A318neo

I was wondering when people would start to try to bring their kids in for free by claiming they are for emotional support.

abaheti

Disclosure: Personally, I don't think pets belong in plane cabins, in restaurants, in grocery stores, or in retail outlets, and I grew up when they weren't allowed and society seemed to manage just fine and pet lovers seemed to manage just fine. For planes, I don't want pets in the cabin, but I was fine in the olden days when the pets had to stay in a carrier, under the seat, sized appropriately for same (and I found in those days that pet owners were polite and not entitled and didn't try to bring giant dogs on board or expect me to care about/deal with their pet)... because that was the rule and the contained pet limited my allergies and any possible contact with the animal. And it was not every flight.

For actual service animals, I deal with whatever whether it is the animal making some contact, sniffling for the flight, whatever because that is the greater good -- a true service animal is needed for that person to live a full life, so the least I can do is suffer a bit for it (my allergies are not life threatening). I even once voluntarily swapped my aisle for a bad middle seat due to my allergies acting up, but that was for a blind person with an actual service animal (and he, btw, was extremely apologetic and gracious about it). The societal balance weighed in his favor. I don't feel the same way about pets.

And I certainly am more bothered by the entitled attitude that it is ok to break the rules for a pet or lie about medical need or inconvenience other passengers just to go on vacation with Fido and save the fee.

Segments

My concerns are with untrained ESAs. Pets in carriers are fine. You sound like a responsible pet parent who recognizes your dog’s limits and ensures both he and those around you are comfortable. My concerns are with animals that snap at others, relieve themselves outside their carrier or a designated relief station, or run loose in the cabin (or very long leashes). Or are too large to fit under or within their seat and overflow into my space.

justsawaufo

Why not add a surcharge to ESAs? Why not limit the size and weight?
Certain pets (small dog/cat) should be allowed in J just like they are allowed in Y.

chipmaster

I am all for rights and respect for all kinds of people, but when / where is that line for people to respect others. I have seen and actually know a few people who have their loving pets become "emotional" support, sorry the are a pet. I have pets and love them to and they make me feel good, is that emotional support? Still would never dream of bring my cat or pit bull/lab 90lb dog on.

Dogs that help the blind or the deaf here, that is it, others should fly in the cargo hold.

zitsky

No, others should stay home.

QtownDave

Thanks to the selfish abusers I too am almost getting to that point although I'm not sure deaf people need a dog. I know that there are some other valid conditions that require them such as epilepsy so I won't go to the total extreme.

ursine1

While the DOT technically would not be banning emotional support animals, the rule change would allow airlines to ban them, which would have the same effect.

Statman

There was a blind guy on my trans-con flight last week with a real service dog and people were going out of their way to try and help him. People were offering to put away his small backpack and help him open up food items. It was gratifying to see.

He was so nice and apologetic for his seeing eye Labrador taking up space in the bulkhead, but not a single person minded because it was a legitimate service animal who was helping this guy live a better life.

It's the fake ESAs that everyone opposes.

Qwkynuf

I'd like to know more about this thought.

Why would deaf people be excluded from assistance?

I don't know what services are available, though I should probably look into it. I have a medium-to-severe hearing loss, and I manage with hearing aids. One of the side effects of that combination is that what I *am* able to hear is almost completely non-directional. I have no idea what direction the sound of a baby crying, or a siren, or the beep-beep horn of the carts in US airports might be coming from. When I remove my hearing aids at night, I am unable to hear my home's smoke or burglar alarms. I have a special alarm clock that shakes my bed instead of making noise. If a dog were able to help with those things, it would be a marked improvement in my quality of life.

Obviously a dog wouldn't be much help for those things on a plane, but a plane is just a tool that I use to get from one place to another - and I would benefit on both ends.

Do you feel that deaf people are inferior? Or less worthy of assistance?

QtownDave

What I said was " I'm not sure deaf people need a dog" meaning that blind people obviously do but I wasn't sure about deaf people. We have completely deaf people in our family and they don't have dogs. {deleted}

Qwkynuf

Nobody needs a dog, so I suppose that your statement is correct. But in context what you appear to be saying is that you don't see how a deaf person would benefit from a dog. And that's fine. But I would bet a lot of money that if you asked the question of those completely deaf people in your family, they would likely have very a different answer.

https://www.cci.org/assistance-dogs/...ring-dogs.html

QtownDave

Blind people I would think need dogs. Those in my family rely on visual clues for things like doorbells, alarms, timers, etc. and even a bed shaking thingy for the smoke detector.

Qwkynuf

I think that what the world needs is more experts like you, who can tell handicapped people what they need.

Often1

That's what anything other than a service dog becomes, just a pet. The carrier is free to transport the pet or not and to charge whatever it charges to do so.

There is no prohibition in the NPRM on transporting ESA's, there is simply no requirement that carriers do so.