Jul 28, 2020, 10:10 am
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
This thread is for discussing the implications of UA's ESA policy changes. This thread is not a discussion of the validity of the ESA concept or rants about those faking ESA (considering the new tighten rules).
UA will be removing the Emotional Support Animal options 28 February 2021 per new guidance from DOT
U.S. Department of Transportation Announces Final Rule on Traveling by Air with Service Animals -- Dec 2020
an airline non-specific thread such as The Definitive Discussion of Emotional Support Animals on Airlines (Archive -- old DOT rules)
Service and Support Animals in the Cabin (2021 onwards)
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This thread is for discussing what it takes to properly qualify for ESA under UA's rules and what to expect as an ESA traveler. This thread is not a discussion of the validity of the ESA concept or rants about those faking ESA (considering the new tighten rules). Those issues are better raised in
UA's (July 2020)
UA will be removing the Emotional Support Animal options 28 February 2021 per new guidance from DOT
Emotional support animals
United will continue to accept emotional support animals for reservations booked before January 11, 2021, for travel on or before February 28, 2021, in accordance with rules from the U.S. Department of Transportation. No emotional support animals will be transported after February 28, 2021. United is committed to ensuring safe and accessible travel experiences for all of our customers.
To request to travel with an emotional support animal for travel before February 28, for trips booked on January 10, please send required support documents to [email protected].
United will continue to accept emotional support animals for reservations booked before January 11, 2021, for travel on or before February 28, 2021, in accordance with rules from the U.S. Department of Transportation. No emotional support animals will be transported after February 28, 2021. United is committed to ensuring safe and accessible travel experiences for all of our customers.
To request to travel with an emotional support animal for travel before February 28, for trips booked on January 10, please send required support documents to [email protected].
an airline non-specific thread such as The Definitive Discussion of Emotional Support Animals on Airlines (Archive -- old DOT rules)
Service and Support Animals in the Cabin (2021 onwards)
========================================= OLD data ================================================== ====
This thread is for discussing what it takes to properly qualify for ESA under UA's rules and what to expect as an ESA traveler. This thread is not a discussion of the validity of the ESA concept or rants about those faking ESA (considering the new tighten rules). Those issues are better raised in
UA's (July 2020)
Emotional support and psychiatric service animals
Emotional support animals and psychiatric service animals provide emotional, psychiatric or cognitive support for individuals with disabilities, but may or may not have task-specific training with respect to a disability.
Emotional support and psychiatric service animals are also accepted in cabin for qualified individuals with a disability if certain information and additional documentation that United requires are provided in advance of travel. In addition to providing a letter from a licensed medical/mental health professional, customers need to provide a veterinary health form documenting the health and vaccination records for the animal as well as confirming that the animal has been trained to behave properly in a public setting. With prior documentation and clearance, a customer may travel with no more than one emotional support animal that is usually either a cat or dog (any other animal species would need to comply with DOT regulations and will be evaluated for accommodation on a case-by-case basis) and must be of a minimum age of four months. If the animal weighs more than 65 pounds, United will evaluate on a case-by-case basis whether the animal may safely travel on the passenger’s scheduled flight(s). Multiple emotional support animals for a single customer are not permitted. Whether an emotional support or psychiatric service animal is safely capable of traveling on flights eight hours or more in duration will be determined on a case-by-case basis. Passengers may be held responsible for cleaning fees required as a result of any sanitation issues caused by their emotional support or psychiatric service animal’s travel. United will consider all relevant information, including information from the required documentation, when determining whether an emotional support animal or psychiatric service animal may safely travel in the aircraft cabin on the passenger’s itinerary.
Additional documentation beyond United’s requirements described above may also be required for an animal traveling to an international destination, Hawaii or certain other locations. Please note that not all international destinations allow the entry of animals, and restrictions vary by country. Customers should contact the appropriate consulate or embassy to make sure that all necessary procedures are followed.
