<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 14 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:windowtext;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>When a Service Animal Has to Go, Airports’ Options May Be Wanting<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>By JANE L. LEVERE<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>JULY 24, 2017 <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The New York Times<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/24/business/service-animals-airports.html<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Photo: Seeing Eye graduates Michael May and his wife, Gena Harper, with their service dogs in Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>But, according to disability travel experts, the rule has led to some facilities that users find poorly designed.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Photo: Mr. May and Ms. Harper at the airport’s animal relief area. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>