New service dog rules are confusing. This mom flying Allegiant learned the hard way.
It had been months of radio silence from Allegiant Air when Lauren Rogers posted a one-minute TikTok video detailing her issue with the airline: Her service dog, Archie, "was denied entrance on a flight with Allegiant Air" in May 2021, she said.
By that point, Rogers, who lives in Mesa, Arizona, had corresponded with the airline's customer service over email, sought a resolution by reaching out to Allegiant's social media accounts and contacted lawyers about building a discrimination case.
"I wanted to try and hold the power in my own hands, I guess, in some sense, try and see if I can't hold them accountable," Rogers told The Arizona Republic, part of the Paste BN Network. "TikTok was my last resort."
The video, which she posted on Nov. 8, quickly gained traction on the social media app. It now has more than 253,000 views and 4,300 comments. Many users expressed support for Rogers and shared their negative experiences flying with service dogs.
'I'M OFTEN FORGOTTEN': Imagine being 'forgotten' in an airport basement for hours. This traveler lived it.
'WE TAKE CARE OF FAMILY': When accessible travel is hard to find, families forge their own paths
Despite the attention her story received, Rogers felt that what she described as "a traumatic experience" went unacknowledged. Allegiant's only response was a June email saying the denial was justified because she did not fulfill Allegiant's new requirements for traveling with a service dog.
New federal rules for service dogs took effect in January 2021
Rogers was unaware that updated federal regulations on flying with service animals had taken effect in January 2021.
In the year since the U.S. Department of Transportation announced its final rule on flying with service animals, the regulatory changes have caused confusion for some travelers. Two women who spoke with The Arizona Republic, which is part of the Paste BN Network, believe they have been wrongfully denied boarding on Allegiant flights with their service dogs, and The Republic consulted two experts to understand the issue.
In Rogers' case, Allegiant told The Republic that her allegation of discrimination "is simply not true."
"The denial of Ms. Rogers' dog was based on the fact she did not comply with Allegiant's service animal policy, which requires the completion of the DOT Service Animal Transportation Form at least 48 hours prior to departure," a spokesperson for Allegiant said in a statement to The Republic.
Story continues below.
What paperwork is required to fly with a service dog?
In December 2020, the U.S. DOT issued a 122-page final rule that narrows the definition of a service animal to only include dogs and changes how airlines should accommodate them.
The department had amended the Air Carrier Access Act, the law enacted in 1986 that "prohibits discrimination by U.S. air carriers against qualified individuals with disabilities" and includes regulations for how airlines should accommodate service animals on flights.
The revision was prompted in part by inconsistent definitions among federal agencies on what constitutes a service animal and an increase of travelers fraudulently claiming their pets were service animals.
Among the changes is that, as of Jan. 11, 2021, airlines can require that a traveler with a service dog complete a DOT Service Animal Air Transportation Form at least 48 hours prior to departure.
This was the step Rogers had missed when booking her Allegiant flight. She had not seen the option to notify the airline of her service dog while purchasing tickets online.
The Service Animal Air Transportation Form is intended to "allow airlines to receive direct assurances from service animal users of their animal's good behavior and training," according to the DOT's final rule. It also educates passengers on how their service dog is expected to behave and potentially deter "individuals who might otherwise seek to claim falsely that their pets are service animals."
Why Rogers alleges that Allegiant discriminated against her
Rogers, her husband Jake, daughter LoriBeth and Lauren's 2½-year-old service dog, Archie, arrived at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport 47 minutes ahead of their 6:30 a.m. flight to Provo, Utah, on May 7.
This was Rogers' first time getting on a plane in 2021.
When the couple went to an Allegiant desk to check in LoriBeth's car seat, an employee noticed Archie and informed them of the change to Allegiant's service animal policy in accordance with the DOT's revision of the ACAA.
Rogers asked for the form and was permitted to fill it out. Among other information, she had to give the name and contact information for Archie's veterinarian, date of his rabies vaccination and its expiration and the name and phone number for his trainer or training organization.
