New Psychiatric Service Animal Loophole?

Remember, a service animal is only a dog. So no miniature horses and pigs. It also has to fit within the floor space of the owner so no big dogs either.
It’s a possible loophole but it doesn’t open up the floodgates like the ESA rules.

It's not 100 percent accurate to say no paperwork is required: you have to fill out, and submit to the airline, the DOT forms (found on pages 62 and 67 of the rule document). You sign them under penalty of perjury (which does have monetary penalties). Will people lie? Some will, but the option of lying under penalty of perjury should stop some of the abuse. These warnings on the form will help: "Warning: It is a Federal crime to make materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements, entries, or representations knowingly and
willfully on this form to secure disability accommodations provided under regulations of the United States Department of Transportation
(18 U.S.C. § 1001)." and "I am signing an official document of the U.S. Department of Transportation. My answers are true to the best of my knowledge. I
understand that if I knowingly make false statements on this document, I can be subject to fines and other penalties.
Signature of the Service Animal Handler: "

Watch the Melissa Carone video ... Giuliani, trump and all their followers , no
wonder so many Americans have psychological problems. It’s the dogs, cats and other animals I feel sorry for.

@Icarus - why is it that people always jump at the opportunity to blame someone else and never look in the mirror first? trump is a byproduct of the real issue which is our society's addiction of the dopamine you get from relentlessly checking social media, cable news, etc.

Yes, because we need a person that needs psychiatric support locked inside a metal tube at 30k ft for hours.

ANY service animal can be owner-trained, per the US ADA, ACAA, and other US regulations and laws. There's no such thing as "certification" either -- anybody with a "service dog certificate" or "service dog ID" in the US is using a non-existent credential (that's not to say they're not legitimate service animal handlers -- just that there is no such documentation, certification, or registry). This applies to any service animal -- whether that's for those with limited vision, hearing, mobility, et cetera, and for those with psychiatric needs. This is not specific to psychiatric service animals. There's just no excuse for not spending 5 minutes to look this up prior to saying that this will result in some loophole here.

Furthermore, for a psychiatric service animal to qualify as a service animal, as they say it must be "individually task-trained." What does this mean? For example, if you have OCD or a "nervous tic" and you are obsessively picking at your own skin and damaging your hands you can train a dog to interrupt you. This is an "individually task-trained service animal" because the the animal has been trained at a specific task for a specific individual with a specific disability. Keep in mind this is just one example. Others disabilities would include anxiety or panic attacks and such, where the animal can be trained to anticipate and interrupt this from happening, similar to how dogs can be trained to sense when a fainting or seizure episode is about to occur so the handler can sit or lay down to avoid injury.

What doesn't qualify as a "task-trained service animal"? The simple existence of the animal which provides comfort to the animal's owner. Why? Because this isn't a task and it requires no training.

As for not requiring any sort of documentation from a "licensed physician"? This brings it in line with the ADA, which prohibits this sort of documentation for those with disabilities and requires the reasonable accommodation, as long as it satisfies the definition of a service animal (which, again, is an animal that has been individually trained to perform a task to assist a person with a disability so they can live a more normal life). The DOT (under the ACAA) permits airline personnel to ask the same questions that the ADA permits - "is this a service animal" and "is it trained to perform a specific task to assist you with a disability."

"Life and Let's Fly" could be Matt's new psychology blog. The cure to depression - travel.

When I look at a blind person I can see the disability and the need for assistance. Not only do those animals go through extensive training those animals are also conditioned to be in a constantly changing environment since they go wherever the owner goes.

On an emotional support animal. Where's the line? Not that I don't understand people with psychological issues but 30 years ago no one needed an animal next to them to give them comfort. At some point one needs to be adult, which means counseling and moving on. Not being able function without a cat at your side can't be a healthy way of living.

I hear on other blogs but my dog just sits on my lap, bothers no one and is well behaved. Unfortunately society has changed from I shouldn't be an imposition on others to "it's all about me and my wants." So if my dog barks and growls (not to mention bites) those around me should just put up with it because I can't function as an adult without Fido next to me.

