[nagdu] Guide dogs and airport security

Susan Jones sblanjones11 at sbcglobal.net
Sat Jul 17 22:41:43 UTC 2010


Julie and listers,
You should never even take your dog's harness off.
What if you were traveling alone, and your dog decided to make a run for it,
have an adventure?

I know there are people on this list who can verify that the regulations do
not require removal of the harness, let alone leash and collar.

I had no difficulty on either end going to National Convention.
Though I have had variances, such as people asking that we go through
together, and they pat us both down, this is what I usually do:
Have my dog sit at the door, make a long leash, go through first, and then
call her.
They will then call a guard to pat the dog down.  I have never been asked to
remove the harness.
The worst thing that happened is that once, they confiscated the little poop
patrol container that had plastic bags inside for pickup.  I didn't realize
it until we were on the plane.  Not worth bothering about.

Susan & Rhoda
 

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Julie McGinnity
Sent: Saturday, July 17, 2010 6:17 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: [nagdu] Guide dogs and airport security

Hi everyone.  I hope you are having a nice weekend.

I just got back from a week long trip to Philadelphia this morning.
At the airport both going there and coming back something weird happened in
airport security.  I am wondering if there are some policies I don't know
about, or if the people were really doing something wrong.

Last Sunday I traveled from St. Louis to Philadelphia.  When we got to
airport security, I took the dog's harness off and put it with my purse and
everything on the conveyerbelt.  I made her sit and stay while I went
through and then called her after I was out.  She came right to me, and of
course she made the thing beep because of her leash and collar.  I just
waited at this point because this is what always happens, and someone always
comes to pat the dog down.  The last 2 times I have traveled it happened
this way.  Instead of coming over to pat the dog down, they asked me if I
could take her leash and collar off and make her go back through.  I said
that I would really prefer not to do that, and I said that I don't mind if
they need to pat her down because that's what usually happens.  They then
asked me again to take off the leash and collar.  I didn't know how to argue
with them further, so I just did what they said.  I took off the leash and
collar and let my mother call her back through.  Thankfully, she was very
good.  I think she thought the whole thing was a game.  She went through
without her stuff on, and it didn't go off, and she came right to me.  It
was very hard to get a handle on her though without her stuff, and the
security people had taken her leash and collar, so it wasn't like I could
just put it back on her.  I had to wait for them to scan it, which meant I
had to hold on to her awkwardly and walk to where the stuff was going to
come out.  Brie was very good, but the whole process annoyed me.  I don't
understand why they couldn't just pat the dog down.  That's what happened
when I flew to and from Dallas.  It seemed to work fine.  I know how to take
my dog through security.  They tought us at guide dog school.

When I flew back to St. Louis this morning I experienced a similar thing.  I
went through security the way I was taught.  They stopped me again after the
dog had gone through, and again, I expected them to just pat her down so I
could be on my way.  I was very late.  Instead they took me to the side,
said they were not going to pat her down.
When I asked why they weren't just going to pat the dog down, the lady
didn't answer me.  I had to wait around 5 or 10 minutes, and another lady
came.  She basically looked at me and the dog and said we could go.  I don't
understand why, if they weren't going to pat her down, they made us sit
there and wait.  I heard them talking, and it sounded like they didn't know
what to do.  Isn't there procedure for this?  We were taught to go through
security this way for a reason, because it works out that way.  Why are the
security people being so difficult?
Of course it is entirely possible that there is something I don't know or
overlooked in the situation.  Just let me know what I should do next time in
this situation, or even if this situation is something to think about.
Sorry for the novel length email.  I wanted to tell this right.

Julie and Brie

--
Julie McG
 Lindbergh High School class of 2009, participating member in Opera
Theater's Artist in Training Program, and proud graduate of Guiding Eyes for
the Blind

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who
believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life."
John 3:16

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