She listed Dog Training Elite – a company with locations across the U.S., including several in metro Phoenix – as Archie's training organization, as he had done public access training with Dog Training Elite.
The Allegiant employee told Rogers the airline needed to contact the training company to verify that Archie is fully task trained, meaning he is "individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of a qualified individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual or other mental disability," according to the DOT final rule's definition of a service animal.
But Allegiant was unable to contact Dog Training Elite so early in the morning.
Can airlines ask for proof of service dog training?
Rogers told The Republic that she had misunderstood the form's prompt for the service animal's trainer. Though Archie had learned obedience and public behavior with Dog Training Elite, she had task-trained him herself to perform services that assist her with her disability.
According to the final rule, "service animal users are free to train their own dogs to perform a task or function for them."
"While DOT provides space on its form for a service animal handler to state the organization or individual that trained the service animal to do work or perform tasks to assist the handler, DOT does not require that individuals with disabilities have their animal trained or evaluated by an accredited organization as a condition of transport," the rule reads.
Story continues below.
Corey Lovato, a staff attorney at the Arizona Center for Disability Law, has worked on cases involving service animals and can see how misunderstandings could arise from the changes to the ACAA, especially with the forms.
"I suspect that 48-hour rule is going to be a problem, either because people don't realize that there is this new rule that suddenly service animals need to have a form provided 48 hours in advance, or because the airlines are going to mess up the interpretation," he said.
Lovato pointed to the portion of the form that requests the name and contact information of the trainer or training organization.
"That line in particular does not seem well thought-out to me. I think that's going to lead to a lot of problems," he said. "These extra forms … (place) more of the burden on the person with the service animal to try to figure out what it is that they need to do to take their service animal."
Rogers told the Allegiant employee that she had task-trained Archie. His tasks help Rogers, who has myalgic encephalomyelitis – also known as chronic fatigue syndrome – conserve her energy and prevent post-exertional malaise.
Her assurance was not enough.
"It was really frustrating for them to say they needed to verify with this training service, when I was the one who trained him to do his tasks, and they wouldn't take my word for it," Rogers said.
New rules for service dogs left Rogers ‘so devastated'
Rogers was not allowed to board her flight with Archie that day. The family decided to make the trip without him.
Rogers asked her mother-in-law to pick up Archie from the airport.
"At that point, I was needing a wheelchair because I had been so flustered," Rogers said.
According to the final rule, airlines can "deny transport to a service dog if the airline requires completed DOT service animal forms and the service animal user does not provide the airline these forms."
However, it says that if the advance notice requirement isn't met, the airline "must still provide the accommodation if you can do so by making reasonable efforts, without delaying the flight." Travelers who book a flight that departs within 48 hours are allowed to submit the form at the airport.
"On occasion, a passenger will complete the form at the airport on the day of departure. If time permits, we will make every attempt to verify the information without delaying the flight," an Allegiant spokesperson told The Republic.
"Lauren Rogers arrived at the ticket counter only 15 minutes before her flight was scheduled to depart. Because of that short window of time, we had to deny the dog, as Lauren Rogers did not comply with Allegiant's service animal travel policy," the spokesperson said.
On its web page about passengers with special needs, Allegiant says, "We strongly suggest planning to arrive at least two hours prior to scheduled departure to ensure the animal verification process is completed prior to departure."
Rogers disputes the claim that they arrived 15 minutes prior to their flight. Rogers said her family had arrived at 5:43 a.m. – the time stamp on the receipt for their Uber ride that she shared with The Republic – for a 6:30 a.m. flight and went straight to the check-in counter.
"I felt just so devastated, one, that the DOT had changed (the ACAA) to require extra things of service animal handlers, and that felt very discriminatory to me," Rogers said. "And then at the same time, just of Allegiant's complete refusal to accommodate, even though the DOT very clearly states that carriers are required to do all that's in their power to accommodate, short of refusing."
What it's like for a disabled person to travel without their service dog
Rogers took an Allegiant flight later that day to Provo and spent a week there. Not having Archie made the trip more difficult.
