Can She Get A Headset At Least?
 

I researched airline requirements for Piper and learned that she needs an advance reservation as airlines only allow a very limited number of pets in cabin; and she must be in airline approved carrier that will fit under seat. She is required to remain in carrier, under seat for duration of flight. And for these deluxe travel arrangements, Southwest charges $95 EACH WAY and American $150 EACH WAY!! Good lord, 9 1/2 lbs---Piper has a value similar to high-quality caviar with these airlines! I teased an American Airline pilot whom I see regularly at work and he kinda grimaced and laughed and said I should get one of those "pet tags" and fly her for free. When I said I couldn't do that as she's not certified, his reply was, "Well, are you stressed to pay that much? Would you be upset to leave her at home? Would having her fly free with you alleviate that stress?" Well, yes, of course...So he looked at his co-pilot, laughed and told me, "There you go, your dog is a service/therapy animal!" Right??!!! He made a fun argument, but unless Piper gets certified or I win the lottery, we're both temporarily, voluntarily "grounded." Lotta money to put her cute lil' self under a seat for hours (yeah, like that'd happen!)

Gezzzz, $300. round trip to fly a pup that HAS to be stuffed under a seat. What's that all about, crate uses unused space. Glad I am not a flyer.

Hey I'm always up for a road trip lol.

A couple of weeks ago I was dropping my daughter (14)off at the airport to fly to see her dad. Emma is with us, so I put her in the bag and I proceed to check my daughter in. I always walk her to the gate, so I get a security pass to walk her. The gate agent sees that I have a dog in a carrier and told me that I have to put her in the car or pay $95 just to go through security even though neither of us were flying. I thought that was ridiculous.

Airlines surely try to get over on people at times and I'm one to believe that the costs to fly a pet don't necessarily align. If you pay $200 to fly roundtrip and don't have to pay for an infant, the costs for a dog in a carry on shouldn't be more than $50. I would say align the costs to how much an additional carry on or bag fee would be $25-50.

And remember, after you pay this ridiculous fee, that count's as your carryon bag as well. I haven't looked into too much, but I've heard you can get a "certification" on-line for a service/therapy pet for your pooch. Saw a story recently about the airlines wanting to crack down on this, as there are people "abusing" this (i.e, they are losing out on their fees), but nothing really happening yet.

I am with the airlines on this one. If I am denied taking my dog on due to false service dogs I am very angry. Remember most airlines have a restriction on number of dogs in cabin.

Rachael1983--No kidding...$95 to walk with tiny pooch tucked away in a carrier?! I hate that dishonest people with ill-behaved dogs ruin things for responsible and respectful dog people. But with your comment (about babies) and one from Matese reminding that the area un.der seat is already an unused space; nothing is being lost or denied to anyone else by stowing pup there...One has to wonder how can they justify the exorbitant fee?! No, I know they needn't justify anything, cuz they brought the ball to the game..

There is no real certification it's just a letter from your doctor. It's called an emotional support dog.

I believe that emotional support dogs should undergo training and pass at least the basic canine good citizen test.

All service dogs usually have rigorous training to undergo to get certified. Think guide dogs for the blind, seizure alert dogs, personal assist dogs. Etc.

The law in the US is emotional support dogs are not required to go through any testing and there is no certification for them all you are required to have is a letter from a doctor. Even with service dogs there is no actual certification required. One of the biggest issues is actually all these websites that say they can certify your service dog when really your just getting a piece of paper that means nothing.

I know the price seems high especially since they are treated like carry on luggage, but they do that to keep the demand for dog and cat traffic down. The airlines just don't want to encourage pet travel so they make it costly.

Service and emotional support dogs normally don't count towards the quota in the cabin, it's the paid reservation pets that they can only have two of.

I agree, Gemy. Though I would thoroughly enjoy doing some kind of therapy work with Piper, I don't believe she has the demeanor or personality to participate in such programs, let alone go through the required training! Piper does, however, seem to have an instinctive understanding of knowing when she must remain calm and quiet in "serious" situations. My doctor permits Piper to stay on my lap throughout simple exams and getting flu shots because Piper is co-operative and calm throughout visit; this side of Piper was a wonderful surprise. I was also surprised at how soothing Piper's very slow licks (on back of hand) were when I got flu shot. From the time doctor moved to my left side with syringe until she put band-aid on, Piper did that slow, rhythmic lick--something she'd not done until that moment and she hasn't done it since. Our little ones possess deep, sensitive and mysterious abilities...Below is 'normal' Pipe, always at the ready and always ready to bounce!

Link. To the akc website on this subject. Therapy Dog Organizations - American Kennel Club

There certainly appears to be certification process for service animals. Although there is no federally mandated registry(yet) that I could tell. I am dang sure guide dogs are certified with the appropriate organization, and spend two years or so in training. Personal assist dogs spend at least that amount of time too.

I fly all the time with my two girls on Allegiant to Florida. They both go in one carrier and are stuck under the seat. I pay $100 each way for them to fly which is more than I pay for my ticket. I see people with dogs sitting on their laps on the flight because they are emotional support and they fly free. My last flight, while waiting for the plane to arrive, I got them out of the carrier and had them on my lap. I had two airport employees come up to me and tell me to put them back in the carrier while 3 people had dogs and 1 person had a cat on their lap.....the difference, they were emotional support animals. I could take the easy way out and get a note from my doctor and get clearance as an emotional support animal but refuse to do it. Call me stupid, but I can't bring myself to lie just so my animals can fly free.

