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Feature Photo: BUT I NEVER considered three of those passengers would be snarling pomeranians.
I heard them before I saw them. Their high-pitched yelps ricocheted across the San Francisco International Airport’s departure concourse. Everyone in the check-in line turned to see where the commotion was.
“I’m checking in for the red-eye to New York,” the dogs’ owner said briskly. She placed her luggage on the scale and one of the pomeranians leapt onto the top of it, growling protectively and baring his teeth.
“Romeo!” The woman scolded, pulling at his leash. “Sorry, they’re not normally like this,” she said with an embarrassed smile.
“They?” I questioned, peering over the counter top. “How many dogs do you have with you?”
“Three,” she answered, curtly. And before I could inform her about the airline’s ‘one-pet-per-passenger’ policy, she hastily added, “They’re my emotional support animals.”
Emotional support animals, as the US Department of Transportation defines them, are “animals that assist persons with disabilities by providing emotional support.”
As I looked from the three barking, hysterical dogs to the middle-aged woman standing before me, I wondered what sort of emotional support they could possibly lend someone. They looked more frightened about their impending flight than she did.
But of course, I couldn’t ask her, because that would have meant violating a 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act that states airlines cannot inquire as to why a person requires a service animal.
Photo: pizzodisevio
The law was enacted to protect the privacy of the truly disabled, but it’s also created a loophole for those without a disability wishing to cheat the system and avoid the $100 fee that airlines levy on people traveling with a pet. Basically, anyone can pass their pooch off as an emotional support animal by purchasing a $10 “Service Animal” vest off the Internet (no documentation is required).
Although the traveler could be asked to produce a letter from a mental health professional, airlines are so afraid of getting slapped with a discrimination lawsuit that they rarely ask to see one. In fact, the Department of Transportation goes as far as to urge “carriers not to require documentation.”
Service animals (such as those that assist the blind or deaf) aren’t new to air travel. Service animals have been assisting the physically disabled since the 1920′s and are trained in a wide-variety of tasks, from fetching medication to detecting seizures or pulling wheelchairs.
But emotional support animals are not service animals.
They don’t assist with a physical disability but rather, an emotional one (such as agoraphobia) and aren’t required to undergo any training whatsoever. Unlike therapy dogs, who work in hospitals and rehab centers, are certified and bred for their gentle, calm demeanor, emotional support animals aren’t even required to be house-broken.
They’re pets.
Pets with a fancy title maybe, but pets nonetheless.
And while under normal circumstances, a pet would have to ride in a carrier under the seat or in the cargo hold, thanks to a 2003 guideline set forth by the D.O.T, emotional support animals can now sit on the floor or on their owner’s lap, free of charge.
Just like service animals.
This isn’t to say that emotional support animals don’t provide a valuable service for those who truly depend on them. Anyone who has experienced the unconditional love of a dog couldn’t dispute the fact that they and other pets provide love and comfort… especially to those suffering from anxiety or depression.
But is that enough to allow them an all-access pass on aircraft? And where do we draw the line? If an untrained Pumba the Warthog can fly for free because he provides emotional support, then why not an uncertified house plant? My bonsai tree offers me comfort, shouldn’t I be allowed to bring him on board, free of charge, as well?
Because as it is, what qualifies as an emotional support animal is only limited to the imaginations of the owners of the pets and the doctors who “prescribe” them. As long as the animal doesn’t pose a threat to the safety of the other passengers on board, any animal (with the exception of snakes, rats, or spiders) can be considered fit for the job.
And that includes ducks, monkeys and even pigs. In the last six months, I’ve checked in three emotional support parakeets and several emotional support cats and I even know of an agent who once assigned a bulkhead seat to a miniature pony.
And what about the passengers who may not feel so happy about sharing their legroom with Mister Ed? Or what about those with pet allergies? While airlines may try their best to accommodate those allergic to pet dander (by moving them to the rear of the plane, for example), the D.O.T specifically states that the “inconvenience of other passengers is not sufficient grounds to deny a service animal carriage in the cabin.”