40 years ago when we traveled as a family our cousins would look after my mother's Persian cat. We'd look after their poodle when they traveled. In other words we figured it out without dragging some poor animal half way across the country.

@business - as this is entirely a US issue. No other country has people who need emotional support chickens , turkeys and snakes. Granted it has a population of 331 million , but you only have to watch the current s- show to see that they gave a serious issue with unbalanced people who have no right to be in any position of power.

I sense the point of this "loophole" is to allow for PTSD dogs used legitimately by veterans and others. But as with many rules there are probably ways to abuse this and ruin it for others.

Your last point hits the nail on the head. Airlines aren’t giving pet owners really any other options of transporting their pets. The result is that to safely carry their pets, the only effective option is to make them a support animal.

One step forward, two steps back. Who's going to responsible for controlling this? TSA seems appropriate, no?

As someone with an emotional support animal is makes me mad to see people abuse it to the point it's come to this. If I ever move and or have to fly somewhere for a long period of time, I would need to somehow get my cat there. She is detrimental to my long term emotional health. Just because someone has or needs one does not mean they are crazy or a flight risk.

My wife suggested we classify our two sons as emotional support animals when they were young so they could fly for free, poop on the floor, and perform all of the wonderful functions of emotional support animals while neatly tucked under the seat in front of us.

Alas the airlines don't allow this for some reason and we have to pay for their flights and comply with other inconvenient rules relating to their air travel.

Yeah, traveling with pets is expensive and inconvenient. That's part of the gig, and it's not really the airlines obligation to solve those problems for you. Much more so than kids, having a pet is a choice and people should think long and hard about whether they're in a place to handle that responsibility before taking it on.

Lipstick on a pig. No pun intended.

@ askmrlee...not to make this more confusing but there are legitimate service dogs (under the ADA guidelines) that are for PTSD. ESA’s are not service dogs. If someone has diagnosed PTSD and the dog performs a task to help with anxiety. That is a trained service dog not an ESA.

@AT best breakdown so far

@C you can pay for your cat to come on board. No one is saying you can’t fly with your cat.

Air France has always had tolerance for dogs. It's engrained in French culture. Airlines that still have "real" first class often change the rules when the cabin is sealed off from the bumpkins in the rear. They let dogs roam in the F cabin often if no one one objects. BA and American carriers whose international first class cabins have deteriorated so much don't count any more. It's difficult sometimes on American carriers to distinguish between the animals and the passengers.

I have a close family relative who has traveled with her trained service cat for 6 years. For her sake and others, I'm disappointed that cats weren't included.

Ben,

This isn't a "loophole" - it was included at the urging of the Veterans' Administration to allow service animals helping treat conditions like PTSD. These are trained service animals, not pets or ESAs, just like trained service animals that assist people with physical needs. The DOT requirement is that the animal be documented in advance with respect to role and training.

For you to claim this is a "loophole" that anyone with an ESA can exploit is reckless and seems intended to generate click bait. Hopefully you ACTUALLY understand the difference!!!

@C
If your cat is “detrimental to your health” shouldn’t you leave the thing at home?

So...basically nothing will change until they start arresting the fakers...or until another dog bites a kid in the face.
That's government for ya.
Every time they "fix" something, they break something else in the process.

I for one insist on traveling with my psychiatric service leopard which has only eaten three small children. It's their fault that the leopard found them delicious!

I don't like *any* animals to be in the passenger cabins of aircraft. None. No exceptions. If that means providing better animal areas in the cargo hold, then the airlines should spend the money to do that.

In today's planes where you are sitting shoulder to shoulder with the person next to you there is simply no place to carry "emotional support" animals. They are an imposition to the passengers around you.

I have personally watched flight attendants chasing up an down the aisle someone's chihuahua which had gotten loose. Surely they had better things to do !

@George N. Romney

"When I look at a blind person I can see the disability and the need for assistance"

A very dark play on words!

