Service animals on planes?

I think it's fine as long as I'm not supposed to be the good sport and sit in the same area of the plane and yes I feel the same way about people traveling with small children. I would leave the plane if I was expected to sit next to any of the people or their animals, it reminds me of riding a bus in a third world country.

confetti-delta-flight-service-animal.jpg
serviceiguana-300x200.jpg
Fake%20Service%20Animals_20161102004140012_6490441_ver1.0_1280_720.JPG
turkey-on-a-plane.png
 

A well trained guide dog I can contemplate but a plane full of exotic animals is ridiculous.
Imagine needing to make a controlled emergency evacuation because of fire.
 
Too big to carry in an artificial pouch so too big to travel on a plane.
They pack a powerful kick that no-one wants to experience and they are easily spooked.
 
Last edited:
Smiling Jane said:
A friend has an expensive purebred dog who is her companion. She said until airlines learn to treat animals properly (what most airlines do with animals in cargo is cruel and too many of them die), she will continue to register her as a service animal so she can keep her beside her and know she's safe.

It isn't only the animal owners. The airlines share some responsibility for creating the situation.

http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/traveling-pets-airlines-dog-deaths/story?id=11198807
Click to expand...
Good for your friend!
 
It costs about $60,000 to train a service animal. Many people have what are Therapy pets and I think they should be classified as Service Animals, too. I'm not ashamed to say I told the stores I went to that my dog was a service animal because I needed her with me as I do all the time.
 
I am glad that I never had to deal with animals or babies. This is one reason why airlines have a Purser (Head Flight Attendant) on-board. They have to cope with all of the complaints from passengers regarding such issues and more. I can only remember one incident regarding a crying baby. We were flying a red-eye flight from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., which was my home airport. After we had landed in D.C. and the flight crew was ready to exit the plane, the Purser came up to me and told me that she just finished the flight from hell. On a red-eye, passengers normally will settle in for their 5 1/2 hour flight, have a snack and then get some shut-eye.

Well, evidently, the way the Purser tells the story, we had two babies on-board that took turns crying and at some points screaming. The moms and dads did what they could do to quiet the babies, but nothing seemed to work. The Purser even re-seated them, but still no help. The Purser told me that she spent most of the entire flight trying to either calm the babies or calm the irritated passengers. After that flight, I suggested that the airlines carry those sponge type ear plugs for passengers to help reduce the noise level, but my idea was shot down, so I carried a box of 24 of them in my flight bag and informed the Purser that I had them, if needed and only if I knew we were going to have babies on-board for red-eye flights. Fortunately, we never had to break them out.

Some babies mind the change in air pressure, which causes some pain to the new babies ears that are in development, or so I am told and that this is the reason why babies will cry on planes. I have also experienced it as a passenger and as adults, we just have to be tolerant and be glad that we aren't the parents that have to deal with it.
 
I agree that we who don't have little ones any more need to be tolerant of distressed babies.
I have found that the mothers are extremely anxious that they do not cause offence by having a baby that cries.
They do their best to soothe them, feed them etc, trying to put them to sleep but if the ears are painful, whether it is a baby or a dog, there will be crying and whining. I would happily swap seats with someone who cannot tolerate a crying baby for the sake of peace on board. I wouldn't mined sitting next to a guide dog either. Other animals? Depends on the species.
 
Warrigal said:
I agree that we who don't have little ones any more need to be tolerant of distressed babies.
I have found that the mothers are extremely anxious that they do not cause offence by having a baby that cries.
They do their best to soothe them, feed them etc, trying to put them to sleep but if the ears are painful, whether it is a baby or a dog, there will be crying and whining. I would happily swap seats with someone who cannot tolerate a crying baby for the sake of peace on board. I wouldn't mined sitting next to a guide dog either. Other animals? Depends on the species.
Click to expand...


It's kind of funny that you should say that. I watched a TV program on NatGeo not too long ago called, "Unusual Animal Friends", or something like that. This lady living here in the U.S. is blind and she uses a miniature horse as her guide animal, service animal and companion. She takes this animal everywhere and everywhere that she goes, her and the horse are accepted. Of course, I would imagine that they had to build a relationship before this occurred. I was thinking that this was pretty neat until she took the horse into a restaurant. I had to draw the line there. Even though the little horse had a "poop"bag on it, I have a problem accepting that this would take care of the odor, not to mention any bacteria that may escape with any gas that may be expelled. I am as tolerant as the next guy, but I do have my limits.

What say you?
 
She wouldn't need the horse in a restaurant because once she was seated the horse would have no function. It could not read the menu nor tell her which fork to use. Therefore, the horse should be given the night off and she should accept the help of her friends.

Service animals are just that. They serve a purpose which is why they are granted exemptions from regulations that apply to other animals. They are also companions when not on duty but then they have no special exemptions, nor should they.
 
