US Airways may never live down the case of the flying pig. But as the sacrificial swine — er, lamb — in that situation, it may have paved the way for better management of service animals in airline travel.
On October 17, 2000, the airline made headlines after it flew a pig weighing several hundred pounds from Philadelphia to Seattle in the first class cabin of one of its aircraft.
Apparently, the pig’s owner had convinced the airline the animal was a “therapeutic companion pet.” An Associated Press article on the story, citing an internal US Airways report, says the pig “went ape when the aircraft taxied into Seattle. It reportedly ran loose through the aircraft, squealing loudly, and even tried to enter the cockpit.”
The issue of service animals to support travelers with emotional disabilities is a sensitive and complicated one for airlines and customers. On the one hand, the customer with the disability faces the challenge of having a non-traditional and invisible disability that may not be understood by everyone with whom they come into contact. Most people understand blindness; not everyone will understand panic disorders.
On the other hand, the airline must safeguard itself against unscrupulous passengers who decide to use the “emotional support service animal” route as a way of getting around the fee for transporting a pet from point A to point B.
In 2003, the United States Department of Transportation tried to clarify its position on this subject when it issued its Policy Guidance Concerning Service Animals In Air Transportation.
For the better part of my airline career, I oversaw a major carrier’s compliance with regulations pertaining to customers with disabilities, including day-to-day passenger issues like the acceptance of service animals. Thankfully, no pigs ever crossed my desk, but I have seen some strange requests, and our goal was to always figure out how to accommodate the customer safely and in accordance with the law, rather than figure out how to deny them transportation.
That may come as a surprise to some readers.
Sunday’s New York Times Magazine featured an article by Rebecca Skloot which discussed the variety of service animals used today to aid persons with disabilities, and explored whether they all should be legally protected under disability rights regulations.
With respect to airline travel, Skloot is correct that United States Department of Transportation regulations do not limit service animals to what the average person might consider “traditional,” such as a seeing-eye dog.
There are, however, some statements in her article that need clarification:
1. “[The DOT] also said that any species could qualify [as a service animal]…”
Qualifying as a service animal and being permitted onboard are two entirely different things. The Transportation Department’s Guidance Document states:
Certain unusual service animals pose unavoidable safety and/or public health concerns and airlines are not required to transport them. Snakes, other reptiles, ferrets, rodents, and spiders certainly fall within this category of animals.
Other unusual animals such as miniature horses, pigs and monkeys should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Factors to consider are the animal’s size, weight, state and foreign country restrictions, and whether or not the animal would pose a direct threat to the health or safety of others, or cause a fundamental alteration (significant disruption) in the cabin service.
2. “The only thing required for a pet to fly with its owner instead of riding as cargo was documentation (like a letter from a doctor) saying the person needed emotional support from an animal.”
At the time of the pig incident, the above statement might have been completely true. The Guidance Document gives clear instructions to customers and airline personnel regarding what can and cannot be required, and in the case of emotional support animals, there is certainly more to the story than a generic “doctor’s note.”
With respect to an animal used for emotional support (which need not have specific training for that function), airline personnel may require current documentation (i.e., not more than one year old) on letterhead from a mental health professional stating:
(1) that the passenger has a mental health-related disability;
(2) that having the animal accompany the passenger is necessary to the passenger’s mental health or treatment or to assist the passenger (with his or her disability); and
(3) that the individual providing the assessment of the passenger is a licensed mental health professional and the passenger is under his or her professional care.Airline personnel may require this documentation as a condition of permitting the animal to accompany the passenger in the cabin. The purpose of this provision is to prevent abuse by passengers that do not have a medical need for an emotional support animal and to ensure that passengers who have a legitimate need for emotional support animals are permitted to travel with their service animals on the aircraft. Airlines are not permitted to require the documentation to specify the type of mental health disability, e.g., panic attacks.
Web sites for American, Southwest and United are very specific about these requirements. Some of the others I checked, including US Airways, Delta and AirTran, are less informative.
The Transportation Department has just completed a series of revisions to its regulation pertaining to disabilities and air travel (14 CFR Part 382) which will become effective May 13, 2009. As part of that revision, airlines may begin requiring 48 hours advance notice for the acceptance of emotional support animals.
I’ll admit it – this stuff is dry, and there is only so much one can read on this exhaustive and complicated regulation before getting sleepy. I’ll save my discussion of some of those other revisions for another day.
