Emotional Support animal on Flights

[DC3]

... donkey and peacock aside ....

Well, room for a pony, behind the curtain anyway:

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[DC3]

This turkey looks familiar:

Passenger takes turkey on flight as 'emotional support animal'

 

[Beano]

Emotional support animals are not trained like service animals and don't have the same obedience levels; they are just common or garden pets which people like to have around. That said I have two ESAs at home, but don't feel the need to travel with them.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Emotional support animals are not trained like service animals and don't have the same obedience levels; they are just common or garden pets which people like to have around. That said I have two ESAs at home, but don't feel the need to travel with them.

Yes, but in Europe you can travel with your pet in the cabin on Air France for example. No requirement to be trained. Does the objection go if the passenger is required to pay the $20 or $30 fee for the pet as an additional piece of hand luggage?

 

[Bell21]

Bell21... what’s the difference between a service and emotional support animal? Or just a plain old pet flying with their owner? Assuming they are all trained and given the opportunity to go to the toilet before travel - donkey and peacock aside - they should be no different. Arguably a service animal/pet in a container under a seat is safer than a large unrestrained labrador in an emergency! As for allergies, you’d get those no matter the designation (service, emotional, or pet).

I'd say there's a large difference between a Service animal and an ESA - I assume that a Service animal will be well trained in supporting their owner and are probably less likely to over-react in unfamiliar situations. I'm not sure what sort of training an ESA would receive, and I don't know how it could be regulated properly to actually make a difference. I don't know what the distinction would be between a pet and an ESA, but I assume, from what others have said, that there would be some sort of training involved and assessment of the passenger's needs. Further, I'm not confident in pets being trained for flying - for instance, I have an anxious cavoodle and there's no way she could ever be trained to fly (I would become her ESA!).

Also re ESAs, it would be problematic to even certify people as needing an ESA --- I've worked in and around the mental health field, and the criteria for that would prove interesting and probably rubbery and not helpful in practice.

Fundamentally though, when we pay to board a plane in a confined space with a designated seat, and no option to move around, I'm not sure we should need to accommodate other people's pets or ESAs in that environment. It sounds like, as others have said, that it's ok most of the time, but it's unclear why that variable is needed in a plane. It's quite different to most other environments in which you might come across an ESA or pet.

If, however, airlines feel people need the options of animals on planes, it would need to be tightly managed - for instance, possibly depending on the size of the animal, that passenger should be eg required to sit up the back and purchase an extra seat, or possibly if another passenger is inconvenienced, this passenger should be entitled to request a different seat away from the ESA or pet etc

Also, what are the safety protocols in case of an emergency - leave your personal belongings and ESA's behind? What if the ESA gets in the way of emergency procedures?

It seems that animals on planes are much more common in Europe and US, but i suspect that Europe, like US, may need to tighten their guidelines considerably over the years to come --- like many things, it will probably take some really unfortunate incident related to pets or ESAs that provokes serious changes.

{I should add as a post-script that I like animals and I'm an easy traveller, so I probably would be quite unaffected by them relative to others, but i recognise that people have allergies, anxieties (whether about flying or animals), etc, and not to mention the invasive natures of smells etc particularly on longer flights, plus non-service animals could potentially become quite unruly in certain situations on planes}

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks Bell21. I guess the issue for me is that pets have been carried for years in Europe. No issue whatsoever. They are required to be in a soft-sided container that fits underneath the seat in front. So just like a regular piece of cabin baggage. Dunno what happens in an emergency, I would imagine the passenger would take the pet if they possibly could.

I guess if you were a passenger sitting next to a pet and requested to be moved you would be accommodated if there was space available. Understand no one wants to sit next to an animal that impinges on their space! But under the seat seams ok?

 

[DC3]

Anyone who has seen a pony that has tripped/slipped over, and ends up on its back/side, knows that at the end of those flailing legs are hooves capable of breaking your legs, not to mention smashing your skull in.

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[MEL_Traveller]

Anyone who has seen a pony that has tripped/slipped over, and ends up on its back, knows that at the end of those flailing legs are hooves capable of smashing your skull in.

How many emotional support animals fall into the pony/peacock/turkey category? Or are we proposing to ban all pets because of the actions of three passengers?