@Kendor •Much more so than kids, having a pet is a choice and people should think long and hard about whether they’re in a place to handle that responsibility before taking it on.”

Actually - it’s the reverse! Much more so than pets, having kids is a choice and people should think long and hard about the lifelong responsibilities. Or you know, use birth control!

You must be one of those anti-choice idiots who only cares about a fetus but not about all the poor living children in this world.

Psychiatric service animals replace emotional support animals. No, not at all.
PSDs (Psychiatric Service Dogs) have been around for many years. They are trained just as are guide dogs, hearing dogs and mobility dogs. They are all legally Service Dogs. The average training time is still 18-24 months for all of them. All are trained to work in the public.

An ESA (Emotional Support Animal) is a pet that requires no training. It has just been approved by a mental health provider so that the owner may have the natural health benefits that most pets provide. The only benefit that will now be available is for living in a no-pets allowed situation. So for those who live in their own homes or in pet friendly housing there will be no need to go through the requirements to have their pet dog classified as such.

PSDs are not ESAs. The two are two different legal classifications. The DOJ (Department of Justice) has always classified PSDs as a SD. It is just now that the DOT (Department of Transportation) is reviewing their classification through the new regulation for the airlines.

A quote from the DOT released on 12/03/2020 on this topic:
The Department decided to exclude from the service animal definition all non-task-trained
animals, such as emotional support animals, for various reasons. First, this approach reduces
confusion among airlines, passengers, airports, and other stakeholders by more closely aligning the Department’s definition of a service animal under the Air Carrier Access Act with DOJ’s definition of a service animal under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Also, task-trained
service animals are generally provided enhanced training in how to behave in public, while
emotional support animals may not have received this degree of training.

Lordy, Lordy. While, as a physician, I do see a true need for Service Animals (especially those who are extensively trained to assist the blind, those with epilepsy or difficult diabetes or other conditions, we all know that our airports and aircraft have been turned into flying zoos because we have people who truly abuse this privilege that is granted to those with special disabilities. All that I see is what one contributor above wrote as "One Step Forward, Two Steps Backward". Yes, some of these crackpots will now have to fill out a form, but that will be a giant "so what" to them so long as "my precious Fifi can fly with me".
Even more disappointing is that my Emotional Support Alligator will no longer quality as a Psychiatric Support Dog (Psychiatric Support Alligator anyone?). But he IS trained !! He is trained to fetch a chicken on a rope if I put it into his pen with him. Come to think of it, I think that he can fly with me !! C'mon Bruno the PSA (Psychiatric Support Alligator), let's fly !!!
EdSparks58

Can you please edit out the political posturing? While I haven’t taken a survey, I doubt this is a “Republican problem” as one prolific writer has intimated. I’m sorry if your life is so one dimensional. Take it from a past PAC coordinator, the two party system is the (new) opiate of the masses.

@Pinky--It is YOU who is the "idiot". Like most demon-rats YOUR "opinion" is the only one that counts. Every other person that disagrees with you is an "idiot". I am not going to be dragged into a political debate but you have the right to disagree but you do not have the right to call people that want to disagree with you an "idiot". Personally, I think YOU are the "idiot".

A note of reality, and no, I don't think President Trump is responsible for my encounter with a "service dog" last week at an SF hotel. I don't think it has anything at all to do with politics. Big guy with tiny dog coming down the hall, the dog is cavorting all over the place and the guy is kinda yelling its name over and over with no affect. I'm a real animal person, so I smiled and the guy said that his (maybe a Yorkshire terrier) was a service dog. So I backed up against the hallway wall. That dog was all over me, sniffing, jumping up on my leg, reluctant to get dragged off by his owner. He knew that I wanted to pet him. He was no more a service dog than I am a giraffe.

So anyone with dog knowledge can easily spot the real service dog in almost all circumstances. And we know which dogs are just pets. Thing is, what to do about it? I can't quite see how one human can tell another human that his dog is a fake, thereby calling his bluff. I mean, we have enough "violent" encounters in airports and on planes already, right? The new airline "ban" will be partially effective, tho, so it's something positive.