Did'ya hear about the "service" Peacock...that was just refused a seat ? by Delta I believe.

Seems people are always 'gaming' the system for their own gain / reason ?....And of course it only hurts those that actually do need. Very sad.........
 
But all these animals certainly provide plenty of anecdotes for the passengers to tell afterwards!
 
Warrigal said:
She wouldn't need the horse in a restaurant because once she was seated the horse would have no function. It could not read the menu nor tell her which fork to use. Therefore, the horse should be given the night off and she should accept the help of her friends.

Service animals are just that. They serve a purpose which is why they are granted exemptions from regulations that apply to other animals. They are also companions when not on duty but then they have no special exemptions, nor should they.
Click to expand...

That all may be good and true, but my point is how would you handle this situation if you walked into a restaurant and saw the horsey already seated or you would be eating your steak and potato and she and the horse would be seated. This isn't a hypothetical situation. This is reality as it is happening today. The moderator of the program that I was watching said that some people do walk out, but the restaurateur stands by the woman and allows this practice to happen.

I know that I would would either turn around and leave or pay my bill and walk out never to return. I am not a cruel person, but I promise not to eat my meal in a barn, if the horse promises not to eat in my restaurant.
 
Australians have always found the acceptance of pets in American restaurants mind boggling.
We have hygiene laws that prevent this happening with the only exemption being guide dogs in harness.
I would definitely baulk at a horse in a café.
 
People are using all kinds of animals as service animals. One fellow came home from the Middle East and now uses a goose as his service animal, but he knows everyone's limitations of acceptance and expectations and abides by them. When I worked for United, we had almost all dogs and a few cats. Flying in and out of LA and New York, we flew a lot of personalities and the women, (mostly, but not always), had to have their exotic dog. There were also a lot of people that just brought Fluffy and Mittens on-board and paid the premium to stuff them under a seat. I flew Anna Nichole Smith once from LA to New York to appear on Letterman and she had her exotic pet dog with her. (Sorry, I do not know my breeds, but it was one of those really little dogs that yap all the time.) Her and the dog each had their own seats in First Class. Can you imagine paying around $2500.00 to fly your pet dog? It's a five plus hour flight, so the dog will have to go to the bathroom. Her dog was diapered and fed on-board much to the displeasure of the other passengers sitting in First Class.

I have several pet and service animal stories. Over my 34 year career, I have seen a lot, but I am sure that I haven't seen it all. My First Officer and I were sitting in the flight crew's lounge in McCarran Airport in Las Vegas, just having a cup of java and relaxing before our flight to LAX. My F/O was looking over the passenger manifest and starts laughing. I asked him what's so funny. He said that Jack Benny and his wife are flying with us and his wife is also bringing their two Shitzu's. (Spelling?) I wasn't sure what to expect, but hey, it was only a one hour flight, so I wasn't expecting any issues and there weren't. This was back in the day when we still had the door to the flight deck open at times. I was able to see back into First Class where the Benny's were sitting and they were surrounded by people, laughing and just having a really good time.

OTOH, we were flying from Albuquerque to San Francisco and we had a man and lady traveling with their Pug. This dog must have disliked everyone except his family. He barked almost the entire trip at any noise or person that walked by him. Not a good trip at all. We used to talk about this all the time. What do we do when passengers complain about service animals? It's a Catch 22 situation, or sort of, damned if you do and damned if you don't. Our poor F/A's used to hear, "If you don't do something about that animal (pick one), I am never going to fly United again." We try to tell them that we have to comply with the law. If we knew ahead of time that the animal wasn't going to behave, we could forbid it's entry into the plane, but we don't know that until we get airborne.
 
Funny, when I visited England, as an American I was surprised by the acceptance of pets in restaurants, at least in Cornwall. Dogs were sitting right on the benches at the pubs, eating off the tables. They were treated very fondly and nobody seemed to mind!
 
Here's a quick YouTube video of the lady and her miniature horse. The video does not show them being in a restaurant, but the segment that was on NatGeo Wild does. The horse is definitely her eyes to the world and very smart, but nonetheless, I have to draw the line at eating in a restaurant with the horse nearby.

 
Outdoors on the footpath you can have your dogs with you in Australia but not indoors.
Although I was once in a pub in Outback NSW where there was a white cockatoo in the bar.
He collected your money and passed it on to the bar tender.
All of the other livestock, including the pet kangaroo, were outside in the yard.
 
Warrigal said:
Australians have always found the acceptance of pets in American restaurants mind boggling.
We have hygiene laws that prevent this happening with the only exemption being guide dogs in harness.
I would definitely baulk (sic.) at a horse in a café.
Click to expand...
Americans envy Europeans where animals actually are accepted.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top