"Every time I had the instinct of calling him over to ask for something, (I was) being reminded, 'Oh yeah, he's not here because my rights don't matter,'" Rogers said.
Archie assists Rogers by performing tasks such as helping her stand from a sitting position, picking up items she has dropped, opening doors, fetching medication and cleaning up her toddler's scattered toys. Not having Archie meant she fatigued more easily and often had to rely on her husband for assistance. She said she also borrowed a wheelchair during her visit.
"The different things I need kind of vary day to day," she said. "The best way to manage my fatigue is by using as little energy as possible … trying to not do things that are going to overtax me. Because when I do things that are too much for my body, I get what's called post-exertional malaise, which basically is like flu-like symptoms.
"I can survive without (Archie), but it's my right as a disabled person to take him wherever I decide to take him, wherever I decide I need him," she said.
The Allegiant spokesperson told The Republic that "Ms. Rogers chose to fly without her dog May 7. Additionally, she flew Allegiant May 15, June 3 and June 10 and never indicated a need for a service animal on those flights. With knowledge of the paperwork requirement, she could have resolved this issue prior to those flights, yet chose not to."
Alex Ramirez, director of training at Dog Training Elite in Phoenix, said there are common misconceptions about people who use service dogs.
"A lot of people think that a service dog has to be a permanent attachment to the hip of somebody," Ramirez told The Republic. "Taking a service animal in public places is so stressful, and it's hard. … It really is up to the handler to determine, sometimes, when they need their animal or they don't."
Though Archie trained with Dog Training Elite, Ramirez did not work with him.
Should a service dog wearing an electronic collar be cause for concern?
Rogers believes that a major reason she was denied boarding with Archie was because he was wearing an electronic collar. Once she completed the DOT form at the airport and before she was told his training would need to be verified, the Allegiant employee inquired about Archie's collar.
"She asked about the dog's collar and called it a shock collar, but I was too flustered and distracted to correct her, even though it is an e-collar," Rogers said. "She responded, 'So he's not fully trained,' and I then turned to her and said, 'No, he is a fully task-trained service animal.' And she didn't seem to believe me."
In a statement to The Republic, a spokesperson for Allegiant wrote, "Ms. Rogers' dog was wearing an E-collar/zap collar for training purposes. This indicates that the dog required behavioral correction and therefore would not meet the criteria of fully task-trained service animal."
According to the DOT's final rule, an air carrier is allowed to deny a service animal, based on observation, only "if the animal poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others" and "the animal causes a significant disruption in the aircraft or at the airport."
In emails to both The Republic and Rogers, Allegiant did not mention that its airport employee noted misbehavior from Archie.
Trained service animals, according to the DOT, do not run around freely, bark or growl repeatedly, injure other people or urinate or defecate outside of allowed areas.
Airline employees are allowed to ask "whether the animal is required to accompany the passenger because of a disability and what work or task the animal has been trained to perform," observe its behavior and look for physical indicators such as harnesses and vests. Service animals are not required to wear such identifiers, however.
E-collars are not mentioned in the ACAA.
On June 16, an Allegiant resolution manager who oversees ACAA and DOT compliance complaints responded to an email Rogers sent to Allegiant's customer service department in May detailing the incident and requesting "that my pain and suffering be considered and compensated."
THE TRAVELERS YOU WON'T FIND AT AIRPORTS: Omicron impedes travel for people with disabilities
TRAVELING WITH IBD: 'When you spend much of your life being sick, it's easy to develop FOMO'
The message from the Allegiant employee reads, in part, "Our records indicate Archie was wearing, what appeared to be, a shock collar. An Allegiant representative confirmed with you Archie was wearing a shock collar and needed for training purposes. A shock collar would not be necessary for a fully task trained service animal. The need for the use of a shock collar caused concern.
"Please accept our apology if our representatives acted in a less than professional manner when interacting with you. Respectfully, we deny your request for compensation," the manager wrote.
