[nagdu] Guide dogs and airport security

[cheryl echevarria]

They are not allowed to ask you to take off the leash and collar, it is a 
guide dog suppose your mother wasn't there and your were traveling alone and 
the dog ran off, just when you go ask for assistance, the play stupid a lot 
tell them you are blind, do not let anyone take your dog. A lot of these 
TSAs are uneducated and underpaid and don't care.

The biggest compliment you can pay me is to recommend my services!

Cheryl Echevarria
Independent Travel Consultant
C10-10646

http://Echevarriatravel.com
1-866-580-5574

Reservations at echevarriatravel.com
Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Montrose Travel CST-1018299-10


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Julie McGinnity" <kaybaycar at gmail.com>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, July 17, 2010 6:17 PM
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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