[NAGDU] FW:

Tue Feb 6 23:52:19 UTC 2018

From: nellie at culodge.com [mailto:nellie at culodge.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, February 6, 2018 5:52 PM
To: nellie at culodge.com
Subject: fyi:

FYI:   May be of interest to you.

GDUI Announcement:Guide Dog Users

-----Original Message-----
From: Acbo-list [mailto:acbo-list-bounces at lists.acbohio.org] On Behalf Of
ACB-Ohio
Sent: Monday, February 05, 2018 12:35 PM
To: acbo-list at acbohio.org <mailto:acbo-list at acbohio.org> 
Subject: [Acbo-list] FW: GDUI Announcement:Guide Dog Users, Inc. Welcomes
United Airlines' Unchanged Policies Regarding Guide and Service Animals,
Urges Other Airlines to Follow Suit

Dear GDUI Members and Friends,

Airlines continue to update their policies regarding animals who fly onboard
planes.

The latest air carrier to announce revised policies was United Airlines.
GDUI's response is below.

Guide Dog Users, Inc. Welcomes United Airlines' Unchanged Policies Regarding
Guide and Service Animals, Urges Other Airlines to Follow Suit February 5,
2018 On Thursday, February 1, 2018, United Airlines announced new policies
regarding emotional support animals that fly with their owners inside cabins
on United planes. Like Delta Airlines, which, two weeks ago, announced
policy changes regarding requirements for animals that accompany their
owners onboard planes, United attributes the need to revise their policies
to dramatically increasing numbers of people who, claiming disability or
anxiety, bring dogs, cats, and other kinds of animals onboard, and
associated increases in the number of incidents involving badly behaved and
uncontrolled animals. Both airlines are motivated by concerns for the safety
of all their passengers and their crews. As frequent flyers ourselves, Guide
Dog Users, Inc. (GDUI) members are also concerned about our safety onboard
aircraft, and additionally about the safety and welfare of our guide dogs.
We are not convinced that requiring annually updated vaccination records can
address the behavioral issues that can make sharing a cabin or a row with a
frightened or untrained dog any safer for passengers or crew members, but,
like anyone else who flies, we don't want ourselves - or our well-cared-for
guide dogs -- to be exposed to

communicable diseases.   We welcome United's insistence upon health

and behavioral certification for animals ostensibly brought onboard to
provide emotional support or comfort, as well as verification of pet owners'
needs for this kind of assistance from reputable, licensed professional
sources. We are hopeful that expanded requirements for certification of
behavioral training for animals whose purpose is to provide emotional
support will decrease the numbers of misbehaving and out-of-control animals
onboard planes, making us - and our guide dogs - safer, and flying a more
comfortable experience for everyone.

While Guide Dog Users, Inc. has criticized Delta's expanded requirements for
people with disabilities who need to bring their guide and service animals
onboard Delta flights, GDUI applauds United Airlines' decision to make new
requirements for health certificates and good behavior certification
applicable only to emotional support animals who often receive limited
training at best and for whom there may not be a licensed authority to
guarantee good health or up-to-date vaccinations.

GDUI is gratified to know that United Airlines seems to understand that the
rigorous training our guide and service animals receive, as well as their
daily exposure to community environments and public venues, makes it
unlikely for our dogs' behavioral or health status to  pose risks to the
safety of passengers or crew members onboard United planes. Further, our
reliance on guide and service dogs for independence and personal safety
makes maintaining our dogs' good health, appropriate behavior, and proper
grooming essential obligations for every guide and service animal user.

An annual duty for guide dog users  to provide vaccination records to Delta
and further to confirm with Delta personnel the airline's possession of the
certification every time we want to check into a flight would be
particularly burdensome for guide dog users, who would no longer be able to
check in via smart phone, kiosk, or at curbside, who would need to spend
extra time in line while waiting to confirm paperwork receipt, and who would
likely be separated from traveling companions during the process. In
addition, Delta's expanded requirements could easily necessitate extra
expenses for people who might not have internet access and would therefore
have to travel to an airport 48 hours in advance of a flight in  order to
submit vaccination records, as well as extra charges which, we have already
heard from members, that some vets are charging for submitting the required
paperwork.

We have no way of predicting whether or not requiring certification of
training for emotional support animals will reduce the number of misbehaving
dogs on flights. Certainly, the reliability of the certifying authority will
make a difference. We are hopeful that the additional requirement for
training certification will convince pet owners whose dogs may be unfamiliar
with conditions like noisy airports and crowded planes to leave their pets
at home or to contain them inside appropriate carriers to prevent their
roaming through aircraft and threatening the safety of other passengers and
crew.