Once, while I was preparing to board a flight, a captain stormed off the plane and approached the gate podium. “Tell me,” he inquired in a low voice, “What the Hell is the deal with these emotional support animals?”
After I informed him of the regulations, he shook his head in disbelief. And then told me about how he’d spent part of his last flight chasing down an emotional support dog who’d escaped away from his owner’s grip and run amok under the seats, frightening the passengers.
The dog had eventually found a hiding spot near the aft lavatory, where he’d urinated on someone’s handbag.
“They’re turning our airline into a circus,” he fumed. And I had to agree.
What’s the solution?
Do we ban emotional support animals from air travel because of the actions of an untold number of dishonest people? Perhaps a simple solution would be to require that emotional support animals receive the same training that therapy animals or service animals receive. While that training can be expensive (up to $60,000 according to the New York Times), it would weed out the fakers from the legitimately disabled.
Or maybe the real problem lies with why people feel they have to rely on emotional support animals in the first place. Because if people are so afraid to fly that they need Old McDonald’s farm on-board with them, then perhaps what they need isn’t a more relaxed definition of the term “handicapped” but rather, a better therapist. 
Reannon Muth
Reannon Muth is a part-time writer and full-time travel addict. Over the last decade, she's backpacked through Asia and Central America and lived in five countries, in Disney World and on a cruise ship. Some of her talents include being able to fall asleep anywhere and eat almost anything. She currently lives in Las Vegas.You can read about all of her adventures (abroad and at home) on her blog, Taken by the Wind.
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I feel silly for getting a letter for my “Emotional Support Animal” but I have to fly to Mexico every 6 weeks for work. I was tired of paying an extra $250 per ticket to bring my dog AND lose a carry on bag. Meanwhile, I would see people with screaming babies on their laps, morbidly obese patrons who take up part of my seat, etc. I wouldn’t have gone to the extreme of getting paperwork for my Emotional Support Animal if the airlines gave a damn about customer service and didn’t charge me an extra $250 to bring on a 8 pound dog.
I agree with DogPAC of SF. Also I feel bad that the actions of selfish idiots, that if they can afford to fly should be able to pay the measly 100 instead of bringing bad reputation to a perfectly valid, legitimate need for emotional support animals. She herself says the airline does not even enforce what should be their own rules of CHECKING DOCUMENTATION, therefore bringing alot of these problems on themselves. What’s wrong Reannon, you would rather kowtow to the PC brigade, than to protect the genuine people in need? Shameful. there are many things that can be done to aliviate this situation, but sitting judgement on genuinely in need people, and writing an article adding to THEIR already difficult issues, because your employer, you and your peers are too thick to sort some easily remedied problems. Shame on you! An american living now in a more empathetic country of the UK.
Pfffftttttt, I have been paying to take my two poms on planes for years and I’m finally so disgusted by how the airline treats them I’m going to get a letter for ESA certification. You will let a new born scream in my face for a 6 hour a flight for free but I have to pay $150 to keep a well trained dog under a seat the entire time… For many of us dogs are as close to us as kids and I don’t think the airlines have the right to say otherwise ESPECIALLY when my tax dollars go to bail them out when they constantly mismanage their business.
As for the other passengers that don’t like it? Well there are MANY things I don’t like (obese people that obviously can’t fit in their seat and crush me, people that haven’t showered in days, etc) yet the airline is doing nothing on that front. Dogs have travelled with there masters for thousands of years and it isn’t going to stop anytime soon. Everyone should get an ESA certificate and stop letting these airlines use their little amount of control to go on power trips telling us what we can and cant do.
The funny thing is they justify it with “allergies”. Right, its because of allergies. They care so much…BUT if you give them 100 bucks that somehow changes everything. I paid one time and they didn’t even check my animal in. So now I just put my parrot travel cage in a canvas shopping bag and no one’s the wiser. Why pay for what takes up less room than most ppls free carry-on!
