A different law, one form, and no certificate. In a shop or a restaurant the Americans with Disabilities Act applies. On an aircraft it does not. The Department of Justice asks "Do commercial airlines have to comply with the ADA?" and answers "No. The Air Carrier Access Act is the Federal law that protects the rights of people with disabilities in air travel." (ADA.gov FAQ, Q37.) The Department of Transportation writes the rules under that Act, and its current service-animal rules date from its December 2020 rule. They bind a US airline "with respect to all your operations and aircraft, regardless of where your operations take place, except as otherwise provided in this part", and a foreign airline, Air Canada included, "only with respect to flights you operate that begin or end at a U.S. airport" (14 CFR § 382.7(a)–(b)). A flight between two points outside the United States on a foreign airline is outside them (§ 382.7(c)).
Three things change when you step from the terminal onto the plane, and one stays the same.
What stays the same: the airline must carry the dog, with the exceptions the rule lists
"You must allow a service animal to accompany a passenger with a disability. You must not deny transportation to a service animal based on the animal's breed or type or on the basis that its carriage may offend or annoy carrier personnel or persons traveling on the aircraft." — 14 CFR § 382.72
The exceptions are written down, and they are narrow. The rule begins "You may deny transport to a service animal under the following circumstances:" and lists four: the animal poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others; it causes a significant disruption in the cabin or at the gate, or behaves in a way that shows it has not been trained to behave in public; carrying it would break the safety or health rules of a US federal agency, a US territory or a foreign government; or you do not provide the DOT forms described below when asked (14 CFR § 382.79(a)(1)–(4)).
And there is the question of space. The dog travels on your lap or in your foot space unless that would break a safety rule or "Encroach into another passenger's space" (§ 382.77(a)). If a large dog does not fit, the airline must first offer you another seat in the same class where it does, if there is one (§ 382.77(b)); if there is no alternative, it must offer "the opportunity to transport the service animal in the cargo hold free of charge or travel on a later flight to the extent there is space available on a later flight and the transport is consistent with the safety requirements set by the FAA or a foreign carrier's government" (§ 382.77(c)).
What changes, first: the definition is narrower
The Department of Transportation's definition looks like the ADA's, with one line added at the end:
"Service animal means a dog, regardless of breed or type, that 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. Animal species other than dogs, emotional support animals, comfort animals, companionship animals, and service animals in training are not service animals for the purposes of this part." — 14 CFR § 382.3
Since the 2020 rule, emotional support animals are not service animals for air travel — an airline is no longer obliged to carry one in the cabin. Dogs still in training are not service animals either. A trained psychiatric service dog is — the definition names psychiatric disability alongside the others.
What changes, second: the airline may ask for a form
In a shop, no document may be required of you: "A public accommodation shall not require documentation, such as proof that the animal has been certified, trained, or licensed as a service animal" (28 CFR § 36.302(c)(6)). On an aircraft, one may — and it is the government's own form, not anything a registry or a website sells:
"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." — 14 CFR § 382.75(a)
On a long flight, a second form:
"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." — 14 CFR § 382.75(b), first sentence
And that is the limit:
"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." — 14 CFR § 382.75(c)
So: the DOT form, the relief form on a flight segment scheduled to take eight hours or more, and whatever a federal agency, a US territory or a foreign jurisdiction requires for moving an animal. Nothing else. On a flight these rules cover, an airline that asks for a certificate, a registration, an ID card or a letter from a registry is asking for something the rule does not let it require.
The forms are on the Department of Transportation's site, linked under sources. The Department describes the first as "a U.S. DOT form attesting to the animal's health, behavior, and training" and the second as attesting "that the animal can either not relieve itself or can relieve itself in a sanitary manner". They are yours to fill in; no registry's record stands in for them. Both forms open with the same warning: "It is a Federal crime to make materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements, entries, or representations knowingly and willfully on this form to secure disability accommodations provided under regulations of the United States Department of Transportation (18 U.S.C. § 1001)."
When the form is due
The airline may ask for the form in advance, and the rule sets the limit. Where the booking is made more than 48 hours before the flight, an airline may require "up to 48 hours' advance notice", through the forms, as a condition of the dog travelling in the cabin. The rule's alternative is to require them "at the passenger's departure gate on the date of travel" (14 CFR § 382.27(b)(3)). If you book less than 48 hours before "the first originally scheduled departure time on the passenger's itinerary", the airline "may not require that passenger provide advance notice", though it may still ask for the forms at the gate (§ 382.75(g)(3)). And if you miss the deadline the airline sets, it is not the end of the matter: "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." (§ 382.75(h).)
