To: All GDUI members
From: Penny Reeder, President,
Charles H. Crawford, Chair
GDUI Advocacy and Legislative Affairs Committee
Date: February 19, 2020
Re: Talking Points for GDUI Members to Consider When Compiling and Submitting Comments Concerning Proposed Service Animal Regulations
It is critical to the best interests of Guide Dog users that GDUI, both as an organization and as individual members who rely on guide dogs for safe travel and independence, submit comments to the United States Department of Transportation (D.O.T.) concerning that Department’s proposed regulations which will revise the implementation of the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA).
To assist our members in developing your thoughts, our Advocacy and Legislative Affairs Committee has prepared an analysis of the proposed rules and provided our Board with a list of recommendations which the Board has reviewed and now offers to you for your consideration. We ask that you consider the following and submit your own individual comments to the D.O.T.
To facilitate your navigation through this relatively long document, we have utilized a system of stars (*s) to help. First, we will highlight the proposed rules with which GDUI disagrees; then we will highlight the proposed rules with which GDUI agrees. . At the end, we will share how and where to submit your comments.
Please note that a single star in front of an item indicates a specific category under which a proposed rule falls, two stars in advance of an item indicates the item being addressed, and any relevant considerations that we hope you will take into account, and three stars in advance of a statement indicates the position that GDUI has adopted on the matter.
In solidarity,
Penny Reeder, President
Guide Dog Users Incorporated,
Charles H. Crawford, Chair
Guide Dog Users, Inc. Advocacy and Legislative Affairs Committee
- Proposals with which GDUI disagrees.
* Health Forms
* Behavior and Training Attestation
* Relief Attestation
* Large Service Animals
* Check-In Requirements
* Miniature horses
** Health Form
Carriers would be permitted to require passengers to remit a completed
U.S. Department of Transportation Service Animal Air Transportation
Health Form as a condition of transportation.
Behavior and Training Attestation
Carriers would be permitted to require passengers to remit a completed
U.S. Department of Transportation Service Animal Air Transportation
Behavior and Training Attestation Form as a condition of transportation.
Relief Attestation
Carriers would be permitted to require individuals traveling with a service
Animal on flights eight hours or longer to complete a U.S. Department of
Transportation Service Animal Relief Attestation form as a condition of transportation.
*** GDUI strongly disagrees with these proposed requirements. We believe that the Department of Justice (DOJ) standards for verification, i.e., the disabled person’s responses to the two questions: (1) is the animal required because of a disability? And (2) what work or task has the animal been trained to perform, are more than adequate to advise the airline of the person’s need for traveling with their guide dog. Further, we believe the handler’s ability to show their dog’s Rabies vaccination tag and – or a veterinarian certification that a Rabies shot has been administered within established public safety guidelines, a photo ID of the dog as a service animal from the facility where it was trained and placed with its handler, and a verbal attestation regarding the dogs’ ability to wait the 8 or more hour time of flight before relieving itself, are more than enough proof to satisfy any concerns. Requiring a guide dog user to complete Department of Transportation-developed forms that are not truly necessary for verifying the guide dog’s behavior or health status is unduly burdensome and unnecessarily separates the service dog team from otherwise similarly situated passengers.
** Large Service Animals
Carriers would be permitted to require a service animal to fit within its handler’s foot space on the aircraft.
*** GDUI recommends that this condition be reviewed to ensure that Service Animals will enjoy the same rights to adequate space while flying as human passengers on flights since a service animal can rightly be considered to be an extension of the passenger with a disability.
We have no problem with allowing the airline to take preventive action to avoid a situation where an exceptionally large service animal cannot fit comfortably within the prescribed space constraints, i.e., between the handler’s feet. Solutions would involve seating the person in a seat
that has access to a larger space or placing a person next to the passenger and service animal who does not object to a dog’s taking up a bit of space in their foot space. We strongly encourage air carriers to seek such reasonable accommodations for larger dogs for whom fitting within a handler’s foot space would be unreasonably burdensome or nearly impossible during the duration of longer flights. We, along with most members of the flying public, encourage air carriers to purchase more spacious planes for the benefit of all passengers, both human and canine.
GDUI unequivocally opposes placing any service animal
In the cargo hold, since that would prevent the dog from performing the services which it has been trained to provide the disabled passenger.
** Check-In Requirements
Carriers that require a passenger with a disability to check-in at the airport
1 hour earlier than the time recommended for non-disabled passengers would be required to
Make an employee available to assist the passenger with the
Check-in process.
*** GDUI does not support this requirement as it creates a separate and discriminatory category for persons with disabilities. It further creates an unreasonable burden for disabled passengers and for airline personnel to complete forms which are unnecessary and unduly onerous in the first place. (See above.)
** Miniature horses
*** GDUI endorses the classification of dogs as service animals, and, in addition, we support the accommodation of miniature guide horses as permitted under guidance of the U. S. Department of Justice Americans with Disabilities ACT guidelines , as currently practiced, with due consideration for size and weight measures.
** Service Animals in Training
*** With respect to designation of Service Animals, we strongly agree with the definition put forward in the Notice of Proposed Rule Making. At the same time, however, we encourage air carriers and guide dog training programs to seek arrangements that permit a fully trained guide dog to accompany a certified guide dog trainer onboard flights for those situations when the schools need to deliver a fully-trained guide dog to a new handler or to return a retiring guide dog to the school in order to place the dog with its retirement family. . We are not suggesting that trainers who need to fly with not-yet working or retiring dogs have the same civil rights as blind and visually impaired people who are permitted to bring their service dogs onboard because they need the dogs to perform the services they are trained to provide. Rather, we encourage airlines to seek arrangements with individual guide dog training schools that will permit certified trainers to fly onboard with guide dogs for purposes of placement, retirement, or other similar circumstances. We know of some airlines who have made such arrangements with guide dog schools, and we applaud their generosity in providing this very reasonable service to our community.
