Part 1 of this series covered the policies of bus companies like Indian Trails, Michigan Flyer and Greyhound regarding passengers who wish to travel with animals. You can find that article in the August 2018 edition of our newsletter. Basically, we have a no-pets policy: True service animals as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) are welcome to ride with us, but not “pets,” and that includes “emotional support animals.”
Here in Part 2, we explain how and why Amtrak, the major airlines, and Detroit Metro Airport deal with passengers who travel with animals.
Bow-Wows and Meows on Choo-Choos
In most respects, Amtrak’s policy on service animals is similar to that for buses: Dogs and miniature horses trained to perform a specific task for the benefit of a person with a disability qualify as actual service animals and can ride for free. These service animals must be kept under control and remain on the floor in their handler’s space at all times.
What’s now different from bus companies is that, since 2016, Amtrak has allowed pet dogs and cats aboard nearly all of its trains. However, there are many restrictions, including these:
- For an additional $25, passengers are allowed to bring one such pet on trips of up to seven hours long (including transfer times on multi-segment trips).
- Pet reservations are made on a first-come, first-served basis; there's a maximum of five pets per train.
- A pet can weigh no more than 20 pounds, including the well-ventilated, leak-proof carrier in which it must stay while on board.
People in more than 100 towns served by Indian Trails’ daily bus routes throughout Michigan can connect with Amtrak’s runs between Chicago and Detroit, Grand Rapids and Port Huron. Such “thruway connections” between Indian Trails and Amtrak enable travelers in many Michigan towns to purchase a single ticket on the Amtrak.com website that includes travel on both the train and bus segments of their trips. However, pets cannot be booked on Indian Trail’s coaches by using such multi-ride tickets.
Snakes (and Other Critters) on a Plane
United Airlines reportedly carried 76,000 “emotional support animals” last year—including snakes and spiders—up 77 percent from 2016. Delta Airlines carried nearly 250,000 service or support animals, and recorded an 84 percent increase in animal “incidents” between 2016 and 2017, including many “behaving aggressively.”
The major airlines don’t do this because they love all creatures great and small, domestic or exotic. Fit to be tied, they dislike headlines about passengers trying to board with comfort turkeys or ducks, capuchin monkeys, rabbits, emotional support pigs and peacocks, little possums called “sugar gliders,” goats, iguanas, hedgehogs, etc.
It’s just that airlines are bound by the federal Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA), which requires them to allow both service animals and emotional support animals to accompany their handlers in the cabin of the aircraft. According to the U.S. Dept. of Transportation (USDOT), a service animal—as broadly defined in the ACAA--may safely sit in the lap of its owner during taxiing, take-off, and landing if the animal is no larger than a child less than two years old.
The U.S. Justice Department enforces the ADA, while USDOT enforces the conflicting ACAA. Under the ACAA, emotional and psychiatric support animals fly in the cabin for free, unlike household pets, for which airlines typically charge a fee such as $125 by United Airlines. (Enter the purveyors of the fraudulent credentials that let people game the system with untrained creatures masquerading as medically necessary support animals).
New Pre-Boarding Requirements
You may be pleased to learn that the major airlines are fighting back with rules requiring passengers to present:
- Proof of an emotional support animal’s health, such as a vaccination form signed by a veterinarian
- Written confirmation that the animal has been trained to behave properly in public, and acceptance of responsibility for the animal’s conduct
- 48 hours’ advance notice that they will be traveling with an emotional support animal, along with a letter of necessity from a mental health professional
While “no pets” policies are legal, they don’t permit any business to exclude true service animals. So, for example, Detroit Metro Airport welcomes true service animals with open arms according to the ADA, but says pets must be “packed and approved for travel,” not allowed to roam free inside the terminal, and that “violation of this rule may be subject to a citation and fine.”
Then there’s TSA Security Screening, which requires that a passenger with a disability and his/her service animal be screened by walking through a metal detector, either together or with the passenger leading the animal through separately on a leash.
It’s a bit different with pets, which all “should be brought to the security checkpoint in a hand-held travel carrier.” After that, the pet can be taken out of the carrier and walked through the screening process in the passenger’s arms or on a leash.
New rules on air travel with animals are coming from USDOT that may or may not iron out differences in its approach and the Justice Department’s enforcement of the ADA. If you’d like to find out more, you can do so here.