Disability Law Index - Air Carrier Access Act: Service Animals

Regulations:

Updated 2021

14 C.F.R. § 382.72 Must carriers allow a service animal to accompany a passenger with a disability?

You must allow a service animal to accompany a passenger with a disability. You must not deny transportation to a service animal based on the animal’s breed or type or on the basis that its carriage may offend or annoy carrier personnel or persons traveling on the aircraft.

14 C.F.R.§ 382.73 How do carriers determine if an animal is a service animal that must be accepted for transport? May a carrier require that a service animal be under the control of the service animal user or handler?

(a) You may rely on one or more of the factors set forth in paragraphs (a)(1) through)(3) of this section to determine if an animal is a service animal that must be accepted for transport. (1) You may make two inquiries to determine whether an animal qualifies as a service animal. You may ask if the animal is required to accompany the passenger because of a disability and what work or task the animal has been trained to perform. You must not ask about the nature or extent of a person’s disability or ask that the service animal demonstrate its work or task. (2) You may observe the behavior of an animal. A trained service animal will remain under the control of its handler. It does not run freely around an aircraft or an airport gate area, bark or growl repeatedly at other persons or other animals on the aircraft or in the airport gate area, bite, jump on, or cause injury to people, or urinate or defecate in the cabin or gate area. An animal that engages in such disruptive behavior demonstrates that it has not been successfully trained to behave properly in a public setting and carriers are not required to treat it as a service animal without a carrier in the cabin, even if the animal performs an assistive function for a passenger with a disability. (3) You may look for physical indicators, such as a harness or vest on the animal, to determine if the animal is a service animal.

(b) You may require that a service animal be harnessed, leashed, or otherwise tethered at all times by the service animal user or service animal handler while in areas of the airport that you own, lease or control, or on an aircraft.

14 C.F.R. § 382.74 How many service animals must a carrier transport in the cabin of aircraft?

You are not required to accept more than two service animals for a single passenger with a disability.

14 C.F.R. § 382.75 May a carrier require documentation from passengers with disabilities seeking to travel with a service animal?

(a) If a passenger with a disability seeks to travel with a service animal, you may require the passenger to provide you, as a condition of permitting the service animal to travel in the cabin, a current completed U.S. Department of Transportation Service Animal Air Transportation Form. Current means the form was completed on or after the date the passenger purchased his or her airline ticket.

(b) On a flight segment scheduled to take 8 hours or more, you may, as a condition of permitting a service animal to travel in the cabin, require the passenger with a disability traveling with the service animal to confirm that the animal will not need to relieve itself on the flight, or that the animal can relieve itself in a way that does not create a health or sanitation issue on the flight by providing a current DOT Service Animal Relief Attestation Form. Current means the form was completed on or after the date the passenger purchased his or her airline ticket.

(c) You are not permitted to require documentation from passengers with disabilities traveling with service animals beyond the completion of the forms identified in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section except to comply with requirements on transport of animals by a Federal agency, a U.S. territory or a foreign jurisdiction.

(d) As a U.S. air carrier, if you require service animal users to submit the forms identified in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section, you must have copies of these forms available for passengers at each airport you serve. As a foreign air carrier, if you require service animal users to submit the forms identified in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section, you must have copies of the forms available for passengers at each airport serving a flight you operate that begins or ends at a U.S. airport.

(e) If you have a website, you must have the forms identified in paragraphs (a) and (b) available to passengers in an accessible format. You must mail copies of the forms identified in paragraphs (a) and (b) to passengers upon request.

(f) If you require a passenger with a disability traveling with a service animal to submit the forms identified in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section in advance of the passenger’s date of travel, you must provide the passenger the option of submitting the completed form(s) to you electronically or by hardcopy.

(g)(1) If a passenger’s reservation was made more than 48 hours in advance of the first originally scheduled departure time on the passenger’s itinerary, you may require that passenger provide up to 48 hours advance notice by submitting the form identified in paragraph (a) of this section. (2) If a passenger’s reservation was made more than 48 hours in advance of the first originally scheduled departure time on the passenger’s itinerary and a flight segment on the passenger’s itinerary is scheduled to take 8 hours or more, you may require that the passenger provide up to 48 hours advance notice by submitting the form identified in paragraph (b) of this section. (3) If a passenger’s reservation was made less than 48 hours in advance of the first originally scheduled departure time on the passenger’s itinerary, you may not require that passenger provide advance notice of his or her intent to travel with a service animal. You may require that the passenger complete the forms identified in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section and submit a copy of the form to you at the passenger’s departure gate on the date of travel.

(h) If the passenger does not meet the advance notice requirements you establish consistent with this section, you must still provide the accommodation if you can do so by making reasonable efforts, without delaying the flight.