** Misbehaving service animals
*** GDUI encourages the U. S. Department of Transportation to adopt the U. S. Department of Justice recommendation regarding a service animal that is misbehaving. The DOJ requires a handler to bring the dog back under control so that the dog can resume providing the service that it has been trained to perform. This recommendation focuses on resolving a problem while assuring that the dog in question will comply with behavioral expectations for all service animals.
- Proposals with which GDUI agrees. First will be a list of the topics and
* Definition of Service Animal
* Emotional Support Animals
* Treatment of Psychiatric Service Animals
* Species
* Number of Service Animals per Passenger
* Control of Service Animals
* Service Animal Breed or Type
** Definition of Service Animal
A service animal would be defined as a dog that is individually trained to do
Work or perform tasks for the benefit of a qualified individual with a
Disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other
Mental disability.
*** GDUI recommends support of this proposed change in definition of a service animal, which aligns the Department of Justice Service animal definition under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Department of Transportation service animal definition under the Air Carrier Access Act. This alignment of definitions has the potential for greatly reducing the number of uncontrolled animals who have been allowed to fly at no cost under prior D.O.T. descriptions of service animals. This is an outcome, should it come to pass, which we sincerely endorse.
** Emotional Support Animals
Carriers would not be required to recognize emotional support animals as
Service animals and may treat them as pets.
*** GDUI supports this change, as the new definition recognizes the essential benefits which our guide dogs provide for us, as well as our need to travel with our service animals, and the civil rights protections which allow us to do so.
*** Treatment of Psychiatric Service Animals
Psychiatric service animals would be treated the same as other service
Animals that are individually trained to do work or perform a task for the
Benefit of a qualified individual with a disability.
*** GDUI supports this as a long overdue change in the status granted to psychiatric service animals. The original request for this change was made eleven
Years ago, by psychiatric service dog advocates who rightly pointed out that these dogs are trained, not only to perform tasks related to a recognized category of disabilities, but also to do so in public.
** Species
Carriers would be permitted to limit service animals to dogs.
*** GDUI recommends this as completely appropriate.
** Number of Service Animals per Passenger
Carriers would be permitted to limit the number of service animals
Traveling with a single passenger with a disability to two service animals,
And would be permitted to require that both service animals fit on their
Handler’s lap and/or within their handler’s foot space on the aircraft where possible. (See discussion above regarding guide horses and larger dogs who might require additional space), while continuing to adhere to the requirement that service animals remain under the control of their handlers.
*** GDUI concurs with the limitation of the number of service animals to 2 per passenger.
** Control of Service Animals
Carriers would be permitted to require that a service animal be harnessed,
Leashed, tethered, or otherwise under the control of its handler.
*** GDUI agrees with this as axiomatic.
** Service Animal Breed or Type
Carriers would be prohibited from refusing to transport a service animal
Based solely on breed or generalized physical type, as distinct from an
Individualized assessment of the animal’s behavior and health.
*** GDUI applauds this as both reasonable and fair.
- How and where to send your comments.
Here is everything you need to know as to how to comment regarding:
BILLING CODE 4910-9X;
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION,
Office of the Secretary;
14 CFR Part 382
[Docket No. DOT–OST–2018–0068]RIN No. 2105–AE63: Traveling by Air with Service Animals.
What to do:
ADDRESSES: You may file comments identified by the docket number DOT-OST-2018-0068
By any of the following methods:
- Federal Rulemaking Online Portal: go to http://www.regulations.gov and follow the online
Instructions for submitting comments.
- Postal Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of Transportation,
1200 New Jersey Ave. SE,
West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140,
Washington, DC 20590-0001.
- Hand Delivery or Courier: West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140,
1200 New Jersey Ave. SE,
Between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, except
Federal holidays.
- Fax: (202) 493-2251
Instructions: You must include the agency name and docket number DOT-OST-2018-0068 or
The Regulatory Identification Number (RIN) for the rulemaking at the beginning of your
Comment. All comments received will be posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov,
Including any personal information provided.
Please note that ACB has offered to submit anyone’s comments. I quote the ACB message: If you need assistance with filing your comments electronically, please email your comments and contact information to
And ACB will file them on your behalf.
Privacy Act: The Department of Transportation notes the following:
Anyone can search the electronic form of all comments received in any of our
Dockets by the name of the individual submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if
Submitted on behalf of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT’s
Complete Privacy Act statement in the Federal Register published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR
19477-78), or you may visit https://www.transportation.gov/privacy.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or comments received, go to
http://www.regulations.gov or to the street address listed above. Follow the online instructions
For accessing the docket.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Maegan Johnson, Senior Trial Attorney,
Office of Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings,
U.S. Department of Transportation,
1200 New Jersey Ave. SE.,
Washington, DC 20590,
202.366.9342,
202.366.7152 (fax),
maegan.johnson@dot.gov (e-mail).
You may also contact
Blane Workie,
Assistant General Counsel, Office of Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings,
Department of Transportation,
1200 New Jersey Ave. SE.,
Washington, DC 20590,
202.366.9342,
202.366.7152 (fax),