Allegiant Airlines Denies Woman With Service Dog to Board Flight Despite Her Compliance
Now, before you start thinking “liberal and entitled millennial is mad that she couldn’t fly with her emotional support animal” just hear me out.
But first -
Disclaimer: If you have a response to this article that is in anyway negative, for the love of god just read the complaint first. Law doesn’t lie. If you aren’t willing to read 12 pages (courtesy of Word) of the most beautiful document I’ve ever cited and written, I’m not reading your response. The picture was put in above to show you how much I love this dog, and how happy he has made me and my life. Your opinion is irrelevant to how he has medically changed my life (I’m bitter at how many people on Yahoo have mean things to say about me having to use a dog for my medical condition, if you can’t tell). The best part about what employees with Allegiant said to me is in the complaint anyway, so you basically have to read it to know.
I paid thousands of dollars to a dog behaviorist named Gary to task-train a dog specific to my disability. I did not want an ESA, because emotional support wasn’t going to allow me to live a normal and independent life. I needed a dog who could assist with things to help me do so.
Having a service dog comes with all kinds of bullshit. While I wouldn’t change it for the absolute world because Leo is the best thing to ever bless my life and this planet, you find yourself in some pretty shitty situations because people don’t know how to be kind. They also don’t know how to follow laws and regulations, apparently.
I have flown with Leo literally dozens of times. I have never been given any major issues. This is due to several reasons surrounding my compliance and willingness to provide the proper documentation/information which include:
Ensuring my dog is properly trained to behave in public settings both with and without other types of animals and desensitized to excessive noise so that he doesn’t disrupt other passengers on our flights
Ensuring my dog shows no aggressive signs or behaviors towards people or other animals
Ensuring I provide all proper documentation requested well in advance
Leo and I were scheduled to fly to Iowa with my partner, Quinn, for a wedding he was in and for me to meet his family and friends. We were very excited for this trip, but it was all crushed when I was told I couldn’t board the flight.
After some context, I will explain why we had an issue.
The Department of Transportation made changes to the federal regulation known as the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) in early 2021. I was very excited for the changes. The changes included many things, but the ones that were going to affect Leo and I the most, were the fact that ESAs were completely eliminated from air travel in the cabin. Only task-trained service dogs would be allowed, which meant I wouldn’t have to worry (as much) about a million other dogs barking at my dog. This was due in part to the amount of lawsuits there were regarding aggressive animals attacking other passengers and/or the airline staff because ESAs are not required to have ANY kind of training whatsoever. The DOT also redefined a service dog. Prior to this change, psychiatric service dogs were defined the same as emotional support animals. This meant that Leo was referred to as an ESA any time we flew, yet anytime we went to the grocery store, a restaurant, etc., he was defined as a service dog which just seemed silly to me. They redefined service dogs to include psychiatric service dogs which are NOT the same as ESAs as service dogs are task trained.
Prior to the changes, each airline had their own set of documents you had to complete prior to flying. This was a disaster if you ask me. With minimal regulations on the forms, Southwest Airlines didn’t even require any documentation which was weird to me. American Airlines had their own required documents which included me having to have Leo’s veterinarian sign confirming his rabies vaccine was current. However, they required a new form for every roundtrip flight, and my vet wouldn’t fill them out without an exam. This meant that instead of having an annual exam done for Leo, there was one point where he had 5 exams in 1 year. The required documents had to be emailed to the special assistance department with American Airlines and you would receive a response confirming whether or not the dog could fly in the cabin with you. Allegiant Airlines also had you email your documents to their special assistance department as well, however, if you didn’t receive a response, you were required to see an agent at the check-in desk to confirm the paperwork regardless of whether or not you were checking a bag. This was a waste of my time 9 times out of 10 because of no checked bag when I could have gone straight to my gate and confirmed it all with the boarding agent there. It’s also worth adding that the new regulation now permits me to go straight to my gate and do so, instead of having to wait in line at check-in if I’m not checking a bag which is awesome.
The DOT created their own universal form(s) for all of the airlines to use, which was supposed to make my life easier. My vet’s signature was now going to be optional, and I could attest to Leo’s rabies vaccine myself which would save me a lot of money. The service dog community was very vocal when the new form was released, because there is one portion that many people felt would cause more issues than fix them, and they were right.
The new DOT form asks for who trained the dog, their phone number, and when the training was completed. Rumor had it that airlines were actually calling the individuals to confirm the dog was in fact task-trained by someone. The problem with this is that federal law allows individuals with disabilities to task-train themselves (AKA owner train) due to the high cost of obtaining a service dog from a program or trainer. Many people who listed themselves because they owner-trained, were being denied flights because someone else didn’t train the dog. There is a ridiculous stigma that service dogs have to come from programs to be legitimate and this has lead to airlines believing it as well, which hurts those who owner-trained.
Naturally, my assumption was “well, if I list Gary, they will obviously call him and he will explain what tasks he trained Leo to perform for me, so there shouldn’t be any issues.”
WRONG
Allegiant Airlines googled Gary instead of calling him. Which I assume is why DOT is asking for their phone number not their website. Gary originally started out doing obedience training. He later began task-training, but did not advertise as so, so this part of his business was essentially by word of mouth. This was because the majority of people are only looking for obedience training anyway. As a result, Google shows Gary as only doing obedience training. So instead of calling Gary to confirm what and how he trained Leo for me, they did a simple Google search and if we’re being real here, we all know Google is never 100% accurate - obviously.
As a result, I was not allowed to board my flight with Quinn. He begged the ticket agents to let me board because he couldn’t leave me behind. I finally had to make him go to his gate because he was in the wedding, I was not, and he had to be there for the rehearsal dinner. He was so excited to introduce me to everyone and for us to take that next step, but it was all shattered in a matter of minutes because I then had to figure out how to get to Iowa separately, if at all.
Following the incident, I was FURIOUS. I used to work for a Social Security Disability attorney. Not quite the same thing, but I learned how to write legal documents, proper verbiage to use, etc. I used what I learned, sat down, and wrote the most beautiful 12 page document I’ve ever written.
Prior to submitting, I sent my complaint to the attorney I used to work for, and even he did not suggest I change one single thing. So, out went a complaint to Allegiant Airlines and the Department of Transportation via certified mail and in came a refund from Allegiant for my ticket I wasn’t allowed to use and even better, a correspondence from the DOT letting me know they will be investigating and seeking corrective action if the investigation proves Allegiant violated federal regulations (which they will because who wouldn’t lolol).
This means, folks, THAT IT’S WORKING
Complaints aren’t filed for us to bitch and moan about being told no. We legitimate service dog teams just want the federal laws and regulations followed so we stop encountering so many problems and discrimination. Complaints are filed for changes to be made, corrective actions to be demanded, and for the proper government agencies to do what they were designed to do. I don’t use the word discrimination lightly, since it seems to be thrown around like a toddler’s cheerios these days. But I 100% stand by my claim that I was discriminated against by Allegiant Airlines and no one is going to change my mind about that.
My 12 page complaint basically proves that based on federal regulation citations, I was compliant with federal regulations and that Allegiant Airlines was non-compliant based on their inability to properly verify my information that they said was not verifiable.
I am PROUD of the amount of time, research, and tears this complaint took because IT’S WORKING and I am fighting to ensure this doesn’t happen to any other legitimate service dog teams in the future.
Fuck with me.
(sorry mom)
If you or someone you know needs support right now, call the Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255, or text START to 741-741
