Title 14

SECTION 382.75

382.75 May a carrier require documentation from passengers with disabilities seeking to travel with a service animal

§ 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.

[Doc. No. DOT-OST-2018-0068, 85 FR 79774, Dec. 10, 2020]