U.S. Government Rules
Governing Service Animals in Air Transportation
[Federal Register: November 1, 1996 (Volume 61, Number 213)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 56409-56425]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr01no96-6]
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Office of the Secretary
14 CFR Part 382
49 CFR Part 27
[Docket 46872 and 45657--Amendment #6]
RIN 2105-AB62
Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Handicap in Programs and
Activities Receiving or Benefiting From Federal Financial Assistance;
Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Handicap in Air Travel
AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Transportation.
ACTION: Final rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Guidance Concerning Service Animals in Air Transportation
The Department receives frequent questions about the transportation
of service animals by airlines. On July 26, 1996, the Department of
Justice issued Americans with Disabilities Act guidance concerning the
access of service animals to places of public accommodation. The
following guidance is based on the DOJ issuance, with adaptations to
the context of air transportation and answers to questions the
Department has been asked.
The Department of Transportation's rules protecting the rights of
air travelers with disabilities require air carriers to permit
passengers to fly with their service animals. The Air Carrier Access
Act (ACAA) rules say the following:
Carriers shall permit dogs and other service animals used by
individuals with disabilities to accompany the person on a flight.
(1) Carriers shall accept as evidence that an animal is a
service animal identification cards, other written documentation,
presence of harnesses or markings on harnesses, tags or the credible
verbal assurances of the qualified individual with disabilities
using the animal.
(2) Carriers shall permit a service animal to accompany a
qualified individual with disabilities in any seat in which the
person sits, unless the animal obstructs an aisle or other area that
must remain unobstructed in order to facilitate an emergency
evacuation.
(14 CFR Sec. 382.55(a))
If a service animal cannot be accommodated at the seat location
of the qualified individual with disabilities whom the animal is
accompanying . . . the carrier shall offer the passenger the
opportunity to move with the animal to a seat location, if present
on the aircraft, where the animal can be accommodated, as an
alternative to requiring that the animal travel with checked
baggage.
(14 CFR Sec. 382.37(c))
The questions and answers below are intended to help carriers and
passengers understand how to respond to service animal issues.
1. Q: What is a service animal?
A: Under the ACAA, a service animal is any guide dog, signal dog,
or other animal individually trained to provide assistance to an
individual with a disability. If the animal meets this definition, it
is considered a service animal regardless of whether it has been
licensed or certified by a state or local government.
2. Q: What work do service animals perform?
A: Service animals perform some of the tasks and functions that the
individual with a disability cannot perform for him or herself. Guide
dogs that help blind individuals are the type of service animal most
people are familiar with. But there are service animals that assist
persons with other types of disabilities in their day-to-day
activities. Some examples include--
Alerting persons with hearing impairments to sounds.
Pulling wheelchairs or carrying and picking up things for
persons with mobility impairments.
Assisting persons with mobility impairments with balance.
An animal that does not perform identifiable tasks or functions for
an individual with a disability probably is not a service animal.
However, it is not essential that the animal perform the functions for
the individual while he or she is traveling on the aircraft. The
functions can be ones that the animal performs for the individual at
his or her destination.
3. Q: What must an airline do when an individual with a disability
using a service animal seeks to travel?
A: The service animal must be permitted to accompany the passenger
with a disability on the flight. The animal must be allowed to
accompany the individual in any seat the individual uses, except where
the animal would obstruct an aisle or other area required by Federal
Aviation Administration safety rules to remain unobstructed for
emergency evacuation purposes. Service animals are typically trained to
curl up under seats, which should reduce the likelihood of such an
obstruction.
If such an obstruction would occur, the animal (and passenger, if
possible) should be relocated to some other place in the cabin where it
will not create such an obstruction. If there is no space in the cabin
that will accommodate the animal without causing such an obstruction,
then the animal is not permitted to travel in the cabin.
To accommodate service animals, airlines are not required to ask
other passengers to relinquish space that they would normally use. For
example, the passenger sitting next to an individual traveling with a
service animal would not need to allow the space under the seat in
front of him or her to be used to accommodate the animal.
4. Q: Is a service animal a pet?
A: A service animal is not a pet. A service animal is a
working
animal that performs important functions for an individual with a
disability. The individual with a disability has been trained in the
use of the service animal and is responsible for all handling of the
animal. Consequently, carrier personnel and other passengers should not
attempt to pet, play with, direct, or in any way distract service
animals.
It is also important to realize that a pet is not a service animal.
Many people enjoy the companionship of animals. But this relationship
between an individual and an animal, standing alone, is not sufficient
to cause an animal to be regarded as a service animal.