An animal must sit at the customer's feet without protruding into the aisle, the foot space of adjacent passengers, or certain other areas that must remain unobstructed to comply with safety regulations. Customers may elect to use an approved in-cabin kennel for smaller animals. Unless in a carrying container, the animal will need to be leashed at all times in the airport and in flight. Exit row seating is prohibited. Refer to the U.S. Department of Transportation 14 CFR Part 382 or contact United for additional information.
Customers traveling with an emotional support animal or a psychiatric service animal must submit the required documentation at least 48 hours before the customer’s flight via our secure portal. If we are unable to validate the documentation, if the customer does not provide completed documentation, or if advance notification is not given, the animal may be denied boarding or may be eligible to be transported as a pet, and pet fees may apply. Contact the United Accessibility Desk at 1-800-228-2744 if you have any questions about this process or are booking a flight within 48 hours of the departure time. See Rule 16 of United’s Contract of Carriage for additional information on service animals.
Forms and documents for emotional support and psychiatric service animals
If you’re traveling with an emotional support or psychiatric service animal, you’ll need to complete these forms and submit them for approval through our secure portal: Your forms will be valid one year from the date of the earliest signed authorizations, and you’ll need to submit them at least 48 hours before each trip that you take with your support animal, but the earlier the better. Please bring your original forms with you while you’re traveling and be prepared to show them if we ask to see them.
Emotional support animals and psychiatric service animals provide emotional, psychiatric or cognitive support for individuals with disabilities, but may or may not have task-specific training with respect to a disability.
Emotional support and psychiatric service animals are also accepted in cabin for qualified individuals with a disability if certain information and additional documentation that United requires are provided in advance of travel. In addition to providing a letter from a licensed medical/mental health professional, customers need to provide a veterinary health form documenting the health and vaccination records for the animal as well as confirming that the animal has been trained to behave properly in a public setting. With prior documentation and clearance, a customer may travel with no more than one emotional support animal that is usually either a cat or dog (any other animal species would need to comply with DOT regulations and will be evaluated for accommodation on a case-by-case basis) and must be of a minimum age of four months. If the animal weighs more than 65 pounds, United will evaluate on a case-by-case basis whether the animal may safely travel on the passenger’s scheduled flight(s). Multiple emotional support animals for a single customer are not permitted. Whether an emotional support or psychiatric service animal is safely capable of traveling on flights eight hours or more in duration will be determined on a case-by-case basis. Passengers may be held responsible for cleaning fees required as a result of any sanitation issues caused by their emotional support or psychiatric service animal’s travel. United will consider all relevant information, including information from the required documentation, when determining whether an emotional support animal or psychiatric service animal may safely travel in the aircraft cabin on the passenger’s itinerary.
Additional documentation beyond United’s requirements described above may also be required for an animal traveling to an international destination, Hawaii or certain other locations. Please note that not all international destinations allow the entry of animals, and restrictions vary by country. Customers should contact the appropriate consulate or embassy to make sure that all necessary procedures are followed.
An animal must sit at the customer's feet without protruding into the aisle, the foot space of adjacent passengers, or certain other areas that must remain unobstructed to comply with safety regulations. Customers may elect to use an approved in-cabin kennel for smaller animals. Unless in a carrying container, the animal will need to be leashed at all times in the airport and in flight. Exit row seating is prohibited. Refer to the U.S. Department of Transportation 14 CFR Part 382 or contact United for additional information.
Customers traveling with an emotional support animal or a psychiatric service animal must submit the required documentation at least 48 hours before the customer’s flight via our secure portal. If we are unable to validate the documentation, if the customer does not provide completed documentation, or if advance notification is not given, the animal may be denied boarding or may be eligible to be transported as a pet, and pet fees may apply. Contact the United Accessibility Desk at 1-800-228-2744 if you have any questions about this process or are booking a flight within 48 hours of the departure time. See Rule 16 of United’s Contract of Carriage for additional information on service animals.
