[nagdu] why do we have to let airlines know that you have a dog

[Marion Gwizdala]

Cheryl,
    I am of the opinion that giving advance notice of the presence of our 
guide dogs only opens us up to discrimination, as it sends a signal to those 
who provide public accommodations that we need some sort of special 
assistance or aid. Not knowing what this might be, their employees generally 
will assume that we want or need something that we do not.
    The presence of a guide or other service animal is irrelevant. They 
cannot discriminate against us because of our choice to use a guide dog nor 
require us to accept and aid or accommodation we choose to not accept. If I 
were not previously engaged by a student, I would have been on the call. Who 
said that we must give advance notice and what are their reasons for saying 
so? I would like to get in touch with GDF as a concerned consumer and ask 
them to provide accurate information to their graduates, of which I am one!

fraternally yours,
Marion


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Wayne Merritt" <wcmerritt at gmail.com>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2010 8:55 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] why do we have to let airlines know that you have a dog


>I regularly fly and don't let the airline know of my guide, either
> when I make the reservation or when going to the gate. of course, once
> I'm at the gate or a check-in area, they're going to find out, but I
> can usually deal with the airline/airport people at this point.
>
> Wayne
>
> On 4/13/10, cheryl echevarria <cherylandmaxx at hotmail.com> wrote:
>> On GDF conference call they are saying that we need to let airlines know 
>> we
>> have guide dogs with us.
>>
>> Why, that is not so.
>>
>> Cheryl Echevarria
>> Independent Travel Consultant
>> C10-10646
>>
>> http://Echevarriatravel.com
>> 1-866-580-5574
>>
>> http://blog.echevarriatravel.com
>> Reservations at echevarriatravel.com
>> Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Montrose Travel 
>> CST-1018299-10
>>
>>
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>
>
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