5. Q: How do the requirements of the ACAA rule concerning service
animals relate to an airline's rules about carrying pets?
A: Airlines may have whatever policy they choose concerning pets,
consistent with U.S. Department of Agriculture animal welfare rules.
For example, they can refuse to carry any pets. They can carry pets
only in containers stowed in the cargo compartment. They can allow
small pets in carriers that fit under the
[[Page 56421]]
seat. Since service animals are not pets, the ACAA requires airlines to
modify their pets policies to allow service animals to accompany
persons with a disability in the cabin. When an animal is determined by
the airline not to be a service animal, then the airline would apply to
the animal the same policy that applies to pets.
In any situation in which the airline determines that an animal is
not a service animal, the airline must continue to give the passenger
the opportunity to travel without having the service animal in the
cabin. It is not appropriate to deny transportation to a passenger
because the passenger's animal is determined not to be a service
animal.
6. Q: How can I tell if an animal really is a service animal and not
just a pet?
A: Some, but not all, service animals, wear special collars or
harnesses. For example, guide dogs used by persons with vision
impairments typically wear harnesses that enhance their ability to
guide the visually impaired person. Some, but not all, service animals
are licensed and certified and have identification papers.
If airline employees are not certain that an animal is a service
animal, they may ask the person who has the animal if it is a service
animal required because of a disability. However, an individual who is
planning to travel by air is not necessarily going to be carrying
around documentation of his or her medical condition or disability.
Therefore, while such documentation may be requested as a means of
verifying that the animal is a service animal, it generally may not be
required as a condition of permitting an individual to travel with his
or her service animal. (See Question 9 for a situation in which
documentation may be required.) Likewise, while a number of states have
programs to certify service animals, airline employees may not insist
on proof of state certification before permitting the service animal to
accompany the person with a disability.
7. Q: What are ``credible'' verbal assurances that an animal is a
service animal?
A: In the absence of documentation or other obvious evidence that
an animal is a service animal, the only information available to
airline employees about the animal may be what a passenger says about
his or her disability and the use of the animal. Airline employees may
exercise their judgment concerning whether the passenger's statements
about the training and functions of the animal make it reasonable to
think that the animal is a service animal.
The factors discussed in this guidance (e.g., the nature of the
individual's disability, the training the animal is said to have
received, its ability to behave properly in public places, the
functions it is said to perform for the individual) can be used in
evaluating the credibility of the passenger's statements. An airline
complaints resolution official (CRO), whom the Department's ACAA rules
require to be available at each airport that the airline serves, is a
resource that passengers and airline employees can use to resolve
difficult cases.
8. Q: What about unusual or multiple animals?
A: Most people are familiar with the use of dogs as service
animals. On some occasions, however, individuals may ask to be
accompanied in an aircraft cabin by other kinds of animals. For
example, in a few cases, monkeys have been trained to provide services
to persons with severe mobility impairments. There have been cases of
passengers requesting to be accompanied by reptiles or rodents. In
addition, some passengers have asked to travel with more than one
animal at a time.
In evaluating these situations, airline employees should keep in
mind some of the important characteristics of service animals. Service
animals are trained to perform specific functions for an indivudal with
a disability, and they are trained to behave properly in public places.
Service animals are generally trained to work on a one-to-one basis
with an individual with a disability. Airline employees may inquire
about these matters and may use their judgment about whether, in light
of these factors, a particular animal is a service animal, as distinct
from a pet that a passenger wants to bring on board.
9. Q: How should airline employees respond to a claim that being
accompanied by an animal is necessary for the emotional well-being
of an individual with a mental or emotional disability?
A: Many people receive emotional support from being near an animal.
The assertion of a passenger that an animal remaining in his or her
company is a needed accommodation to a disability, however, may often
be difficult to verify or to distinguish from the situation of any
person who is fond of a pet. In addition, the animal may not, in such a
situation, perform any visible function. For these reasons, it is
reasonable for airline employees to request appropriate documentation
of the individual's disability and the medical or theraputic necessity
of the passenger's traveling with the animal. Moreover, the animal, like
any service animal, must be trained to behave properly in a public
setting.
10. Q: What about service animals that are not accompanying a
passenger with a disability?
A: Sometimes, an animal that is trained to work with people with
disabilities may travel by air but not be accompanied by an individual
with a disability for whom the animal performs service animal
functions. For example, a non-disabled handler may transport a
``therapy dog'' to a location, such as a rehabilitation center, where
it will perform services for individuals with physical or mental
disabilities.