Forms and documents for emotional support and psychiatric service animals
If you’re traveling with an emotional support or psychiatric service animal, you’ll need to complete these forms and submit them for approval through our secure portal: Your forms will be valid one year from the date of the earliest signed authorizations, and you’ll need to submit them at least 48 hours before each trip that you take with your support animal, but the earlier the better. Please bring your original forms with you while you’re traveling and be prepared to show them if we ask to see them.
Accessible travel
Find out more about assistance for customers with disabilities, how to request assistance and safety requirements. If you have questions about travel plans, contact our Accessibility Desk at [email protected], or you may call 1-313-234-6992 (charges may apply) or 1-800-228-2744 within the U.S. or Canada. Elsewhere, call your local United Customer Contact Center and ask for the Accessibility Desk.
Find out more about assistance for customers with disabilities, how to request assistance and safety requirements. If you have questions about travel plans, contact our Accessibility Desk at [email protected], or you may call 1-313-234-6992 (charges may apply) or 1-800-228-2744 within the U.S. or Canada. Elsewhere, call your local United Customer Contact Center and ask for the Accessibility Desk.
UA removing Emotional Support Animals option 28 Feb 2021 per new DOT rules Jan 2020
Jul 2, 2018, 6:21 pm
#61
Join Date: Feb 2015
Programs: united
Posts: 1,636
Just a point of clarification: Business Insider mis-paraphrased the DOT's "Interim Statement of Enforcement Priorities". What the Statement actually says is as follows:
https://www.transportation.gov/sites...-statement.pdf
That is what current regulations allow. That is different than asking "what is your disability?". Under Business Insider's butchering of the ACAA, an airline could ask a person with a seizure disorder about how many seizures that person has per day ("the nature of their disability") rather than "what does your service animal do?" (Anticipated response: my animal alerts when I'm about to have a seizure). While the answer to the question may reveal the nature of the disability, the airline doesn't get to inquire further. The key is that the airlines get to ask about the services of the animal, not the nature of the disability. Business Insider is just wrong on the law. Fake news.
https://www.transportation.gov/sites...-statement.pdf
That is what current regulations allow. That is different than asking "what is your disability?". Under Business Insider's butchering of the ACAA, an airline could ask a person with a seizure disorder about how many seizures that person has per day ("the nature of their disability") rather than "what does your service animal do?" (Anticipated response: my animal alerts when I'm about to have a seizure). While the answer to the question may reveal the nature of the disability, the airline doesn't get to inquire further. The key is that the airlines get to ask about the services of the animal, not the nature of the disability. Business Insider is just wrong on the law. Fake news.
The statute precludes discriminatorily denying access to a passenger with an ESA. That means if the airline is correct that the dog is not a bona fide medically necessary ESA, there's no statutory liability no matter what questions are asked.
However, the regulations contain GUIDANCE that the airline shouldn't ask about disabilities. It isn't even a regulatory diktat. It's guidance. What happens if an airline doesn't follow the guidance? Well, in theory, the regulator can use it as evidence of violation of the statute. But we already know there's no violation of the statute unless the airline refuses to board a bona fide ESA.
I suspect UA and the other airlines have substantial leeway to go ahead and demand all sorts of proof that a dog is a bona fide ESA. The bigger limit here is probably criticism from the disability rights community and perhaps the concern that an overzealous employee might refuse to board a legitimate ESA.
Jul 3, 2018, 8:25 am
#62
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: SF Bay Area
Programs: UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist, Virtuoso Travel Agent, Commercial Pilot
Posts: 2,117
However, the regulations contain GUIDANCE that the airline shouldn't ask about disabilities. It isn't even a regulatory diktat. It's guidance. What happens if an airline doesn't follow the guidance? Well, in theory, the regulator can use it as evidence of violation of the statute. But we already know there's no violation of the statute unless the airline refuses to board a bona fide ESA.
