In the past, virtually no airline requires documentation for ESA. But now virtually everyone requires. And DOT is in process finalizing rules about ESA.

As always, service animals are not affected.