The Department’s investigations found that Deerfield and Landmark discriminated against veterans with PTSD when they refused to honor reservations for hotel rooms because the veterans were accompanied by their service dogs.
Delta Air Lines has come under scrutiny after the carrier reportedly did not allow a service dog scheduled to be delivered to a two-year-old child dealing with seizures on one of its flights.
The DOT said in a guidance document on how it plans to enforce regulations of service animals in aircraft cabins that it “views a limitation based exclusively on breed of the service animal to not be allowed under its service animal regulation.”
DOT listened to all of the stakeholders, reviewed the law, and laid out guidelines that will allow airlines to balance their operational needs, the comfort needs of all passengers, while ensuring that restrictions put in place don’t preclude having mental health needs met.
While that may not mean the end of passengers getting bitten by poorly controlled and vicious animals, it allows some controls to be put in place that may reduce the frequency and severity of incidents.