My interpretation of the guidance the DOT recently released is that they intend to give airlines some pretty wide latitude on ESAs before pursuing enforcement action, but they are not significantly reinterpreting existing regulations (mostly because the regulations are pretty prescriptive so the only latitude they have is to decline enforcement in situations where the airline is acting reasonably while they go through the full rule-making process to fix the underlying problems).
Jul 3, 2018, 10:51 am
#63
Join Date: Feb 2015
Programs: united
Posts: 1,636
I think I agree with what you're saying, but I think it's also worth pointing out that it's not quite that simple. Regulations are more than guidance--they are law. While the DOT gets its authority from underlying statutes, ultimately the authority delegated by Congress is so broad that it isn't difficult to prove violation of an underlying statute. The airline doesn't need to actually deny boarding to a ESA to be fined here (IF the DOT wanted to do so).
My interpretation of the guidance the DOT recently released is that they intend to give airlines some pretty wide latitude on ESAs before pursuing enforcement action, but they are not significantly reinterpreting existing regulations (mostly because the regulations are pretty prescriptive so the only latitude they have is to decline enforcement in situations where the airline is acting reasonably while they go through the full rule-making process to fix the underlying problems).
My interpretation of the guidance the DOT recently released is that they intend to give airlines some pretty wide latitude on ESAs before pursuing enforcement action, but they are not significantly reinterpreting existing regulations (mostly because the regulations are pretty prescriptive so the only latitude they have is to decline enforcement in situations where the airline is acting reasonably while they go through the full rule-making process to fix the underlying problems).
If the DOT put it into the CFR that airlines are prohibited from asking about disabilities, there is no doubt that UA and the other airlines would have to obey it unless it is so unreasonable that it is thrown out in court. But mere guidance is not directly prohibitory. It is just guidance.
Jul 3, 2018, 11:12 am
#64
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: SF Bay Area
Programs: UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist, Virtuoso Travel Agent, Commercial Pilot
Posts: 2,117
Given that there still isn't a real good litmus test allowed to determine a real service animal vs. pet posing as one, I doubt airlines are going to empower front-line employees to ask a lot more questions anyway because the damage of one incident where a front-line employee badgers a passenger with a legitimate need is so severe. I do, however, anticipate that airlines will implement more systematic tweaks like the documentation requirements they've added.
Last edited by Sykes; Jul 3, 2018 at 11:27 am
Oct 31, 2018, 10:46 pm
#65
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: San Francisco/Sydney
Programs: UA 1K/MM, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Something, IHG Gold, Hertz PC, Avis PC
Posts: 8,160
Flying SEA-SFO this evening, sitting in 7D (bulkhead). After most of the plane had already boarded the gate agent came onto the plane holding a few boarding passes, stood beside our row, and started looking around, clearing working out how to shuffle passengers around. In the end she moved a few between rows in order to free up 7E and 7F for a passenger with a "service animal".
Then along the aisle comes 3 passengers and a large Great Pyrenees dog. Two of the passengers were carrying pillows (full size standard pillows), which it turned out were for the dog, which basically took up the entire legroom space of both 7E and 7F (the third ended up back in row 30-something)
To it's credit, the dog basically didn't move the entire flight - it just lay down and slept. Based on what the passengers said to the flight attendant it did the same on the previous flight as well (IAD-SEA I think they said).
It is still not clear to me exactly what "service" the dog was intended to provide...
Then along the aisle comes 3 passengers and a large Great Pyrenees dog. Two of the passengers were carrying pillows (full size standard pillows), which it turned out were for the dog, which basically took up the entire legroom space of both 7E and 7F (the third ended up back in row 30-something)
To it's credit, the dog basically didn't move the entire flight - it just lay down and slept. Based on what the passengers said to the flight attendant it did the same on the previous flight as well (IAD-SEA I think they said).
It is still not clear to me exactly what "service" the dog was intended to provide...
Nov 1, 2018, 12:41 am
#66
Join Date: May 2001
Location: RNO, NV, USA.
