Plane wing
Delta Air Lines recently sounded an alarm that people were attempting to bring all sorts of animals on board flights, claiming they were service or support animals—turkeys, possums, spiders, snakes. So the company announced a new policy to crack down service animal fraud.
I’ve been around a lot of disabled folks, and I’ve never seen anyone out in public with a service or support animal other than a dog. I definitely would remember if I encountered anybody with something like an emotional support tarantula.
But I know that some people will go to great lengths to pretend to be disabled if they think it will get them something free in return. There’s practically a black market for counterfeit disability parking placards that let drivers park at a meter without paying. Delta charges a $125 one-way fee to bring pet dogs, cats, and birds on board. But federal law prohibits air carriers from charging for service animals assisting disabled people. So there’s incentive to fake it.
I also know that air carriers will go to great lengths to keep collecting all the fees they charge. Delta said in the press statement announcing the new policy that it transports nearly 250,000 service animals annually. That’s a lot of lost fees. So there’s an incentive to make it harder for passengers to avoid paying pet fees.
The new policy initially required anyone with a service or support animal to submit an up-to-date veterinary health form and/or an immunization record for their animal to Delta.com at least forty-eight hours in advance of travel.
I definitely would remember if I encountered anybody with something like an emotional support tarantula.
The statement announcing this change said it had been approved by Delta’s advisory board on disability. But the move drew pushback from organizations representing disabled people who use working animals.
“Travelers without guide dogs are not required to plan their travel forty-eight hours in advance,” noted the National Federation of the Blind in a statement. “Furthermore, guide dog users will no longer be able to fly Delta in family, medical, or other emergencies. We believe that this forty-eight hour requirement is both unnecessary and unlawful.”
After meeting with the National Federation of the Blind, Delta modified its policy to drop the forty-eight-hour advance notice for people with service animals. But notice is still required for people using emotional support animals, probably because there is no group as formidable as NFB representing those folks. And passengers remain barred from bringing along ferrets, insects, waterfowl and “animals with tusks, horns, or hooves.”
In the end, I believe the good old free market will solve this problem. Some shrewd entrepreneur, recognizing a unique market niche, is bound to launch an airline that caters to people traveling with animals, be they service animals or just pets. First-class amenities could include hamster wheels and scratching posts. You can travel with your koala, your zebra, even your wombat. They can all roam free in the cabin. All of God’s creatures are welcome on Noah’s Ark Airlines.
Mike Ervin is a writer and disability rights activist living in Chicago. He blogs at Smart Ass Cripple, “expressing pain through sarcasm since 2010.”