Alex Ramirez of Dog Training Elite told The Republic that an e-collar is a communication tool – "when it's used correctly" – and is Dog Training Elite's "preferred form of training just because of the reliability that it can provide off leash."
Dog Training Elite's website says electronic collars provide "a tapping sensation that is used to get the dog's attention on a very low level. We use a brand called Dogtra. We do not use 'shock' collars."
"To say that someone's service animal is or is not trained based off of what kind of equipment they use and the use of it, it makes absolutely no sense," Ramirez said.
What happened to Rogers' accusation that Allegiant discriminated against her?
In her email to the corporate complaint resolution manager, Rogers argued that Allegiant was not in compliance with the ACAA and requested "that a policy change, my compensation, and the discrimination complaint be seriously reconsidered."
When her emails went unanswered, she reached out to lawyers. One lawyer told her that filing a complaint with the DOT should be her last resort, she said.
So she took to TikTok. In her Nov. 8 video, Rogers encourages viewers to read a Google Doc she created that includes a sample script for advocates who want to let Allegiant know their dissatisfaction with the incident. She also shared her email correspondence with the airline.
She hoped that a lawyer might see the video and offer to take her case. Since posting the video, Rogers has connected with several service dog handlers and people who have knowledge about traveling with service animals. A woman from Pennsylvania, Jacki Turiello, was denied boarding with her service dog on an Allegiant flight in October 2021 despite turning in the DOT form weeks in advance.
‘Allegiant will not accept the animal as a service animal'
Jacki Turiello told The Republic she "felt a lot more seen" when she watched Rogers' video. She saw it after Allegiant reviewed her Service Animal Air Transportation Form and sent her a denial email.
Several months ago, Turiello – who hadn't flown in several years – booked the cheapest flight to visit her family in a couple weeks' time after her grandfather died.
She submitted the DOT form to Allegiant and received a response requesting the same information she provided on the form as well as a list of her service dog Willow's tasks and date of training completion.
Willow, a 1½-year-old golden retriever, picks items up from the ground and holds objects as needed for Turiello. Though she is still learning more tasks, Turiello said Willow is obedience trained.
The airline denied her request because it was unable to verify that Willow was a fully trained service animal with the organization she provided.
"As standard procedure we attempted to verify the facility provided your dog with disability service dog training, however, they advised us that service dog training is not a service they offer," Allegiant's email to Turiello reads. "Unfortunately, the information provided on the form is not credible or verifiable and Allegiant will not accept the animal as a service animal."
Like Rogers, Turiello said she had misunderstood the form. She had task-trained Willow herself, but the dog had done obedience training through the organization Turiello named.
"Because they had called the training organization, and (the organization) said that they specifically didn't train her tasks, that was it for (Allegiant). They were like, 'No, it's not a real service dog, then,'" Turiello said. "I also didn't really know how else to prove it because I explained in detail what she does for me, and that still wasn't enough for them."
When she called customer service, Allegiant offered to refund her ticket and helped her book a new flight for several weeks later. Turiello did not bring Willow.
"I didn't really want to fight with them again on this because it seemed like they weren't going to budge," she said.
Rogers: No ‘good faith effort' to inform disabled people'
When Lauren and Jake Rogers booked their flight to Utah, she said they did not think it would be necessary to alert Allegiant about bringing a service animal.
She said they did not see "any indication" that they would need to do so while purchasing the tickets, and she has never had to give prior notice before.
When booking a flight on Allegiant's website, after entering the travel dates and destination and selecting any extra items such as checked bags or seat selection, the user is asked to input traveler information such as name, birth date and contact information.
There are two optional fields that can be accessed by clicking "add" on the righthand side – one for known traveler number or redress number and another for special assistance.
When special assistance is selected, the category expands with seven options, one of which is "service animal (i.e. trained guide dog)." When that box is checked, an additional message reads, "Please visit our FAQ page for more information and required forms."
