[NAGDU] FW: [Njagdu] When a Service Animal Has to Go, Airports' Options May Be Wanting

[Tracy Carcione]

From: NJAGDU [mailto:njagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Ginger Kutsch
via NJAGDU
Sent: Tuesday, July 25, 2017 11:51 AM
To: New Jersey Association of Guide Dog Users
Cc: Ginger Kutsch
Subject: [Njagdu] When a Service Animal Has to Go, Airports' Options May Be
Wanting

 

When a Service Animal Has to Go, Airports' Options May Be Wanting

By JANE L. LEVERE

JULY  24, 2017 

The New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/24/business/service-animals-airports.html

Photo: Seeing Eye graduates Michael May and his wife, Gena Harper, with
their service dogs in Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. 

  

Michael May, who recently became the chief executive of the Lighthouse for
the Blind in Seattle, has his own system for rating airports, and under that
system, O'Hare International Airport in Chicago gets a thumbs down and
Washington Dulles International Airport a thumbs up.

 

For Mr. May, who is blind, what matters is the quality of the relief areas
for service animals beyond security in airport terminals. In theory, a new
federal rule requiring those areas should be a boon for the animals' owners,
who may be blind, be deaf, use a wheelchair or have some other type of
disability.

 

But, according to disability travel experts, the rule has led to some
facilities that users find poorly designed.

 

Since August, the Department of Transportation has required American
airports boarding 10,000 or more travelers annually to have at least one
wheelchair-accessible service animal relief area per terminal, generally
beyond security. The rule covered 382 airports, according to a spokeswoman
for the department.

 

The relief areas ideally should be located and designed to help animals
relieve themselves quickly and easily, especially if their owners are making
connecting flights.

 

The new rule followed a requirement, effective in 2009 for American carriers
and in 2010 for foreign carriers, that airlines and airport operators in the
United States consult with local disability groups to build service animal
relief areas. The vast majority of those were built immediately outside
terminal buildings.

 

In a survey last fall by the trade group Airports Council
International-North America, over 90 percent of the 69 responding airports -
which serve about three-quarters of North American air travelers - offered
animal relief areas in their terminals. The group predicted that relief
areas would be the second-fastest growing passenger amenity at its airports
in the next three to five years, after accommodations for nursing mothers.

 

Eric Lipp, executive director of the Open Doors Organization, a
Chicago-based advocacy group for travelers with disabilities that also works
as a consultant to airports and airlines, said airports that must comply
with the new rule fell into three categories: those that were quick to
comply, those that were working toward complying and those for which
post-security relief areas are not a priority.

 

Photo: Mr. May and Ms. Harper at the airport's animal relief area. 

Airports boarding 10,000 or more travelers annually must have at least one
such area per terminal, but the usefulness of their locations and designs
can vary. 

 

But Mr. Lipp and other disability travel experts said that even some
airports that had complied had done a poor job in designing their relief
areas.

 

Mr. May, of the Lighthouse for the Blind, described the post-security relief
area in the rotunda area of Terminal 3 at O'Hare as "worthless." He said he
traveled with a 55-pound golden retriever, and sometimes with his wife, a
financial executive who is also blind and has a 65-pound German shepherd.
The O'Hare area is "a little, 2-by-3 box meant for Chihuahuas or small pets,
not my guide dog."

 

Similarly, Laurel Van Horn, director of programs of the Open Doors
Organization, said she found the relief area in Terminal 4 at Kennedy
International Airport in New York "small and narrow." She also criticized
the central placement there of a fake fire hydrant, which, she said, reduces
the area's space and can snag the handler's leash.

 

Karen Pride, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Department of Aviation, which
operates O'Hare, said the department would take comments on its relief areas
"into consideration for any future adjustments or changes."

 

In a statement, Gert-Jan de Graaff, chief executive of JFKIAT, the operator
of Terminal 4 at Kennedy Airport, said, "It remains our utmost priority to
ensure a comfortable and accessible facility for all our passengers,
especially those traveling with guide and service dogs, emotional support
animals and other pets."

 

On the other hand, Mr. May and others praised the two post-security relief
areas at Dulles - a 200-square-foot facility on Concourse B and a
230-square-foot facility on Concourse D, which opened in 2010 and features
artificial grass and a water system in the floor that rinses waste. Mr. May
described the facilities as the "size of a bedroom," noting that he
frequently flies overseas through Dulles because of the convenience of its
relief areas.

 

The areas were designed especially for people traveling with service animals
who have long layovers or are taking connecting flights, said Kimberly
Gibbs, a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.

 

Animal relief areas are often used not only by animals accompanying people
with disabilities but also by dogs working for airport security and
travelers' pets.

 

Pat Pound, a blind retired disability and rehabilitation expert in Austin,
Tex., and an adviser to Mr. Lipp's group, said there had so far been no
evidence that other traveling animals were keeping service animals from
using airports' relief areas. But, she said, "any time a service animal is
around a non-service animal in a public area, and the non-service animal is
not well behaved, it's very stressful for the person with a disability
trying to get his service animal to do its job."

 

Ms. Van Horn said most animals using the relief areas were pets. To prevent
any problems between pets and service animals, she said, some airports are
building relief areas that can be used by only one animal at a time, like
the four areas found post-security at Miami International Airport. Each has
a door with a window and a "vacant/in use" sign with Braille and tactile
lettering.

 

A version of this article appears in print on July 25, 2017, on Page B6 of
the New York edition with the headline: When a Dog Has to Go, an Airport's
Options May Be Wanting. 

 

 

 

 

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