You plan to take a trip, you’ll be flying on a plane, and you want to take an animal with you—it’s not unusual. You do the necessary research and discover several options.
If the animal is small enough, it can ride in a carrier in the cabin of the plane with you (at an extra charge). If the animal is too big to fit in a carrier of the allowed size, it can ride in a larger, airline-approved carrier in the luggage hold of the plane (also not free).
According to the American Pet Products Association, there are around 77 million pet dogs and 85 million pet cats in the United States—and a growing number of their owners take them along when they travel by air.
And when they fly as carry-on passengers in the cabin, those pets need to have tickets.
On Alaska Airlines and JetBlue, the domestic fee for a pet in the cabin is $100 each way. On American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines, it’s $125 each way. Frontier Airlines charges $75 each way, and on Southwest the fee is $95 each way.
In some cases, more than one small pet can travel in a pet carrier (and avoid an extra fee), but some airlines will tack on an extra fee if there’s a stopover of more than four hours.
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/travel/pets-fly-why-are-there-so-many-animals-skies-airports-n702266
Then you discover still one more option.
Your pet—of any size—can fly in the cabin with you at no additional charge. If your pet is an Emotional Service Animal, your pet flies for free.
You consider that possibility.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a duck or a mini horse, as long as a passenger has the correct paperwork, they’re allowed to fly with an emotional support animal and nobody can say anything about it,” said veteran flight attendant Heather Poole, author of Cruising Attitude.
Poole says it’s not a flight attendant’s job to determine which passengers are flying with true support animals or which ones have simply secured paperwork to avoid paying a fee for their pet to fly, but “I can spot a fake emotional support animal a mile away,” said Poole. “It’s usually growling or barking at other support animals. That, or it’s dressed nicer than its owner.”
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/travel/pets-fly-why-are-there-so-many-animals-skies-airports-n702266
You consider whether your pet—the pet you wish to fly with, for free, in the cabin of the plane—could be an Emotional Support Animal. It would make traveling with your pet so much easier . . . and less expensive.
You wonder if there’s any way your pet could qualify, even if that pet is not a cat or a dog. You think: what could possibly go wrong?
“You’d be surprised,” said Bobbie Morales of the Association of Flight Attendants. “We’re seeing birds, pigs, rabbits and of course, lots of dogs.”
Douglas Kidd of the National Association of Airline Passengers has witnessed this phenomenon too.
“There was a case of a man bringing a turkey on board,” said Kidd. “Miniature horses. Capuchin monkeys.”
In fairness, some emotional support animals (ESAs) do make a life-changing impact on their owners. But they’re not considered service animals by law, and there are no minimum standards for their training or behavior. That may put your safety at risk.
“My greatest fear is that one day there will be an evacuation and this animal that’s not trained will be in the way . . . of actually getting people off the aircraft,” said Morales.
One reason pet owners are resorting to questionable behavior is because of cost.
Flying with a pet can cost as much as $300 for a place in cargo. ESAs fly for FREE.
“The animals are shipped with the luggage, and sometimes treated about the same way,” said Kidd.
You learn that, for your pet to fly free in the cabin of the plane, you must provide a formal letter from a mental health professional who’s willing to state that you need an Emotional Support Animal with you. But you don’t see a local MHP yourself and you don’t know how to find one who might write you such a letter if you’re not a regular patient. You also think your health insurance might not cover such a service, and you realize that getting an ESA letter from a local MHP might end up being much more expensive than paying for your pet to fly with you. You’re discouraged.
You continue your research. Online, you find many companies and organizations advertising “certification” and “vests” and “ID” for Emotional Support Animals. You wonder how such services can be provided without a in-person visit with a mental health professional, but every one of the ads you see and every one of the web pages you read makes the process sound practically foolproof. These businesses say you can answer a few simple questions online and an MHP will write you a letter.
You check and double-check. You ask friends. You talk with people who’ve gotten a letter online from such a business, and find that they’ve been able to fly with their pet in the cabin of a plane for free, and that the airline never checked the legitimacy of their letter. You realize that it might well be possible for you to “get away with” using a letter from an online business, whether it’s legitimate or not.
You compare the costs. On one hand, you can find a local MHP, make an appointment, have a consultation, agree to further appointments, and hope the MHP you’ve chosen will write you a letter. Or you can sign up online, take a few minutes to fill out a form and answer a few simple questions, to get a letter from an MHP (who may or may not exist in real life) stating that your pet is an Emotional Support Animal so that the animal can fly for free in the cabin of the plane with you.
What do you choose?
Next week, we’ll hear from someone who did it the right way—by consulting a mental health professional with whom he was already in therapy, by getting a legitimate letter, and by following all the recommended protocols while traveling by plane with his pet.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
DOT [Department Of Transportation] operates a toll-free hotline to assist air travelers with disabilities. The hotline provides general information to consumers about the rights of air travelers with disabilities and responds to requests for printed consumer information. It also assists air travelers with time-sensitive disability-related issues that need to be addressed in ‘real time.’
1-800-778-4838 (voice) or 1-800-455-9880 (TTY)