No case can be made, however, for requiring additional or early submission
of medical records for our guide dogs, since maintaining their good health
is an essential prerequisite for the life-saving services they provide for
us and for their near-universal acceptance in public venues. We urge Delta
to reconsider these onerous requirements for those of us who need to fly
with our guide and service animals, not only because of the inconvenience
and extra expenses they represent, but also because, as a class of people
who are blind, we feel that these rules single us out as targets of unlawful
discrimination. At least equally important, requiring guide and service dog
users to submit vaccination records online in advance and in person at a
Delta ticket counter is unlikely to solve any of the problems associated
with misbehaving and uncontrolled animals onboard planes.

We are told by United, Delta and other airlines  that the number of animals
air carriers are expected, under the direction of the Air Carrier Access Act
(ACAA),  to transport has nearly doubled just in the last twelve months ,
and as the number of incidents that have compromised the safety of
passengers and crew members has increased, we understand why the airlines
are re-evaluating their policies and requirements. Because a patchwork of
sundry requirements for variously defined populations is bound to be
confusing at best, and such a bureaucratic burden that making airline
reservations may become a nearly impossible task, we urge all U. S. air
carriers to work in coalition with one another, with membership
organizations like ours who can speak on behalf of guide dog users, and with
the U. S.

Department of Transportation, which will release a Notice of Proposed Rule
Making (NPRM) for the ACAA in July, to harmonize the policies and procedures
which serve to deter passengers from bringing animals which they cannot
control and whose appropriate behavior they cannot assure onboard planes.
GDUI is eager to assist in this process. We urge Delta and other airlines to
take a page from United's planning book which recognizes the excellent
training, appropriate behavior, and well-maintained health of guide dogs
which we and members of the general public have depended upon for decades,
while developing requirements for less well-trained dogs and comfort animals
that can assure onboard safety for all of us.

We appreciate all of you who took the time to communicate with the Aviation
Consumer Protection Division of the U. S. Department of Transportation
Regarding Delta's , much more restrictive for guide dog users, rules which
are expected to go into effect on March 1. It is important for us to
criticize a policy change that is likely to make flying more difficult and
expensive, and to point out the very negative impact new restrictions would
have on the civil rights protections that are guaranteed to us under the Air
Carrier Access Act.

It is just as important for us to provide positive feedback regarding policy
changes that exempt guide and service animals from burdensome restrictions
and to acknowledge and appreciate the understanding which United Airlines
demonstrates in their new policy guidance. So, we urge you to fill out the
DOT form again, this time thanking United Airlines for their more
enlightened approach to writing policy guidance for animals who fly onboard
their planes.

Go here to make your opinions known:

https://airconsumer.dot.gov/escomplaint/ConsumerForm.cfm

Finally, the GDUI Advocacy Committee has written a more succinct statement
supporting United Airlines recently announced policy guidance, and we share
it with you below, along with our thanks to the GDUI Advocacy Committee.

GDUI Advocacy Committee Responds to United Airlines Announced Policy
Concerning Animals Onboard Planes February 5, 2018 Guide Dog Users
Incorporated (GDUI) has been reviewing the recent decision by Delta Airlines
to further insure the well-being of its passengers against a dramatic
increase in the amount of service and emotional support animals who have
been poorly behaved, and flying in their cabins.  We very much agree with
the desire of  Delta Airlines to insure its flights are safe and accessible
to all who choose to fly on Delta. However, we find the  requirements'
applicability to all service and emotional support animals to be most
distressing, especially for guide dog users whose dogs  have in large
measure never been a hazard or otherwise problematic for  airlines.

GDUI applauds the recent decision by United Airlines to follow the lead of
Delta as applied to emotional support animals, but not to trained service
animals.

United's new  policy recognizes that, unlike emotional support animals,
guide dogs and other types of service animals require extensive training and
socialization in order to successfully perform their duties in public
settings. The United policy honors the traditional utilization of air travel
by people with disabilities working with well-trained service animals
without placing undue and needless burdens upon them.  GDUI will issue
further commentary as we work with others to assist airlines in developing
the best possible policies that facilitate the use of service and emotional
support animals without inconveniencing the flying public or those who
legitimately need the assistance of their animals.

Charles H. Crawford, Chair

Advocacy and Legislative Committee

Guide Dog Users, Inc

Sincerely,

Penny Reeder, President

Guide Dog Users, Inc.

mailto:President at GuideDogUsersInc.org

Deanna Noriega, First Vice President

Guide Dog Users, Inc.

mailto:vp1 at GuideDogUsersInc.org

https://www.guidedogusersinc.org/

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