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17 thoughts on “Delta's Policy Response After a Passenger was Severely Attacked by an Unrestrained Emotional Support Dog

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  1. Will it reduce fakers? I doubt it. The ADA needs to go back to the way it was with Guide Dogs for the Blind being the ONLY service animals, anything else should be approved on a case by case basis only and only for PHYSICAL disabilities since we have drugs and therapies for mental and emotional conditions, including Emotional Freedom Technique, a proven treatment and cure for PTSD even in combat veterans. https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/sage/the-treatment-of-combat-trauma-in-veterans-using-eft-emotional-freedom-NkHiVVOuN6
    Does anyone really think we'd have ANY blind people if they could just take a pill for it? I have no doubt the VAST majority of people dragging their PETS with them are in no way disabled.

    • I definitely agree, even though I love dogs and volunteer at a shelter. Go back to Guide Dogs for the Blind only… most of the other “excuses” are fake which I base on various friends I have who thus get to travel with their dogs, the latter free. What did people do before all these emotional support dogs were allowed? They drove or left their dog at home. – I would NOT want to sit next to someone with a dog at his/her feet or in his/her lap.. .it’s too crowded in a plane as it is and that makes it even more uncomfortable, apart from dangerous.

  2. Is it unreasonable to require dogs to be muzzled? This seems to me to be a way to prevent bites. But I'm a pragmatist who thinks it's less cruel to muzzle a dog than to have a human bitten. I'm tired of tip-toeing around because people think that dogs have the right to endanger humans.

  3. I'm assuming this was the best their lawyers could do, given the ADA law, but you'd think they could have made a case that aircraft/airline security is a special case and needs leeway. I wish they'd written something in that promised consequences to people who lied on the form and then had an incident with their animal.

    Also, isn't it amazingly selfish of people to drag untrained pets onto airplanes? I'm not afraid to fly, but I find the noise of the engines, the sensation of pressure changes and the cramped quarters tiring and, if they go on long enough or if I'm not feeling well anyway, they get a little upsetting, particularly on a long flight. That doesn't even take turbulence into account. A normal family pet in that situation must think they're in hell. People who'd put their unprepared pet in that situation are either completely thoughtless or in need of much greater psychiatric help than a dog.

  4. This whole "Emotional Support Animal" is BS. My apartment complex bans dogs. The county band pitbulls. A woman moved in below me and brought a pitbull in with her. The dog barked nonstop all day. The landlord had to take her to court three times. She finally got evicted.

  5. The number of dogs I have seen in concerts in recent years (and yes, they're usually pit bulls) has gone through the roof. If these owners don't care enough about their pets' safety and well-being in the high-decibel, crowded environment of a ROCK CONCERT, the stresses of air travel will mean nothing to them.

  6. Lawrence Phelps: I have another name for 'emotional support dogs'- PET. It's a PET. This designation is as meaningless as 'therapy dog'.

  7. I have a neighbor who impulse bought a dog from a shelter and immediately started to call it a "service animal." Thankfully, it wasn't a pit. She claimed she was training it. She did not call it and ESA because she knew that it would be more limited in where it could go (ESAs can be in housing/apartments and airlines but can be banded from other places such as private businesses). She bought it a vest from Amazon.com. She then started to demand to be able to take it to the chain restaurant that she worked at when she was working. They of course, laid her off but then had an HR nightmare on their hands. These people will always find a loophole.

  8. Other than a certified seeing eye dog, I do not want to sit anywhere near a dog, cat or whatever else that has the potential to bite, pee, poop, whine or bark. Could you imagine sitting next to the animal that has diarrhea because it's stressed out? Flying is already stressful enough.

  9. Thank you for this site. If a person has a true disability let them pay for & go through with the SERVICE ANIMAL TRAINING.
    My husband worked 21-24 hrs/day for 3 years to pay for our service dog & training. Keep the biting pets and ESAs out of public, they interfere with my dog's functions.
    It's a misdemeanor to interfere with a SERVICE ANIMAL.
    SERVICE DOG owners are confident of a dog's behavior because they are proven with YEARS of training AND must initially pass a rigorous test of personality and intelligence. This is why so many dogs are rejected as SERVICE ANIMALS. In addition, an animal who makes it to training can be rejected for the slightest problem. I know of an incident of a seizure dog (rare prediction capabilities worth $50,000) rejected for service work during training.
    Tell me why, again, do we have ESAs????

  10. EXPENSIVE NOTE TO AIRLINE ATTORNEYS:
    Do you intend to pay for a new SERVICE ANIMAL ruined from an attack by an EMOTION SUPPORT ANIMAL OR PET? The value of these animals and their training can easily exceed $50,000.
    If a person truly has a psychiatric disability, they need to go through the same process required by a SERVICE ANIMAL.
    THE LAW IS CLEAR about one thing:
    Interference with a SERVICE ANIMAL is a misdemeanor.
    If you intentionally continue to allow ESAs & unconfined pets to exist in an airplane, you are allowing interference.

  11. Was the dog that attacked Marlin Jackson on the flight a pit bull or pit mix? You know how the media is… and I’m having a hard time verifying what breed type the dog was. Thanks.

  12. Was the dog that attacked Marlin Jackson on the flight a pit bull or pit mix? You know how the media is… and I’m having a hard time verifying what breed type the dog was. Thanks.

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