Once again--the world is becoming more anti-CAT.

I work for an airline and I can tell you that most people that have ESAs are fake. This is really sad for people who really need them. I can't wait until I have to tell a passenger that their "psychiatric service animal" is not behaving properly and that the dog will be denied boarding. We've had numerous cases where a "service dog" has bit a child on the face, bit other people and they take off as soon as we land. They should have to be held responsible, like people with pets, when their dog bites someone. We've also had a person who's ESA dedicated all over the seats and the owner thought it was funny. That aircraft had to be taken out of service and the seats replaced, not just cleaned. That cost a lot of money to do that. He should have been held accountable.

The last sentence is key. We have one dog (6lbs) who travels in a crate in the hold. We have another dog (35lbs) that is brachycephalic that no airline permits in the hold. She travels as an ESA. We don’t take our dogs on vacations, but we do split time between homes on two continents (5 months in one, 7 months in the other). Today, the ESA is our only option. I’d love for both of them to travel in the hold, tbqh.

Literally any service dog can be owner trained also miniature horses are recognized by the ADA just not by the FAA anymore. Owner training isn’t a “loophole” for people to abuse the rights of disabled people. In fact this new regulation limits the rights of disabled individuals and should be revamped. I’m glad that psychiatric service animals are finally being recognized as what they are service animals they do different task them some other service animals but their basic function is the same they mitigate a disability. You have to be disabled for a service animal period psychiatric or otherwise. Having random pets especially large undertrained dogs In the cabins of aircrafts would affect the health and safety of not only the passengers but also the service animals and pets. Service animals are trained in intensive situations that other dogs or animals are not. Fear can cause aggression and the animal to lash out in unexpected ways which is not healthy for either the dog or all people involved. Plus people have to think about allergies in a situation with a service dog then both parties must be reasonably accommodated but that would be very difficult to do if there were more dogs than a small amount of dogs. More pets could also infringe on the rights of service dog handlers as unruly pets can be a distraction to even the most well trained service animal and that can cause a dangerous situation for the handler in which they could miss an alert. If people want to bring their pets on planes they can keep them in crates that fit under the seat if their small enough to fit and pay a fee. Baked people don’t need to constantly be around their pet because they aren’t medical equipment like service animals are they don’t provide life saving services that keep their owners functioning and out of the hospital able to live at least a semi normal life. This is an important right for disabled people and ableds need to stop abusing it and looking for “loopholes”. As a service dog handler and owner trainer this right is very important to me and it’s frustrating when people abuse my rights and distract my medical equipment that keeps me from being bed ridden.

Page 62 or 63 has the forms that will be required. Customers will be fined for not complying.

https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/2020-12/Service%20Animal%20Final%20Rule.pdf

For the past 10 years, my husband has traveled with a Psychiatric Service Dog that has been self trained. We traveled to our destination the beginning of Jan & used the letter from his Dr, which we have always used. Now the form asks for the name & phone # of the trainer. What are people in our situation supposed to use. There is no place for that on the form

So, all airline staff have to disqualify an animal is to wait for it to misbehave. Perfect. At least they narrowed it to one species.

If you book your flight at night for next morning 6 am flight with your service dog on delta or American Airlines airlines what do I need in order to board with my Service Dog?

I am planning to get a puppy. I have depression, I take medication for years and above all I lost my son recently. My question is if I get the puppy could qualify for psiquiátric dog? My condo that I just move in says no Rottweillers and other breeds. Besides having experienced with the breed is the only dog I feel I will benefit. But a puppy will be ok?

When the day comes that I can safely travel in cargo with my dog, I will happily do so. I will never put my pet into cargo while the airlines feel it is acceptable that a customer must accept the fact that their perfectly healthy animal may die enroute.

Also, if I am reading this correctly your service dog would need to fit beneath the seat in front of you or on your lap. Yorkies and dachshunds are not Seeing Eye Dogs. Are they allowing large service dogs into the cabin?

