Air travel with a service dog

Posted by ghgeorge
July 17, 2009

With summer in full swing everyone is thinking about vacations. It may seem a simple process of bringing your service dog with you to the airport, that is not the case. In fact the airlines are not even covered by the ADA. Instead they follow the Air Carrier Access Act which was written by a completely different governmental agency than the ADA. To help us understand what must be done to make sure your service dog can come with you Marc Dubin, a former DOJ attorney specializing in these issues have put together a list of websites you need to read. As with anything else, the better prepared  you are the better chance that you will be able to get to your destination with the least amount of grief and aggravation. To that end here are the websites:

Summary of the Air Carrier Access Act
http://www.disabilitytravel.com/airlines/air_carrier_act.htm

Details of the Air Carrier Access Act

http://www.disabilitytravel.com/airlines/air_carrier_act_details.htm

Guide to Disability Law: Air Carrier Access Act

http://www.dlrp.org/html/guide_to/acaa.html

There is a lot to read on the web-pages above, but knowing what to expect from the airlines and what your rights are as a disabled person  are your responsibility. Do not expect that the airline personnel know the law or even what to d. As with others that are overworked and under tight schedules, they will come up with their own rules to make life easier for themselves, not for you. You need to bring a copy of the law with the various areas on service dogs outlined. When the airline personnel realize that you know your rights and have the law to back it up, you will have a much better chance of getting things to go the way they were intended by the law. This is on top of making sure you have all the documentation on the training of your service dog and any shots that they have had recently. Plus your dog should be in their harness with text that says it is a service animal and not to pet them.

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