Programs: UA 2MM
Posts: 5,063
docbert - Thank you for the "Great Pyrenees" dog link. What a lovely looking animal! You must be up on your dog breeds to have identified it. Or did you ask the owners? Haha! I read that dogs are ~ 100 lb, and "gentle and affectionate". I will not enter the "emotional support animal" debate. But I am glad for you that dog just slept at 7E and 7F leg room space. 
Nov 1, 2018, 5:40 am
#67
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Under the Cone of Silence
Programs: UA Gold; AA Dirt; HH Diamond; National Emerald; CONTROL SecretAgent Platinum; KAOS EvilFlyer Gold
Posts: 1,499
docbert - Thank you for the "Great Pyrenees" dog link. What a lovely looking animal! You must be up on your dog breeds to have identified it. Or did you ask the owners? Haha! I read that dogs are ~ 100 lb, and "gentle and affectionate". I will not enter the "emotional support animal" debate. But I am glad for you that dog just slept at 7E and 7F leg room space.
The people I feel sorry for are the plane cleaners at SFO. All the shedded hair probably clogged up their vacuum.
And docbert, as far as "service" goes, since they're herding dogs, it would have been great at enforcing an orderly disembarkation.
Nov 1, 2018, 7:43 am
#68
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 622
A dog that lays down and sleeps the entire flight sounds likes what a trained service animal would do.
Nov 1, 2018, 9:55 am
#69
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: CLE
Programs: UA 1K MM, DL Plat
Posts: 982
Agreed entirely. It does, however, make me wonder whether the new policy on Emotional Support animals is being broadly followed, though. There was a small dog onboard SEA-ORD last week (in F) wearing a service animal harness, that yapped for a good portion of the flight, and was struggling mightily when its owner carried it to the front lav mid-flight, and had to struggle out of/into the 4F window seat... I have seen fewer unruly animals in-cabin since the new policy went into effect, but I have to wonder how much of that is UA enforcing the rule, versus many people being scared away from pushing their luck due to the existence of the policy??
Nov 1, 2018, 10:35 am
#70
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 622
Agreed entirely. It does, however, make me wonder whether the new policy on Emotional Support animals is being broadly followed, though. There was a small dog onboard SEA-ORD last week (in F) wearing a service animal harness, that yapped for a good portion of the flight, and was struggling mightily when its owner carried it to the front lav mid-flight, and had to struggle out of/into the 4F window seat... I have seen fewer unruly animals in-cabin since the new policy went into effect, but I have to wonder how much of that is UA enforcing the rule, versus many people being scared away from pushing their luck due to the existence of the policy??
Nov 3, 2018, 7:40 am
#72
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Denver, CO
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Posts: 4,753
Agreed entirely. It does, however, make me wonder whether the new policy on Emotional Support animals is being broadly followed, though. ... I have seen fewer unruly animals in-cabin since the new policy went into effect, but I have to wonder how much of that is UA enforcing the rule, versus many people being scared away from pushing their luck due to the existence of the policy??
Nov 3, 2018, 10:16 am
#73
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: San Francisco/Sydney
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Posts: 8,160
The fact that it's owner also refused to pay for her alcoholic drink ("but it it was free on the last flight") and then claimed to be a 1K when asked (she wasn't, and clearly had no idea what a 1K was, but still stated she was) didn't help my opinion that the dog was a legitimate service animal, but of course it's still possible it was...
Nov 3, 2018, 11:12 am
#74
Join Date: May 2010
Location: AVP & PEK
Programs: UA 1K 1.9MM
Posts: 6,357
It appears this person might be in need of all the emotional support she can get...
Nov 6, 2018, 11:21 pm
#75
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: SFO
Programs: United 1MM GS, Marriott Platinum Elite, Hilton Diamond, Hertz President's Circle
Posts: 283
Hmmm...maybe it’s not so bad that there are animal restrictions. I can’t believe they still flew and had the passenger sit in the seat!
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/06/delt...-on-plane.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/06/delt...-on-plane.html