Flying With Service Dogs and Emotional Support Animals

The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), with its stringent rules on accommodating service dogs in public places without requiring proof of disability, doesn't apply on airplanes. But the less-known Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) prohibits airlines from discriminating against travelers with physical or mental impairments. That means they can bring their service animals with them on planes for free. This is an important right for people with disabilities who need their service dogs to travel like anyone else.

However, in the wake of disruptions caused by untrained emotional support animals on planes and passengers' attempts to fly with unusual species, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) amended the ACAA regulations to allow airlines to impose restrictions on traveling with some types of service animals. Read on for details.

Restrictions on Types of Service Animals on Planes

Previously, airlines were required to allow most species of assistance animals—including pigs, monkeys, and miniature horses—with some exceptions, such as when they posed a direct threat to health and safety. As of January 10, 2021, a DOT rule amended the ACAA regulations to define a service animal as a dog (regardless of breed or type) that is individually trained to perform tasks for a person with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability.

Airlines may not refuse to allow a service animal based on its breed or physical type, but they may require that the dog fit on the handler's lap or within the handler's foot space on the plane. They may also require that service dogs be harnessed or leashed on the plane and in the airport. (14 C.F.R. § 382.117, 85 Fed. Reg. 79742 (2020).)

Documentation Requirements for Flying With Service Dogs

Under the ACAA, when flying with your service dog, airlines may require you to provide a Department of Transportation (DOT) Service Animal Air Transportation form attesting to your dog's health, behavior, and training. If the flight is scheduled to take at least eight hours, airlines can also ask you for a Service Animal Relief Attestation form stating that your dog won't need to relieve itself while onboard the aircraft or that it can relieve itself without posing a sanitary issue (such as using a dog diaper).

When Airlines Can Deny Transport to a Service Dog

Airlines don't have to let your service dog on a plane in the following circumstances:

• your dog violates safety requirements (for example, it's too large or heavy to be accommodated in the cabin)
• the dog poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others
• the dog causes a significant disruption in the cabin or at airport gate areas, or
• the dog violates health requirements (such as being prohibited from entering a U.S. territory or foreign country).

Airlines may also deny transport to your service dog if the airline requires completed DOT service animal forms and you didn't provide the airline with these forms.

No More Special Treatment for Emotional Support Animals on Planes

Under the previous regulations, travelers could bring untrained emotional support animals on planes as long as they provided documentation from a mental health professional that they needed the animal's presence to fly. Because these animals don't need any special training, the lax requirements led to conflicts on flights, including attacks on other passengers or trained service animals.

In response to all the complaints, the amended regulations no longer require airlines to recognize emotional support animals as service animals. That means that anyone who wants to bring an emotional support animal on a plane may have to comply with the individual airline's restrictions—and extra fees—for flying with pets.

The DOT rule does prohibit airlines from treating psychiatric service animals any differently than other service animals (such as by requiring additional documentation from a mental health professional, as the regulations previously allowed). (14 C.F.R. § 382.117, 85 Fed. Reg. 79742 (2020).) Psychiatric service animals differ from emotional support animals in that they are trained to perform a specific task. For example, a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may bring a psychiatric service dog on board that's trained to apply gentle pressure in order to relieve PTSD-related symptoms associated with flying.

Advance Notice Requirements and Check-In With Service Dogs

People with disabilities who are flying with trained service dogs may have to submit the DOT forms (discussed above) up to 48 hours in advance of the travel date if a reservation was made before then. Otherwise, the passengers may submit the forms at the gate before boarding. Airlines may not require that people traveling with service dogs check in physically at the airport (rather than using online check-in).