The Department's Air Carrier Access Act regulation intended to
assist passengers with disabilities by ensuring that they can travel
with the service animals that perform functions for them. When a
service animal is not accompanying a passenger with a disability, the
rule's rationale for permitting the animal to travel in the cabin does
not apply. While the animal may be traveling to a location where it
will perform valuable services to other people, it would be subject to
the airline's general policies with respect to the carriage of animals.
11. Q: What if an animal acts out of control?
A: Service animals are trained to behave properly in public
settings. For example, a properly trained service animal will remain at
its owner's feet. It does not run freely around an aircraft or airport
gate area, bark or growl repeatedly at other persons on the aircraft,
bite or jump on people, or urinate or defecate in the cabin or gate
area. An animal that engages in such disruptive behavior shows that it
has not been successfully trained to function as a service animal in
public settings. Therefore, airlines are not required to treat it as a
service animal, even if the animal is one that performs an assistive
function for a passenger with a disability. However, airline personnel
should consider available means of mitigating the effect of an animal's
behavior that are acceptable to the individual with a disability (e.g.,
muzzling a dog that barks frequently) that would permit the animal to
travel in the cabin.
While an airline is not required to permit an animal to travel in
the cabin if it engages in disruptive behavior, or other behavior that
poses a direct threat to the health or safety of persons on the
aircraft, airline employees may not make assumptions about how a
[[Page 56422]]
particular animal is likely to behave based on past experience with
other animals. Each situation must be considered individually. Airline
employees may inquire, however, about whether a particular animal has
been trained to behave properly in a public setting.
12. Q: Can airlines charge a maintenance or cleaning fee for
customers who bring service animals onto aircraft?
A: No. The ACAA prohibits special charges, such as deposits or
surcharges, for accommodations required to be made to passengers'
disabilities. This is true even if such charges are routinely required
to transport pets.
However, an airline can charge passengers with disabilities if a
service animal causes damage, so long as it is the regular practice of
the airline to charge non-disabled passengers for the same types of
damages. For example, the airline can charge passengers with a
disability for the cost of repairing or cleaning seats damaged by a
service animal if it is the airline's policy to charge when non-disabled passengers cause similar damage.
13. Q: Are airlines responsible for the animal while a person with
a disability is on the aircraft?
A: No. The care and supervision of a service animal is solely the
responsibility of its owner. The individual with a disability has been
trained in the use of the service animal and is responsible for all
handling of the animal. The airline is not required to provide care or
food or special facilities for the animal.
Regulatory Analyses and Notices
This is not a significant rule under Executive Order 12866. It is a
significant rule under the Department's Regulatory Policies and
Procedures. A regulatory evaluation that examines the projected costs
and impacts of the lift requirements in the rule has been placed in the
docket. Briefly, the Department estimates that equipment and
operational costs of the lift requirement (net present value over 20
years ) will range between $18.6 and $51.8 million. In terms of
benefits, the analysis suggests that an additional 450,000 trips to
mobility-impaired travelers could result from the availability of lift
devices, resulting in a net present value profit to carriers of $48
million over 20 years. There are, in addition, non-quantifiable
benefits (e.g., greater travel opportunities for passengers, greater
dignity in the boarding process). The airport accessibility provisions
of the rule are not projected to have significant costs.
We note that Federally-assisted airports have been subject to very
similar requirements under section 504 since the first publication of
49 CFR Part 27 in 1979. Airlines have been subject to very similar
requirements since the first publication of 14 CFR Part 382 in 1990.
New costs related to moving to ADA-based standards should not be great,
and are limited in any case by the readily achievable/program
accessibility provisions made applicable to airlines and airports,
respectively.
The Department certifies that this rule, if adopted, would not have
a significant economic effect on a substantial number of small
entities. There are not a substantial number of small air carriers
covered by this rule, particularly given the exclusion of ``problem
aircraft'' and aircraft with fewer than 19 seats from boarding
assistance requirement. These aircraft are heavily represented among
the smallest air carriers. The smallest airports are excluded from the
boarding assistance rule altogether; other small airports will have
costs reduced by the 4-year phase-in for them. For all airports,
terminal accessibility requirements are not expected to be costly. They
are very similar to existing requirements, and they include provisions
ensuring that unduly burdensome changes are not required. Consequently,
the Department does not anticipate a significant economic effect on
small airports.
The Department has determined that there would not be sufficient
Federalism impacts to warrant the preparation of a Federalism
Assessment.
List of Subjects in 14 CFR Part 382 and 49 CFR Part 27
Aviation, Handicapped.
Issued this 8th day of October, 1996, at Washington, D.C.
Federico Pena,
Secretary of Transportation.
[FR Doc. 96-28084 Filed 10-31-96; 8:45 am]
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