[NAGDU] Booking Amtrak With a Service Animal

[Mary Metzger]

I routinely travel on Amtrak with my black Lab Seeing Eye dog, who weighs just over sixty pounds.  I have not experienced a problem regarding my dog's presence with me.  Though I frequently reserve my ticket by phone I do not disclose, and have not been questioned about, whether I will be traveling with a service animal.

A few years ago some Amtrak customer service representatives would reserve an extra (free) seat if they became aware that a service animal would also be traveling.  If only one seat was left on a particular train, a person traveling with a service animal could be denied access if the presence of the animal was disclosed.  Since I do not mention the presence of my guide dog when I reserve a ticket, I do not know whether the practice of issuing an additional ticket still exists.

Mary Beth Metzger 

-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Melissa Allman via NAGDU
Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2018 8:35 AM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users' <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Melissa Allman <MAllman at seeingeye.org>; 'Buddy Brannan' <buddy at brannan.name>
Subject: Re: [NAGDU] Booking Amtrak With a Service Animal

A colleague and I booked an Amtrak trip yesterday and the way I understood the question, they wanted you to make the reservation by phone if you had a really large service animal. The examples they gave were great Dane and "guide horse" as they put it. My thinking is that they want to make sure they can provide the best physical accommodation for an animal of that size. I do not recall lab being in the question but I would need to go back through the booking process and refresh my recollection on the exact wording. I have a 50-pound yellow lab cross and we put medium-sized dog. I don't think they are imposing breed or weight restrictions but I think the important question is whether they are making the online reservation process unavailable to people with larger service animals by imposing that requirement. I think some additional exploration of that question could be done.

Melissa R. Allman, Esq.
Senior Specialist, Advocacy and Government Relations The Seeing Eye, Inc.
P.O. Box 375, Morristown, NJ 07963-0375 (mail)
10 Washington Valley Road, Morristown, NJ 07960-3412 (deliveries)
973-539-4425 ext. 1724,     Fax:  973-525-1081 mallman at SeeingEye.org  


-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Buddy Brannan via NAGDU
Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2018 9:09 PM
To: Marion Gwizdala via NAGDU
Cc: Buddy Brannan
Subject: [NAGDU] Booking Amtrak With a Service Animal

Howdy,

Amtrak is doing something new lately. At least, since last time I booked with them about a year ago, anyway. In their online booking process, you can book as a person with a disability. They ask if you’ve got a visual disability, hearing, or mobility. That’s not new. The new part has to do with asking if you use a service dog. If, says the website, you use a large breed (GSD, lab, etc.), you are asked to make reservations by phone. 

I can definitely make a reservation and not disclose, or not disclose my service animal. Still, it seems to me that these questions aren’t exactly legal. What am I missing?

—Buddy
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