From Military.com:
“New Rules Barring Emotional
Support Animals on Patriot Express Flights Send Military Families Scrambling”
The Air Force has ended its
policy allowing emotional support animals on military charter flights overseas
-- an abrupt move that has sent some service members and families scrambling to
book alternative transportation for their pets. Air Mobility Command announced
Aug. 2 that "effective immediately" a policy change has been made to
Defense Department travel rules. The animals now must have a reservation for
the cabin or cargo hold, depending on their size.
For personnel with small dogs or
cats that fit into vented carry-on bags, the change isn't much of an issue,
merely requiring additional paperwork and a reservation for a space under an
airplane seat. But for those with larger dogs -- such as Navy spouse Alicia
DeGroot, whose dog Bella weighs roughly 40 pounds -- the new regulation
requires paperwork; a proper-sized kennel or crate; a reservation in one of the
few spots available in the cargo hold; and additional fees of between $125 and
$375, depending on weight.
The decision has baffled DeGroot,
whose family is moving from Spain to Japan and is in the United States visiting
relatives for the summer. "PCSing is hard enough. PCSing in COVID is even
harder, and now this. People are finding this out when they are flying
out," DeGroot said Tuesday in an interview with Military.com referencing a
permanent change of station for military members.
Command spokesman Capt. Frederick
Wallace said the change is in line with guidance issued July 30 by the Office
of the Undersecretary of Defense that followed a Department of Transportation
ruling restricting animals in airline cabins to service dogs. In 2008, the
Department of Transportation began requiring airlines to let passengers bring
animals on board if they had a note from a doctor saying the animal was needed
for emotional support. But in December 2020, the department reversed its
decision, recommending that airlines limit animals in passenger cabins to
service dogs -- those defined as having special training to help their handlers
with physical, intellectual, psychiatric or mental disabilities.
Emotional support animals, under
the ruling, are considered the same as pets: Airlines could choose to continue
transporting them in cabins at no cost, but nearly all have stopped allowing
them in passenger cabins unless they are small enough to fit under a seat and
remain in their carry-ons. The change was the result of numerous dustups in the
airline industry including a pig that defecated on a US Airways plane in 2014,
an emotional support peacock that was denied entry to a flight in 2018, and the
mauling of a man by an emotional support dog on a Delta Air Lines flight in
2017. The new ruling affects all who have access to Patriot Express flights,
which are contracted by the Defense Department for personnel and military
families traveling between duty stations, as well as retirees, federal
employees and some veterans on a case-by-case basis.
The flights leave from one of two
terminals -- Baltimore-Washington International Airport in Maryland and
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Washington. The change is in effect at
both locations. This year, at the beginning of the traditional military family
moving season, Air Mobility Command increased pet spaces in passenger cabins to
20. But space remains limited to between four and 10 kennel spots in cargo
holds, depending on the aircraft. Under DoD travel regulations, passengers can
request up to two pet reservations per family; the pets must travel on the same
flight with their humans. DeGroot has had Bella for 11 years and said the
Labrador Retriever-mix helps her deal with anxiety related to change, a
constant of the military lifestyle. She received paperwork designating Bella as
her emotional support animal a couple of months ago. Now, she is scrambling to
figure out how to get Bella to Japan. She has been told the dog could get a
reservation on a Patriot Express flight Aug. 19, but the family's flight is
scheduled for Aug. 26, so that won't work. DeGroot is considering a commercial
cargo flight that could cost the family $5,000. "It's a mess. It's a load
of baloney that [the policy] is effective immediately," she said. DeGroot
would like to see Air Mobility Command open up more cargo spots for animals. "If
we were going somewhere in the States, we'd drive. But we are literally flying
to a place we can't drive to," she said. "They should make more cargo
spots or just make a rule in the military that you can't have pets. It's
insane." Wallace said that increasing the number of cargo spaces is simply
not possible "Unfortunately, the
number of pet spaces in the cargo compartment cannot be increased due to
aircraft limitations, contract compliance, and oxygen availability to
pets," he said. Just how many families have been affected by the change is
unknown; Wallace said that Air Mobility Command does not "track pets that
depart a location ... by emotional support animal status." On the
command’s airport Facebook pages, a handful of military families have posted
that they needed to make alternative arrangements. The new rule does not affect
service dogs. Troops or family members with service dogs still can take their
animal on Patriot Express flights. Under the guidance, the dog must sit either
on the handler's lap or within the handler's foot space. The animals must be
harnessed or leashed at all times.
^ I can understand how confusing
and costly this change is for those PCSing right now. As a Military Brat who
lived in West Germany and then Germany and had pets flown over from the States
I think that if you are under official Government/Military PCS Orders then the
cost of flying your pet overseas should be free (or at least included in your shipping/moving
allowance.) ^
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