[bookshare-discuss] OT: Airlines considering change re service animal seating
- From: Cindy <popularplace@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 17:22:56 -0700 (PDT)
> The following article appeared in our newspaper
> today. It amazes me how often our government
agencies
> like to take leaps backward! :-) Lena
>
> Subject: info for guide dog users
> article source: San Diego (California) Union Tribune
> dated April 11, 2006
> submitted by: Lena, a Bookshare volunteer
>
> LIVING WITH DISABILITIES
> Measure would affect disabled travel
>
> By Allan Appel
> SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE
>
> April 11, 2006
>
> The U.S. Department of Transportation has proposed
> rules that would make the skies very unfriendly for
> disabled people traveling with service animals.
>
> The DOT proposes that the Air Carrier Access Act
> allow airlines three options if a service dog is too
> big to sit in the small amount of space directly in
> front of the owner's seat.
>
> Advertisement
>
>
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>
> The three options are: charging the disabled
> passenger for an extra ticket; putting the dog in
> the cargo hold; and making the passenger and dog
> wait for
> a later flight. All three of these alternatives are
> outrageous and unacceptable.
>
> Charging the passenger for a second seat would
> disenfranchise many disabled people unable to pay
> two fares.
>
> Shipping the dog in the cargo hold is fraught with
> danger for the animal. Last June, the first month
> airlines had to keep statistic on pets, four animals
> died, five were injured and one was lost. Separating
> the service animal from the disabled passenger
> threatens the person's independence.
>
> Making the team wait for a later flight makes no
> sense, either. First, the same crowded conditions
> may exist on other flights. And the disabled
> passenger
> may be forced to miss connections or scheduled
> pick-ups or appointments at the destination.
>
> The current airline practices provide for an empty
> seat where space is available or asking for a
> volunteer to share leg space with the service dog.
> This
> policy has served the airlines and the public well.
> It imposes no financial burden on either the airline
> or the disabled passenger. And it happens to
> implement
> the very spirit of the Air Carrier Access Act.
>
> Service animals may include guide dogs for the
> visually impaired. Service dogs also help people who
> are deaf or otherwise have low hearing capacity and
> may assist people with difficulty maintaining
> balance or warn of an impending seizure or other
> unanticipated events.
>
> This new measure, first proposed in November 2004,
> may go into effect as early as this summer. Contact
> your local congressmen and senators to urge DOT to
> withdraw this proposed rule immediately.
>
> Thousands of disabled people who travel with service
> animals are depending on our support.
>
> Allan Appel can be reached at Coast Newspapers,
> 1939 S. Federal Highway, P.O. Box 9009, Stuart, FL
> 34994, or by e-mail at
> aappel223@xxxxxxxxxx
>
>
>
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