[nagdu] Allergy ruling could lead to ban on pets in airplane cabin

Tue Nov 10 22:09:20 UTC 2009

Er...  Okay, this is a tricky problem.  I have known enough serious allergy
sufferers over the years to be extremely thankful that I am not among their
ranks.  I can think of a handful of these people for whom allergies could
said to be disabling, depending on how one defines that term.

My thing is this:  Too many allergies sufferers, in my opinion, expect those
around them to significantly change their behavior to accommodate the
allergies, while they themselves are unwilling to take even the most minor
precautions to mitigate their own symptoms and the risks of exposure.  My ex
is an extreme case, so I have to claim a whole lot of bias in my current
attitudes.  /grin/

Well, in providing a guide dog for myself, I went poodle primarily to
lesssen the impact of my chosen mobility aid on allergy sufferers, taxi
owners, diners in restaurants, fellow bus passengers, etc.  Poodle was a
viable choice of breed for me at that time and place, and there were other
less altruistic factors that weighed heavily in my decision.  The next time
I have to make that decision, I will probably make a different choice based
on what I have learned from hanging around with my current poodle.  /smile/
I love her all to pieces, can hardly bear the exhilaration and joy of seeing
her guide work really come together, would not trade her for the world, all
that stuff.  But when the time comes that our relationship changes and I
need to prepare to move on to another guide dog, there are some poodle
traits and some aspects of the way the public interacts with a poodle that
will probably take me another direction.  If I have my druthers, it will be
dobie or GSD.  GSDs are about the highest impact breed when it comes to
allergies, but I have tentatively decided tha the strenghts of the breed
meet my criteria strongly enough to override that consideration.  Dobies
are, in many respects, a happy medium in terms of shedding and allergens...
Dobie is also my first rank preference by a long shot because they're so
much like poodles, only without the budget for cutting and grooming! /smile/
Also, they look dangerous to the public in a way that a ppodle does not. I
adore hearing my poodle admired from a respectful distance, but even the
most ardent dog-haters simplly cannot keep their hands off of those curls!
She's growing out of the excessive flirtatiousness of youth, so she doesn't
draw so many people in with her alluring, exotic eyes, but still!  I have a
sneaking suspicion that for the rest of her career, I will need to factor
the fan club into our travel plans.  /smile/

I stray, and I need to go.  Anyway, the point is I don't know what to think;
but ata glance, I don't like the notion of having allergies declared a
disability or handicap of the same level as others where the person has less
control and fewer options to mitigate the handicap without special tools.

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Ginger Kutsch
Sent: Sunday, November 08, 2009 2:34 PM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Subject: [nagdu] Allergy ruling could lead to ban on pets in airplane cabin

Allergy ruling could lead to ban on pets in airplane cabins
Source:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/health/Allergy+ruling+could+lead+pet
s+airplane+cabins/2184882/story.html
By Sarah Schmidt, Canwest News ServiceNovember 4, 2009
OTTAWA - The government agency overseeing airline consumer
complaints is considering declaring allergies a disability - a
development that could force Canada's largest airlines to stop
allowing small pets to fly in the passenger cabin with their
owners.

The Canadian Transportation Agency is probing four separate
complaints involving Air Canada and WestJet Airlines Ltd., Joan
MacDonald, the agency's director general of dispute resolution,
said Wednesday during special parliamentary hearings into the pet
policies at Canada's two main airlines.

The federal tribunal will decide whether allowing pets to travel
in passenger cabins represents an undue obstacle to
transportation for people who suffer from severe pet allergies.

The agency has hired a doctor who is an allergy specialist to
prepare a report about allergies related to cat and dog dander to
help the agency make a decision, said MacDonald.

"Once the pleadings are complete, the agency will decide on the
next course of action, which could include decisions on
disability status . . . and possible corrective measures,"
MacDonald told members of the House of Commons health committee.

"Certainly, these types of cases are a good example of the
increasing complexity we face in determining what constitutes a
disability under the Canada Transportation Act."

Medical experts from the Universities of British Columbia and
Ottawa testified that Canada's largest airlines are putting the
lives of passengers at risk by allowing pet owners to bring their
small animals into airplane cabins.

The issue has become a pressing one since Air Canada rejoined
WestJet in July by upgrading small pets from the baggage
compartment to the passenger cabin, they told parliamentarians.

"Although some pet-allergic individual will have only eye or nose
symptoms with exposure, cat and dog allergens are major triggers
of severe asthma attacks in others. These can be life-threatening
and a single exposure, even treated aggressively, can lead to
persistent symptoms for days," Dr. Robert Schellenberg, head of
the allergy and immunology division at the University of British
Columbia's faculty of medicine, told members of the committee.

"People with allergies can and do have life-threatening asthma
attacks, and the risk of having one on an airplane outweighs the
purported commercial benefits to the airline of allowing
passengers to bring their pets on board," added Dr. Thomas
Kovesi, a pediatric respirologist at the Children's Hospital for
Eastern Ontario and indoor air quality expert at the University
of Ottawa.

All airlines are required by federal regulation to allow service
animals, such as guide dogs, to travel in passenger cabins, but
regular pets aren't afforded the same treatment.

In the case of Air Canada, the airline kicked pets out of the
passenger cabin in September 2006. The following year, Canada's
largest airline stopped allowing pets in the baggage compartment
on domestic flights, forcing travellers to put their pets on
cargo flights. In May 2008, Air Canada reinstated pets as checked
luggage.

In August 2008, the Canadian Transportation Agency upheld Air
Canada's right to ban small pets from the passenger cabin in
response to a consumer complaint. But the airline reversed its
position a few months ago after facing a barrage of criticism
from pet owners, who had the option to travel with their small
pets on WestJet flights.

The Calgary-based airline, Air Canada's main domestic competitor,
allows up to two dogs, cats, birds or rabbits to travel in the
passenger cabin on every flight.

Jennifer Schenkel, director of communications for the Canadian
Lung Association, testified Wednesday that parliamentarians
should ask the airlines to ban pets on passenger cabins, except
for service animals - just like British Airways, Cathay Pacific
and Southwest Airlines.

"People who are disabled by lung disease should not be prevented
from travelling on aircraft," said Schenkel, who testified along
with Jill Frigon of the Lung Association of Saskatchewan and
Diane Bergeron, a guide dog user.

In cases where a service animal will be present, passengers
should be informed in advance and given the option of remaining
on the flight or being moved to the next available flight at the
cost of the airline, Schenkel said.

"This is not about trying to deny people the privilege of
travelling with their pet. Rather, this is about finding an
important middle ground that balances the love of our pets with
the health and safety of airline passengers and crew while
accommodating people who are at risk due to their lung disease."

A spokesman for Air Canada said the airline does not release
statistics on the number of complaints it has fielded or medical
incidents related to its pets-in-cabin policy.

C Copyright (c) Canwest News Service

Ginger Bennett Kutsch
Morristown, NJ

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