'Service' dogs on planes

[FlashKiwi]

Celebs' pet dogs provided 'psychiatric service' on flight - Business - NZ Herald News

Learn something new each day! My wife is a Psychiatric Nurse and never heard of psychiatric service dogs before.

Obviously I am really bored so looked up the appropriate ruling.......

382.117 Must carriers permit passengers with a disability to travel with service animals?
(a) As a carrier, you must permit a service animal to accompany a passenger with a disability.
(1) You must not deny transportation to a service animal on the basis that its carriage may offend or annoy carrier personnel or persons travelling on the aircraft.

Now if AirNZ offered AirPoints for the pooches (just like VA) then we may be on to a winner.......

FlashKiwi

 

[Travelqueen]

The one and only time I have seen a dog onboard was traveling united from Jackson Hole to LAX. It was a small plane, 2 seats either side of the aisle, and the dog sat quietly on the floor in front of the spare seat. The owner walked unassisted, so i assume was not blind. However, I noticed she had a carry on bag that she appeared to get medication out of. Also the lady was wearing a medical alert bracelet. My thoughts at the time was maybe she was epileptic and the dog was trained to alert her of an impending fit?? I think I have been told of dogs that can sense the "aura". I could be totally wrong, but I remember my children were quite amused to see the dog on the plane...

 

[flyingblind]

I know someone who has av"therapy dog". It's really just a guide dog though

 

[clifford]

I've had dogs sitting next to me in bulkhead rows on flights in the US. An Australian Shepherd and a German Shepherd (on different occasions) , as I recall.

As a breeder and owner of German Shepherds, it wasn't a problem for me at all.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Before I even read this thread I saw a pic of actor Channing Tatum & his wife Jenna Dewan at LAX with their newborn daughter plus their Japanese Spitz dog Meeka with a blue coat stating "service dog" & I did wonder if it was all legit as it just appears like a family pet in other pics. Their other dog Lulu is a Catahoula-Pitbull mix.

 

[chrisb]

We've seen two dogs in bags boarding planes in carry bags and one in the admirals club. One of my friends just reported seeing a cat this morning.

I have no issue with real service dogs but the US stance on travelling pets is weird.

 

[adrian]

I have a friend who travels regularly with his Stafforshire Terrior NYC-LAX. He showed me a photo of the dog lying/sleeping on top of him

When I asked him how, he said it wasn't difficult to have the dog registered as a service dog... something about being emotionally dependant on the dog....

I have another US based friend, who doesn't go anywhere without his dog, including international flights, and he travels a lot. He is British, but avoids flying into the UK because of some of the requirements. He'll fly into Paris instead, and take the Eurostar.

I would love to travel with my dog, so I am very jealous of the US situation.

 

[vantage03]

I would happily buy the seat next to me for my dog if I could travel with them... she really doesn't like it in the hull though...!

 

[Katie]

There was a man who used to bring his staffie/bull dog/can't remember now with him to the supermarket I used to work in. He insisted it was a therapy dog and would keep him calm and prevent him from having a seizure in the store.

After a couple of visits, and many complaints from other customers, the store manager said the dog would no longer be welcome. IIRC, it had been seen with its paws up on the meat cabinets in the meat hall. I think another condition was that if it was a genuine therapy/psychiatric support dog, it should have a shirt of some kind identifying it as such.

 

[samh004]

I'm sure there will always be those that use these rules to get away with having their dogs with them all the time, that said though, I believe there's a member of AFF who travels with a service dog from TAS.

 

[serfty]

It can be a sensitive issue and it would be very fine line one treads if wanting to publicly express doubt as to the veracity of such.

See this FT thread: Fake Service Dogs - FlyerTalk Forums

 

[waimate01]

I once caught a flight with a seeing-eye-dog-in-training. The handler wasn't blind, but he was teaching the dog how to catch aircraft so that it's eventual person would be able to.

I must say it looked like they were both having an absolute ball, which I suppose was the point of the whole exercise.

 

[sjd]

The service dog's I've encountered on QF have all been very well behaved guide dogs. My old dog got very good at flying SYD-MEL and BNE-MEL over the years in the hold and would have done well out of the recent VA pet scheme. Once QF left her out on the tarmac in the heat for a very long time after a flight, we began to think they had lost her. That would not have been a good lost luggage situation. She would not have done so well in the cabin, at least she would have been perfectly behaved until the meal trolley came around and then all bets off.