Rogers wrote in an email to Allegiant, "Since I do not require special assistance when I have the help of my service animal, I did not think it necessary to click on that hyperlink. Since this box was not in a visible place, this was, once again, not a ‘good faith effort' to inform disabled people of the hoops Allegiant requires them to jump through."
Turiello had been looking for a way to indicate to the airline that she was traveling with a service animal when she booked her flight and was able to spot the "special assistance" drop-down option.
She told The Republic that she did not receive a reminder to submit the form after she completed the purchase. She'd made sure to follow the airline's instructions to see the FAQ page, which details Allegiant's guidelines for traveling with service animals and a link to the required DOT form.
How rules on flying with service animals changed in 2021
The DOT's final rule amending the ACAA regulation on flying with service animals made "a number of fairly large changes" for people traveling with service and emotional support animals, according to Lovato, the attorney from the Arizona Disability Law Center.
Changes include no longer considering emotional support animals as service animals, recognizing only dogs as service animals and requiring airlines to treat psychiatric service animals the same as other service animals – additional documentation cannot be requested.
The biggest differences, Lovato said, are the Service Animal Air Transportation and Service Animal Relief Attestation forms – documentation that he described as "sort of unique to the ACAA." The Relief Attestation form usually only applies to flights that are eight or more hours. It confirms with the handler that the service animal will not relieve itself on the aircraft or can do so "without posing a health/sanitation issue."
It is a federal crime to give false information on the forms.
Most major U.S. airlines, including American, United, Delta, Alaska, Southwest, Frontier and Spirit, have adopted the DOT forms, though the DOT does not require that airlines use them.
What can travelers do if their service dog is denied?
Lovato said options for recovery are limited because the ACAA "does not allow for, essentially, a person to file a lawsuit against the airline."
"All they can do is file a complaint with the Department of Transportation that they may or may not investigate, and if they don't (investigate), (the person's) only remedy is to file a lawsuit against the Department of Transportation," he said.
According to the DOT's website, "You may be able to seek recourse through small claims court." A separate page explains that "You may file a complaint in small claims court when you can show that a person or a business owes you money or has harmed you financially and will not pay."
A spokesperson for the DOT told The Republic, "If a consumer believes that an airline has discriminated against him or her on the basis of his or her disability, which includes not providing required accommodations, the consumer can quickly and easily file a complaint with the Department's Office of Aviation Consumer Protection (OACP) through its online complaint form at https://airconsumer.dot.gov."
The complaint will be forwarded to the airline for response, at which point an analyst at the DOT will review both statements and determine whether the airline violated the traveler's rights. A DOT attorney will then review the case, and an analysis of their findings will be mailed to the complainant.
Travelers who experience disability-related problems can call the DOT's toll-free hotline at 800-778-4838 or 800-455-9880 (TTY). The hotline can provide general information about your rights and assist with time-sensitive, disability-related issues from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET on weekdays, with the exception of federal holidays.
Traveling with a service animal is 'a right that should be protected'
In Allegiant's email to Rogers, the complaint resolution manager told her that she "can attempt to pursue additional enforcement action through the DOT."
Rogers said she is considering sending a formal complaint to the DOT as "a last resort."
When she flies again, Rogers said she will list herself as Archie's trainer on the DOT form, now that she knows that is permitted.
"After reading all 122 pages (of the DOT's final rule), my interpretation is that Allegiant did not act within the law. However, if they did act within the law, then there's a problem with the law," Rogers said. "It should not be allowed, for something as silly as a form that is an attestation that can keep me from traveling with my service animal. That's a right that should be protected."
Jacki Turiello is weary of air travel since her service dog was denied last year.
"I'd like to try to fly with (Willow) again if I do have to go anywhere that requires flying. But I don't think that I would try to do it through Allegiant again," Jacki Turiello said.
"I'm glad that we can spread the word about it and try to get Allegiant to at least see where we're coming from and realize this is this is a problem, if we can't fly with our highly trained medical equipment," she said.
Reach the reporter at kimi.robinson@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @kimirobin and Instagram @ReporterKiMi.