If you have any friends that are trainers/know trainers, you could probably get a spare service dog vest. I know a guy who has done it a couple of times, because, lord knows, the airlines WILL kill your dog.
what is a ESA cettificate?
Emotional support animal. Means. You can have your dog on the plane with you instead of in the cargo hold where they sometimes freeze to death.
Three snarling pomeranians wouldn’t qualify under any state or federal law as emotional support animals. A major requirement is that they DON’T do that.
But this author doesn’t seem to realize – or care – that properly trained and behaved emotional support animals do wonders to help our veterans with PTSD and persons that would otherwise be house-bound with Major Depression or Anxiety.
So get off your high horse, and realize that one bitty abusing the system does not an example make. Change your attitude. Get a little education. And hold those abusing the law to account.
I believe this article is more focused toward the people who take advantage of the system, not those who have their emotional support animals for legitimate reasons, with legitimate certification. I have been researching this topic for a school paper for a while now, and have found several websites were I could get my dog certified with a snap of the fingers. Sure, some of her statements were a little harsh and lacked thought, but the point is there all the same. All of these people with unruly pets have been taking advantage of laws that were put in place to help people, and are leaving a very bad impression for other emotional support animals. Also, I have found many more articles about the people who have untrained, untamed pets parading around with the label of “emotional support” so maybe it is more common to find someone who has their animal for a bs reason than one that has a real reason for it. I thought all of you with emotional support animals would be more angry about the fact that these people have given this lady such a bad experience, not about her opinion.
I had never heard of Emotional support Dogs until I complained to Air New Zealand. It has taken me two weeks to recover from sharing a flight with two of these dogs for 10 hours. If I had been warned in advance I could have taken medication but once on the flight even moving away would have made no difference. Beware other allergy sufferers you need to take medication if you are flying because the airlines have no interest in your conditions only in not being suerd for breaching US Dept of Transportation rule 382 which permits emotional support animals to travel on airlines regardless of size, type or real requirement.
She is worried about one dog that reportedly peed a little one time? I have traveled frequently for two decades and I cannot tell you the number of times that I have been trapped on the tarmac or in a circle pattern waiting to land where they would not let me get up to go to the restroom! I have been forced to sit in misery for hours while they would not let anyone get up or get off the plane. I can’t fault a dog or anyone for wanting to pee on a plane. Once they circled for an hour after serving drinks and they told us not to get up. The moment the plane touched down I was crying and cramping and me and another guy jumped up and ran for the restroom. The flight attendant screamed at us to sit down and I told her it was truly a critical emergency. She said if we didn’t sit down they would stop the plane on the runway and we would be liable for hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines. She implied we might be shot by air marshals for trying to get to the restroom. I asked her what the heck I was supposed to do because I couldn’t hold it anymore and she just shrugged and asked me if I wanted to pay a hundred grand fine. I am glad the dog peed in the floor and wish the rest of us had that option. The airlines treat everyone like trash and they will kill your dog if they have the chance. Just do a search and you will find plenty of cases.
I was looking into this because I was aware that they did need to be certified trained and I saw the mix up. Depending on the airline a service animal is required to acquire basic training skills and documentation confirming this. A service dog is different from an emotional support dog. Airlines simply assume that the dog is well-behaved. The service animals are required to be able to accomplish tasks for those who are handicapped or impaired such as loss of eyesight, hearing, those who cannot walk, etc. The tasks aren’t things like potty training them which should be a given because I don’t know anyone who enjoys their cleaning up their animals pee around their house. The animal is required to do things like waking the person up when need be, alarming the owner when there is an issue, picking items up for the owner when they are commanded, and some other things. I’m sure the tasks are situational though.
You should look up (google/bing) the differences between Emotional Support and Service Animals. Often these two are confused and the regulations governing their use and training can be different.
The airlines do require documentation from your doctor. ID? They have collars 100% of the time because they’re required to be on a leash at all times and 9 out of 10 times theres a name tag plus airlines require paperwork concerning the health requirements of the pet.