[NAGDU] Questions regarding spirit Airlines required service animal paperwork

Fri Dec 17 11:53:09 UTC 2021

Hello Melissa and Scott,

Thank you both for responding, your responses were very helpful.

 Spirit did approve my service animal very quickly. I think I received the approval about 4 hours after I submitted the DOT form through their portal. I plan to bring copies of the completed DOT form with me and the approval email from spirit  when I travel as well just in case. Wow, so crazy that the airlines can still ask you to specify the tasks that your dog is trained to perform beyond what you already need to enter into the DOT form. But, I guess it is what it is at this point. Unfortunately, those of us who have legitimately task trained Service animals are the ones who always pay the price for the folks who take advantage of things with their pets/ESAs. :)   Thank you for the clarification though Melissa, this was very helpful. Overall though, surprisingly, this whole paperwork process with spirit has been pretty straightforward and like I said, their response time with their approval was also pretty quick.  Just one more question, if I show up at the airport and I am told that my dog needs to be evaluated by a airline staff  member before I can board the plane, is this allowed under the new regulations? Spirit has not indicated this possibility  in any way in their approval email that they sent me. But, just thought I would ask in the event that this happens. I recently saw on another guide dog email list a situation where JetBlue indicated in their Service animal  approval email for a guide dog user  that the individual’s guide dog  needed to be evaluated by an airline staff member upon arriving at the airport before The  individual and their guide dog would be able  to fly.  Is my understanding correct that under the new regulations , at the airport, the airline is only able to ask me to show my completed and approved  DOT form in order for me to fly With my guide dog? I just want to be as prepared as possible especially traveling with such short notice under the circumstances. 

Thank you again for all of your help.

Melissa 

> On Dec 16, 2021, at 9:45 AM, Melissa Allman <MAllman at seeingeye.org> wrote:
> 
> HI Melissa. I think it's great that you took the time to share your experience with Spirit on this list. It's good to know their online portal was accessible. So many things have been changing with how the airlines are implementing the new DOT regulations. I think Spirit can under the new regs ask you what tasks your dog performs although it is very annoying that you have to provide duplicative information. Others have experienced this with various airlines. It sounds like you got your information to them within the 48 hours, but even if there is a glitch with your form, you can technically ask for assistance with the form at the airport as a reasonable accommodation. Below is a link to The Seeing Eye web site with information about the new regs. It does include a link to the DOT complaint form should you feel you need to file a complaint. The form is very accessible.
> https://www.seeingeye.org/knowledge-center/rights--legal-information/airlines-and-cruise-ships.html
> 
> Also, when you are at the airport, if you think the airline is discriminating against you, ask to speak to a Complaint Resolution Official (CRO). I'm sorry to hear about your family emergency and I hope this information is helpful, though there may be other resources others might wish to share with you. Safe travels.
> 
> Melissa
> 
> Melissa Allman
> Senior Specialist, Advocacy and Government Relations 
> The Seeing Eye 
> P.O. Box 375, Morristown, NJ 07963-0375 (mail)
> 1 Seeing Eye Way, Morristown, NJ 07960-3378 (deliveries)
> 973-539-4425 ext. x1724 | mallman at seeingeye.org | www.SeeingEye.org
> 
> Your support helps us create extraordinary teams. Please help The Seeing Eye by making a donation today. 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NAGDU <nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of bgmusicmin--- via NAGDU
> Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2021 6:57 AM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: bgmusicmin at gmail.com
> Subject: [NAGDU] Questions regarding spirit Airlines required service animal paperwork
> 
> Hello all,
> 
> This is my first time flying with my guide dogs since the new regulations have taken affect. I do have some questions regarding the paperwork that Spirit Airlines is requiring. 
> 
> As part of the requirements, spirit airline is requiring that anyone flying with a service animal complete the DOT form. I know that they are permitted to require this. However, when submitting the completed DOT form two spirits online portal, in addition to asking for the flight date, flight confirmation code, and flight time, spirit is also requiring that you specifically list the tasks that your service animal has been trained to perform. You cannot upload the completed DOT form to their online portal without specifically answering the question about what specific tasks your service animal has been trained to perform. with the new regulations, I know that airlines are legally able to require the completed DOT form. But, are they permitted to also require you to specifically outline what tasks your dog has been trained to perform? This information is also listed in the DOT form that I have completed. Additionally, when making my reservation, I indicated that my dog is a service dog for vision. Just was not sure if spirits current practice of requiring you to specifically llist  what tasks your service dog has been trained to perform beyond what is included in the DOT form is permissible under the new regulations? Any advice is greatly appreciated. Due to a family emergency, I booked my ticket last night and submitted the completed DOT form this morning to spirit and I did go ahead and answer their specific question regarding the tasks that my service dog has been trained to perform. Since I am flying out very early Saturday morning, I don’t want any problems and just went ahead and filled everything out. Unfortunately, last night when I booked my ticket, there seems to be some technical issues going on with the spirit website last night  and I was not able to access their online portal to submit the service animal documentation until this morning. So, hopefully, they will not give me any trouble for submitting my documentation in just under the 48 hour mark.  If what spirit is requiring beyond the DOT form is not permitted under the new regulations, would this warrant a complaint to the DOT? If so, how does one go about filing a complaint to the DOT regarding this issue? 
> 
> Also, once I submitted all of my documentation to Spirit this morning, I received an email from spirit indicating that they have received it and will approve my documentation as soon as possible.  Do I need to receive their official approval before I can fly on Saturday morning? If I do not receive their approval and it is required that I do so  before I fly, how would I go about dealing with this? Since I am flying last minute due to a family emergency, I really don’t want there to be any unnecessary Problems regarding this issue once I arrive at the airport.  
> 
> Lastly, on a very surprising note, spirits online portal with the questions about your flight and service animal along with the process of uploading the completed DOT form is accessible using JAWS using windows with the fire fox browser. Unfortunately, I cannot speak to the accessibility of this online portal or uploading process with any other screen readers, on any other platforms, or with any other browsers.
> 
> Again, thank you for any info you are able to provide.
> 
> Melissa 
> 
> 
> 
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