Well what I call you is a person with integrity. I tell you a true story one, that made me uncomfortable, magics mom is a fully trained and certified personal assist dog for my breeders husband. He is a paraplegic. She spent much time training her lovely gal. Ok well n good, however she takes that dog on a flight to Missouri gets to fly her dog free in cabin with her, while I do the fifteen hour drive with my big boy cause I don't like cargo. She doesn't need a service dog for herself... I don't even know for sure if it is bending the rules, but even though convenient for her at least the dog did the training.

This is what I object to is folks that scam the system. I could I suppose go online and get those dummy certificates,magic is very well trained but we stopped the personal assist training due to his joint problems. Magic is trained to utility dog level of obedience, and can if need be get me up from the ground steady my walk, when I need a wheelchair pull me in it.... But I won't hurt my dog to make my life easier.

And for folks that don't know training just one skill can take hundreds of hours, and some dogs just don't work out to be suited to it.

The assist from the floor. First you teach stand stay until you have a reliable one. Then you teach command either steady or hold. You start to lean your weight into dogs mid to upper back. Then stand command. The dog must lift with a steady rock solid back. Eventually you should b able to drape your whole front area over the dogs back and they lift your total weight up. With my young airhead as soon as she feels too much weight on her back she sinks her back and down to the floor I go. She doesn't like the pressure. And almost as bad she immediately moves away.... I have two more training tricks to try and then..... Well just might have to let go of the desire for her to be my pa dog

Of course that is skill specific training and dogs need CDx or better obedience.

I do wish an airline would make a few pet friendlier flights. More and more people want to/need to travel with small pets. It would be nice if they had a select few planes or flights to popular destinations that didn't require them being stuffed in a bag under a seat -- maybe have a little section cornered off for people with pets? I'd gladly pay the equal price of my ticket if I could buy a seat next to me for my dog or even just keep him on the floor. With him being a larger Yorkie, I don't know if it'd be feasible to fly with him in a bag under my seat. He'd be miserable.

If there was some kind of system in place, that would be nice. Like maybe Southwest could have some sort of a 'pet test' (kind of like the CGC) that you had to pass before flying with your dog -- to assure they're not aggressive and that they're at the very least decently behaved.

I've flown with my girls quite a few times. The cost is outrageous but I've paid it most of the time... :eek: After my first trip with Monroe I realized they don't really seem to check... When it was just Monroe she would be in a bag that looked like a purse and I realized I'd pay at the counter and then no one seemed to even notice whether or not the bag had a luggage tag (to test it I took the tag off once & no one said anything), the TSA didn't inquire (even when she came out of the bag to go through security) and the flight attendants never even knew she was there because she's so quiet... So, I did skip paying on the way back a couple times. I definitely felt guilty but I guess not guilty enough :eek::eek::eek:
Now that I have both of them I have paid the crazy fee; although I tested it once again by removing the luggage tag on the rolling carrier (which is pretty clearly a dog carrier) and kept the boarding pass with the "paid" stamp in my purse and used my original, and again had no one question it. If I were more of a risk taker I probably would have tried not paying again but with both of them I just feel like I need to to keep my sanity haha :-/

This would be amazing! I'm very much hoping all airports will at least get potty stations inside; when there's a short layover it's nearly impossible to get them out to the potty area then back through security in time.

I love kids...I had two of my own so please don't get the wrong impression. On my last flight my Yorkies were flying under the seat in front of me not making a sound. Meanwhile, the seat in back of me, a toddler screamed at the top of his lungs for 2 1/2 hours kicking the back of my seat throwing a temper tantrum. I would like to say the parents tried to comfort the child but all they did was tell everyone the boy was tired and needed to take a nap. I know you can't compare an animal to a child but I would have rather had a dog barking in the seat in back of me. I know this post makes me look like a hard hearted person but I could not wait to get off that plane.

I meant legally. There are some people who can train and do train their own dogs and they can be service dogs as well and there is not certification they legally have to have.

:thumbup: that would be nice

No I totally get it. I don't have kids myself but young siblings & cousins who I am close to. It can be hard with a young child! I do sympathize with parents that have a screaming baby on board and are trying to stop it but they won't. It's gotta be miserable. But like you said it's misery for everyone else on board too. It is like nails on a chalk board to me to have a screeching baby :eek: AND I get it -- humans are > than animals in this world we live in so of course they get priority. But it definitely doesn't seem fair to at least not have more OPTIONS for pet owners. More and more people are having pets instead of children. I think they're missing the boat actually... they'd likely receive a lot more business. I'd be all for child-free flights too. :p

:thumbup::thumbup: it certainly is a hike to get there n back.

I've had luck with JetBlue not being terrible

Call me stupid, but I can't bring myself to lie just so my animals can fly free.
No, not stupid at all. And I'm with you because as outrageous the cost, the choice is ours--fly and pay or don't fly.

So that means one flies with an animal based on the whim of the airline. How does the American with disabilities act which is law f actor in here. That is a federal law iF I am not mistaken. I am going to look that up.

But my point is folks who really don't have (let's use the generiC term of service dogs) have trained and well behaved animals give real service animals a bad rap. They also are taking up the space on the aircraft that should be available for real service animals.

Also while I do my own training I will take with my dog the appropriate challenge exam. But right now we would fail it! Mainly as my gal can't do the pa work that I need her to do.

American with disabilities act
 

See ADA National Network | Information, Guidance and Training on the Americans with Disabilities Act

I looked at the amendments act of 2008

From there. Definition of a service animal

Any dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of a person with a disability


Excluded: the crime deterrent effect of an animals presence and the provision of emotional support,well being,comfort,or companionship do not constitute work or tasks.

By that definition emotional support dogs are not covered under that act.
Interesting.