I fly with my French Bulldog as a service animal using Delta Airlines. The only requirements are that I fill out the FAA forms and notify Delta ahead of time that I am flying with a service animal. I am then able to use my mobile app to check in for the flight and go directly to security. I have had no issues to date

I absolutely agree with the writer. If airlines offered safe, comfortable options for transporting pets, I would be happy to even pay for an extra ticket for my Boston Terrier, which is about 3 pounds too heavy to meet most airline restrictions. For other people in a similar situation, like Diana (June 30, 2021 letter) with the bully: do you find airlines weigh your dog? Again, no issue with paying. I just would NEVER put my fur child in cargo. All feedback is welcome.

Dear Diana,
Did you need to show proof of your dog having training prior to flying? Or what kind of documents are needed? I used to fly frequently with my dog being an ESA, and am trying to figure out how to get him to be a PSD. Please let me know!
Thank you!

I am wondering the same thing! Can anyone help on this situation who's had previous experience and has already flown with a PSD? What do you put on the training part of the form if they've been self trained?

I would love some info on this as I am flying to UK in 4 weeks on American Airlines

reading responses from others before i present my question

Airlines used to request letters from a professional practitioner for ESA are you trying to tell me that now you don't need ANY documentation to board and they have to take your word for it?? This doesn't make any sense.

No animals?? I suppose you prefer screaming brats for 6 hours straight. Or how about the loud and obnoxious passengers who can't sit still for 5 minutes. I'll take animals over human beings any day.

Just to add to that, I recently checked on the size requirements for a carrier to fit under the seat in front of you. I have a 7lb Yorkie which has been my ESA for years. Now he will have to travel stuffed into an 11" X 15" X 8" space. And that is approximate since all airlines AND all planes on all airlines have different size requirements! It is beyond maddening. To make it worse, the airlines require that the animal be able to stand and turn around in the carrier- in that tiny of a space. They are making air travel with dogs impossible and they don't care. I'm contacting PETA to report this ridiculous sizing that claims it will fit a 20lb dog. BS!!

No problem. My counselor signed for my ESA and he’ll happily sign the psychiatric form. It’s all the same really. Just a word change. No problem.

Actually the DOT form doesn’t require a psychiatrist to validate a person’s need for PSA. What it asks for is the Trainer details. While people are allowed to self train their dogs & add their own info, I would be very hesitant to put down my name. I wonder if anyone here has, considering the form states it’s a federal crime to provide false info.

The way I see this, the key difference between PSD & ESA is that only dogs can be PSD (as the name suggests). Fools who passed off their snakes & peacocks as ESA can no longer do so. Lol.

After chatting with Delta & United, i found out that both require 2 sets of forms to be self attested - pet relief & DOT. The DOT form has a disclaimer re. it being a federal crime to lie. The DOT form also asks for the Trainer name & phone number. Sure, you can add your own name & number if you self trained your dog but won’t that seem suspicious? I would be too hesitant to add my own name as the trainer. There are dog trainers who can train the dog on basic psychiatric support within weeks. So maybe that’s a more safe way to go through the PSD route?

We purchased a havanese puppy right after my 35 year old son was killed in a tragic accident 10 years ago. After the accident a doctor recommended that we get a dog and that could help with our depression. She did and my wife and I would have a hard time dealing with things if we didn't have her (Rosie) around. What do I have to have filled out and by whom to have her qualify as a psychiatric support dog. When she is on a plane she does not make a sound and she goes to sleep in a small doggie carry on.

My dog is a PSA and I have self taught him to bring me to a calmer environment when I’m having panic attacks in heavy crowded areas, he wakes me up at the same time every day to keep me on a schedule, and reminds me to take my medication- I will often ignore alarms as my phone is constantly going off with notifications. He also has been trained to alert someone if I’m showing signs of manic behavior. I would have zero problem putting my name as a trainer. I also have a letter from a psychologist stating he is a service animal just in case.

I just tell the airline my dog is a service animal to avoid the fee. Easy as pie.