 

[DC3]

How many emotional support animals fall into the pony/peacock/turkey category? Or are we proposing to ban all pets because of the actions of three passengers?

Not at all. I believe that having a pony or two on board could provide a potentially interesting adrenaline rush for seat companions. Also, some entertainment for those at a safe distance.

 

[Bell21]

Not at all. I believe that having a pony or two on board could provide a potentially interesting adrenaline rush for seat companions. Also, some entertainment for those at a safe distance.

I had never seen a mini-pony until I saw that one being used as an ESA!

 

[Bell21]

Thanks Bell21. I guess the issue for me is that pets have been carried for years in Europe. No issue whatsoever. They are required to be in a soft-sided container that fits underneath the seat in front. So just like a regular piece of cabin baggage. Dunno what happens in an emergency, I would imagine the passenger would take the pet if they possibly could.

I guess if you were a passenger sitting next to a pet and requested to be moved you would be accommodated if there was space available. Understand no one wants to sit next to an animal that impinges on their space! But under the seat seams ok?

My pleasure - such an interesting topic, with quite a few layers! I respect that it seems to be a much more common thing in Europe than I'd anticipated and I guess if they were small enough to fit under a seat, that might be more manageable, but I wonder how tight their policies are overall - as we've seen in the US, it appears to have been abused quite a lot.

On a kind of related point, I was amused when my daughter came home from her casual retail assistant job tonight, she said that because of social distancing, kids were sitting 1.5 m away from Santa for their XMAS photo, BUT were bringing their pets to sit on Santa's lap --- I was kinda amused at her stories of a dog being sick on Santa's lap (hope Santa is well paid!), one dog being so anxious it was doing laps around Santa, and a guinea pig that got misplaced and another shopper yelled, thinking it was a rat --- my ironic thought, thinking about this forum thread, was 'can you imagine if some of that was on a plane ' - lol

 

[Beano]

What sort of emotional support does an animal in a box, under the seat, have? It may as well be in cargo. I don't know what the procedures are in providing emotional support but does it mean that animal has to be occasionally fondled? Seems to me that it is a cheap way to carry a normal pet. Anyway aren't all pets ESAs? You feel good by just having them. On another aspect, I have travelled with pets in boxes in cars and you soon know when they have let go...! Not a nice thought in a plane, even if it is in the box.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

What sort of emotional support does an animal in a box, under the seat, have? It may as well be in cargo. I don't know what the procedures are in providing emotional support but does it mean that animal has to be occasionally fondled? Seems to me that it is a cheap way to carry a normal pet. Anyway aren't all pets ESAs? You feel good by just having them. On another aspect, I have travelled with pets in boxes in cars and you soon know when they have let go...! Not a nice thought in a plane, even if it is in the box.

I guess it is still 'there' for you to interact with it? Things 'go wrong' in the hold too, unfortunately. Having it in the cabin might reduce that risk a little.

...but I wonder how tight their policies are overall - as we've seen in the US, it appears to have been abused quite a lot.

I think that's the issue... do three highly publicised cases mean everyone else has to miss out? Imagine if we extended that rule to alcohol and passengers!

 

[suze2000]

There have been well-publicised cases of "ESA" dogs attacking and maiming fellow passengers under stress. A properly trained REAL service dog would not do this EVER. I personally believe that 99% of these animals are pets the owner is unwilling to pay for proper transport for.

I welcome the tightening of the rules because while I don't fly much in the US, the idea of being in a confined space with an inadequately trained dog fills me with dread. My husband has an active fear of dogs too, so it would be even worse for him. Does the need of this one person (even if it's legit) outweigh the need of others not to feel even more under stress than flying induces? Can they not drive or take the train if they must have their animal with them?

(informing this attitude too is my belief that flying is almost always unnecessary. Travel itself is a luxury which we have grown to take for granted, but as we have learnt this year, most of us actually can do site visits remotely etc. And we've found ourselves cut off from family overseas, as we were in the bad old days, and we've all survived)

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Don’t disagree. Perhaps the solution is to require a certificate that the animal has been appropriately trained? There will be genuine cases where the ESA is benefitting the mental health of the passenger. Like alcohol, we don’t ban it entirely because the actions of a few passengers lead to harmful outcomes.

In theory, the certificate of training should only be required for animals that can’t be transported in an appropriate container, and stowed under the seat?