14 C.F.R. § 382.76 May a carrier require a service animal user to check-in physically at the airport?

You may not require a passenger with a disability to check-in physically at the airport, rather than using the online check-in available to the general public, on the basis that the passenger is traveling with a service animal.

14 C.F.R. § 382.77 May carriers restrict the location and placement of service animals on aircraft?

(a) You must permit a service animal to accompany a passenger with a disability on the passenger’s lap or in the passenger’s foot space, unless this location and placement would: (1) Be inconsistent with safety requirements set by the FAA or the foreign carrier’s government; or (2) Encroach into another passenger’s space.

(b) Before refusing to transport a large service animal that cannot be accommodated on the passenger’s lap or in the passenger’s foot space without encroaching into another passenger’s space, you must offer the passenger the opportunity to move with the animal to another seat location within the same class of service, if available on the aircraft, where the animal can be accommodated. You are not required to reseat other passengers to accommodate a service animal except as required for designated priority seats in Subpart F.

(c) If there are no alternatives available to enable the passenger to travel with the service animal in the cabin of the scheduled flight, you must offer the passenger the opportunity to transport the service animal in the cargo hold free of charge or travel on a later flight to the extent there is space available on a later flight and the transport is consistent with the safety requirements set by the FAA or a foreign carrier’s government.

14 C.F.R. § 382.78 May carriers charge individuals with disabilities for the damage their service animal causes?

While you generally cannot charge an individual with a disability for transporting service animals, or for providing other services that this part requires, you may charge a passenger with a disability for damage caused by his or her service animal so long as you normally charge individuals without disabilities for similar kinds of damage.

14 C.F.R. § 382.79 Under what other circumstances may carriers refuse to provide transportation to a service animal traveling with a passenger with a disability?

(a) You may deny transport to a service animal under the following circumstances: (1) The animal poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others (see definition in § 382.3); (2) The animal causes a significant disruption in the cabin or at an airport gate area, or its behavior on the aircraft or at an airport gate area indicates that it has not been trained to behave properly in public (e.g., running freely, barking or growling repeatedly at other persons on the aircraft, biting or jumping on people, or urinating or defecating in the cabin or gate area); (3) The animal’s carriage would violate applicable safety or health requirements of any U.S. federal agency, U.S. territory or foreign government; or (4) The passenger with a disability seeking to travel with a service animal in the cabin of the aircraft does not provide completed current forms as set forth in § 382.75 (a) and (b) to the carrier when requested to do so.

(b) In determining whether to deny transport to a service animal on the basis that the animal poses a direct threat under paragraph (a)(1) of this section, you must make an individualized assessment, independent of the dog’s breed or type, based on reasonable judgment that relies on the best available objective evidence to ascertain the nature, duration, and severity of the risk; the probability that the potential injury will actually occur; and whether reasonable modifications of policies, practices, or procedure will mitigate the risk. A current completed U.S. Department of Transportation Service Animal Air Transportation Form may be used in making this determination.

(c) In determining whether to deny transport to a service animal on the basis that the animal has misbehaved and/or has caused a significant disruption in the cabin under paragraph (a)(2) of this section, you must make an individualized assessment, independent of the dog’s breed or type, based on reasonable judgment that relies on the best available objective evidence to ascertain the probability that the misbehavior and/or disruption will continue to occur; and whether reasonable modifications of policies, practices, or procedure will mitigate the misbehavior and/or the disruption. A current completed U.S. Department of Transportation Service Animal Air Transportation Form and a current completed U.S. Department of Transportation Service Animal Relief Attestation Form may be used in making this determination.

(d) In conducting the analysis required under paragraphs (a)(1) and (2) of this section, you must not deny transportation to the service animal if there are means available short of refusal that would mitigate the problem (e.g., muzzling a barking service dog or taking other steps to comply with animal health regulations needed to permit entry of the service animal into a domestic territory or a foreign country).

(e) If you refuse to provide transportation to a service animal based on any provision in this part, you must provide the individual with a disability accompanied by the service animal a written statement of the reason for the refusal. This statement must include the specific basis for the carrier’s opinion that the refusal meets the standards of paragraphs (a) through (c) of this section or is otherwise specifically permitted by this part. You must provide this written statement to the individual with a disability accompanied by the service animal either at the airport, or within 10 calendar days of the refusal of transportation.

14 C.F.R. § 382.80 May carriers impose additional restrictions on the transport of service animals?

Carriers are not permitted to establish additional restrictions on the transport of service animals outside of those specifically permitted by the provisions in this part, unless required by applicable FAA, TSA, or other Federal requirements or a foreign carrier’s.

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