If the comments to the article are anything to go by, Americans are well and truly sick of the ridiculous situations passengers there have had to deal with. For example:
After Christmas I was waiting to board a flight after the people had deplaned. While they were coming into the terminal, two dogs from two different owners got into a fight. The owners got control of them, but not before the entire terminal was suddenly filled with the sound of various barking dogs. The man next to me said: "This is insanity."
Then, as we were boarding a young, strong man boarded first with a huge black German shepherd. Neither the man nor the dog looked as though they needed emotional support, but the dog was pretty intimidating....
I sat by a woman with Bernese Mountain dog support animal on a flight. He was almost as big as a small pony but very well behaved thankfully ....
I flew last year from DC to Chicago and ended up next to a woman with an "emotional support" dog. She let it out of the carrier and it was sitting next to her feet when I reached into my bag which was under the seat in front of me. The dog yelped, snapped at me, and tried to bite me in the face. The woman corralled it, but it was terrifying. I asked the flight attendant for another seat and she said they could only accommodate me on a later flight. I asked about putting the dog back in the carrier and the woman yelled at me and the dog started growling. I needed to get to Chicago, so I squeezed up to the window and tried not to move for the two hour flight. It upsets me just to think about it now.
So whose "emotions" are we supporting here, anyway? ...
Yes it's totally free, that's the point. To take a pet on the plane is usually $125, but, if you have a letter that claims that it is "an emotional support animal," fees are waived. I have seen many people bragging on social media that it costs less to buy a bogus "emotional support animal" letter than the fee for one flight....
Most of these animals are "certified" by coughing up $50 on some therapists website who emails you a signed ESA letter. It is 100% a scam that makes it harder for people with real disabilities. Should fine these people, and if you show up with an animal certified by a blacklisted "therapist" your ESA iguana/pig/rabbit/parrot/whatever doesn't get to fly in the cabin....In my neck of the woods, it only costs $25. You're being overcharged for a phony certificate. $25 should do it.
"I asked about putting the dog back in the carrier and the woman yelled at me and the dog started growling."
ReplyDeleteI may be heartless, but that actually sounds quite amusing. Like the owner and the dog are the one breed, and will bark at anyone who crosses their path.
BTW this post now becomes the lame excuse for me to link back to this odd post on my blog.
Emotional support animal is rubbish. If someone is that screwed up that they need the animal seated next to them on a plane then they should be banned from travel until such time as the animal can be transported in the cargo bay. It would constitute a miraculous recovery of their emotional stability because being refused permission to fly with their animal might make them realise that the very idea that the animal is comforting them is little more than placebo and attention seeking drivel on their part.
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