The U.S. Department of Transportation (“DOT”) isn’t horsing around with its new rules governing service animals on commercial airline flights, which went into effect last week. In response to a growing backlash as to perceived fishy interpretations of what qualifies as a service animal, the new narrow rules will allow airlines to limit service animals to dogs that meet specific criteria. Under the new rules, airlines are not required to recognize emotional support animals as service animals and may treat them as pets. Therefore, the emotional support peacocks, pigs, cats, rabbits, miniature horses, monkeys, hamsters, and comfort turkeys will have to find a new means of transport.
BACKGROUND
These new rules come after a year-long process commenced in response to perceived abuses of the system as well as public debates over the genuine needs for emotional support animals on commercial flights for people with disabilities. Prior to these new rules, the Air Carrier Access Act (“ACAA”) recognized two types of service animal: (1) any animal that was individually trained or able to provide assistance to a qualified person with a disability; and (2) emotional support animals, defined as any animal shown by documentation to be necessary for the emotional well-being of a passenger.
The new DOT rules, limiting service animals to dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of a qualified individual with a disability, were prompted by the increasing number of service animal complaints received from airlines, confusion from inconsistent definitions of what constituted a “service animal”, increasing incidents of alleged fraud regarding the classification of pets as service animals, a decrease in public trust due to the transport of obscure and exotic animal species, and an increase in reported incidents of misbehavior of emotional support animals onboard aircrafts which included animals urinating, defecating, and in some instances, harming passengers and crew members as well as other animals on the aircraft. Safety of the airline crews and passengers was the primary concern expressed by supporters of the DOT’s proposal to exclude emotional support animals from the service animal definition.
PUBLIC COMMENTS
When the new rules were first proposed, more than 15,000 members of the public submitted comments, and more than 10,000 of those comments concerned the transport of emotional support animals. A large majority of airlines and related entities that submitted comments on the issue expressed their support for the DOT’s proposal to allow airlines to treat emotional support animals as pets. Airlines for America, the Regional Airline Association, and the National Air Carrier Association submitted a joint comment expressing that numerous incidents on aircrafts have demonstrated that emotional support animals were substantially more likely to misbehave during a flight due to the stressful and challenging aircraft environment. These organizations emphasized the substantial risks to flight safety posed by misbehavior of uncontained emotional support animals. The Association of Professional Flight Attendants submitted a comment noting that emotional support animals are known to bite passengers and flight attendants, relieve themselves, cause allergic reactions, and encroach on the space and comfort zone of other passengers who have purchased tickets. Moreover, untrained emotional support animals put the entire cabin, passengers and crew at risk during emergency situations.
More than 3,000 individuals and, interestingly, approximately half of disability rights organizations that commented (mainly organizations that represent individuals with allergies and individuals with visual impairment who use guide dogs), did so in support of the DOT’s proposed rule changes. The other half of disability rights organizations argued that emotional support animals provide a vital…