British Airways Being Sued After Denying Boarding To Emotional Support Dogs

There is a lot of hypocrisy in the UK regarding dog care 'responsibilities' on one hand and on another hand there is a number of truly wonderful individuals and organizations like the Royal Opera House or the NHS itself that is trying to meet the needs of vulnerable people and provide 'as if you are at home' care. I was not born in the UK and my animal always traveled with me before she passed away at the age of 10. We do not leave dogs with seaters or kids with nannies. The dog walkers or dog seaters is not my culture - like parents who send their kids away from the age of three and think this is good care, having your dog looked after by a stranger is a form of negligence. Dogs are tribal and treating a dog like an object that you can shift on other people and pay money for it, defeats the purpose of having a dog. If arrnagemtns were made to allow well behaved pets to fly with owners, the world would have been a much better place. Dogs get emotionally damaged in cages. It is no harm having airlines that are only (wo)man & dog airline. You don't like this? allergic? - fly the ordinary one! Although allergy thing i personally do not buying being very allergic physically and emotionally since childhood. Its something that can be treated with antihistamines and relaxation :))) positive emotions ...ahhhhh...a therapy animal? I have a well trained working dog that was trained in my native language, for my needs and she is still waiting accreditation from the relevant 'charities' as she is missing a 'badge' while I am missing my life as I can not do the thing that gives my life a meaning - traveling and being with my family. Medically I am tied to the UK and feel suicidal on and off because I feel marooned and very unfairly so - precisely because I am disabled. The doctors encourage me to forward the documentation that they gave me and to ask for travel assistance with my Aid dog on the airlines, yet, in all fairness, for somebody who struggles to keep thoughts together in day to day tasks, getting all this together and right is way too complicated! Not to mention that I am TERRIFIED of precisely this unspeakable rudeness that a number of service representatives on airlines used to allow themselves even before i had my Aid animal. What is worth bearing in mind for the critics is that conditions people have are different. In order to pass judgamnets on who needs what dog when and why it is worth having gone to a medical school as then your judgment will be valid. Anxiety, panic and other problems often make you shit your pants or pee yourself way before you can make it to the toilet. I am sure you'd prefer a well toilet trained dog on board rather than a human, who shut themselves without one (or two). Dogs smell? Are you sure you always smell nice when flying? Fake conditions? I have a congenital condition (physical) and an acquired one (mental). If those alleged fakers can make it easier for me to fly by pressing on the need for support animals not be separated from their owners - they deserve a medal. It is normal to miss your dog (even if not an aid dog) when away from the animal and just as normal to want them to be with you when you are flying rather than leave them to travel with baggage. Airlines are services and they are there to provide a service that meets the needs of the customers rather than have a disability competition on who is disabler and whose dog is helping and whose dog as well as the owner are a piece of (....) This is not on!

@Scott Strange that your GF finds more emotional support in a dog than she does in her boyfriend.

I've paid the exorbitant $125 (each way) on American and $99 on Southwest (each way) to take my dog on the flight with me, 5 times now. I've never considered cheating the system by claiming he was an emotional support animal, yet I've been *accused* of being a cheater by holier-than-thou jerks in the waiting areas anyway. When I'm going to visit family for a week over the holidays, $200 - $250 is about how much a sitter or dog hotel would cost anyway. He stays silently his under the seat carrier for the entire flight (thankfully, visiting family is just a 2.5 hour nonstop) - except for a minute or two when I unzip the front to let him sip on the melted ice and water from an extra cup. Most of the time, when I pull his bag out to deplane, the people around me exclaim "I didn't realize you had a dog in there" !

If the dogs are not certified and she can't provide paperwork.. the gate agent is following policy (according to above post). She should take Greyhound Buslines next time...

Thank goodness we don't have any of this nonsense of being able to pay to take a dog into the cabin in Europe. As shown in an earlier post ( British Airways) the rules on service/ assistance dogs here are very strict indeed. And we have no such thing as an "emotional support" animal. The squabble on here about the situation within USA shows how hood it is that sheer common sense rules in Europe.