What changes, third: the airline may look, and may require a leash
The two questions a shop may ask are the same on an aircraft, and so is the ban on asking about your disability:
"You may make two inquiries to determine whether an animal qualifies as a service animal. You may ask if the animal is required to accompany the passenger because of a disability and what work or task the animal has been trained to perform. You must not ask about the nature or extent of a person's disability or ask that the service animal demonstrate its work or task." — 14 CFR § 382.73(a)(1)
But the airline may also judge by behaviour, and the rule spells out what it may hold against a dog:
"You may observe the behavior of an animal. A trained service animal will remain under the control of its handler. It does not run freely around an aircraft or an airport gate area, bark or growl repeatedly at other persons or other animals on the aircraft or in the airport gate area, bite, jump on, or cause injury to people, or urinate or defecate in the cabin or gate area. An animal that engages in such disruptive behavior demonstrates that it has not been successfully trained to behave properly in a public setting and carriers are not required to treat it as a service animal without a carrier in the cabin, even if the animal performs an assistive function for a passenger with a disability." — 14 CFR § 382.73(a)(2)
Note the consequence: a dog that behaves that way need not be treated as a service animal in the cabin without a carrier. § 382.79(a)(2) also lets the airline deny transport, but only after an individualized assessment (§ 382.79(c)), and "you must not deny transportation to the service animal if there are means available short of refusal that would mitigate the problem (e.g., muzzling a barking service dog or taking other steps to comply with animal health regulations needed to permit entry of the service animal into a domestic territory or a foreign country)" (§ 382.79(d)). An airline that refuses must give you "a written statement of the reason for the refusal" (§ 382.79(e)).
The airline may also "look for physical indicators, such as a harness or vest on the animal" (§ 382.73(a)(3)) — look for, not require; nothing in the service-animal rule makes a vest a condition of carriage — and it "may require that a service animal be harnessed, leashed, or otherwise tethered at all times" in the airport areas it owns, leases or controls, and on the aircraft (§ 382.73(b)).
And a carrier is "not required to accept more than two service animals for a single passenger with a disability" (§ 382.74).
Before you fly — in order
- Book, then fill in the DOT Service Animal Air Transportation Form. It must be completed on or after the day you bought the ticket to count as "current" (§ 382.75(a)).
- If a flight segment is scheduled to take eight hours or more, fill in the Relief Attestation Form too (§ 382.75(b)).
- Send the forms in the airline's way, inside its deadline. If you booked more than 48 hours out, the airline may require them up to 48 hours before the flight, or at the gate instead; if you booked less than 48 hours out, it may not require advance notice, and the most it may require is the forms at the gate (§ 382.75(g)(3)). Miss the deadline and the airline must still make reasonable efforts to carry the dog without delaying the flight (§ 382.75(h)) — but do not rely on that.
- Have your answer to the second question ready — what work or task the dog is trained to perform. The airline may ask; it may not ask about your disability (§ 382.73(a)(1)).
- Bring a leash or harness. The airline may require one throughout (§ 382.73(b)).
- If you are leaving the country, flying to a US territory, or a federal agency has rules for moving your dog, check them. Those are the only cases where an airline may require documents beyond the DOT forms (§ 382.75(c)). A US state is not on that list.
- If you are flying into the United States from Canada, the CDC's rules come first. Every dog entering the United States, service dogs included, must meet the CDC's dog-import rules; for a dog that has not been outside Canada, Mexico and the United States, that means the CDC Dog Import Form, a microchip, and being at least six months old. Our guide on taking your service dog to the United States quotes the CDC's own words. An airline may refuse a dog whose carriage "would violate applicable safety or health requirements of any U.S. federal agency, U.S. territory or foreign government" (§ 382.79(a)(3)).
- Do not bring a certificate expecting an airline to accept it in place of the form. It is not one of the documents an airline may require, and the form is one you sign yourself.
Where a record honestly helps
The DOT form asks you to attest to your dog's health, behaviour and training. Your own dated training notes — what the dog is trained to do, when it was trained, how it behaves in public — are what you draw on to fill it in accurately. That is what a ServDog record holds. It is not the form, it is not required, and no airline is obliged to look at it; it is where your own answers are kept.
Last reviewed: 24 September 2026.