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United States — the federal rule for a flight

Verifiedlast reviewed 24 Sept 2026

United States · federal law

This is the rule for a service animal under the Air Carrier Access Act, for a US airline anywhere and for a foreign airline on a flight that begins or ends at a US airport. It is what ServDog's door screen shows for a flight, for a US record, with the law behind each line.

If you are a U.S. carrier, this Part applies to you with respect to all your operations and aircraft, regardless of where your operations take place, except as otherwise provided in this part.

If you are a foreign carrier, this part applies to you only with respect to flights you operate that begin or end at a U.S. airport and to aircraft used for these flights.

— 14 CFR § 382.7(a) and the first sentence of (b). eCFR

The rule

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. "You" is the airline. eCFR

Part 382 says: "The purpose of this part is to carry out the Air Carrier Access Act of 1986, as amended." (14 CFR § 382.1.)

What the airline may ask for

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). eCFR

What an airline may do

Ask if the dog is a service animal the passenger needs, and what task it is trained to do.

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). eCFR

Require the DOT service animal form, and the relief form for a flight segment of 8 hours or more. The first is § 382.75(a), above. The second:

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.

Require the forms up to 48 hours before departure, if booked earlier than that.

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.

— 14 CFR § 382.75(g)(1). Paragraph (g)(2) says the same of the relief form, for an itinerary with a segment of 8 hours or more. For a later booking:

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.

— 14 CFR § 382.75(g)(3). eCFR

Require the dog to be leashed or otherwise tethered on board and in the airline's airport areas.

You may require that a service animal be harnessed, leashed, or otherwise tethered at all times by the service animal user or service animal handler while in areas of the airport that you own, lease or control, or on an aircraft.

— 14 CFR § 382.73(b). eCFR The line leaves out "harnessed" because the door screen may not use the word; "otherwise tethered" covers it.

Refuse a dog that is itself a direct threat or significantly disruptive, if no step short of refusal would ease it.

You may deny transport to a service animal under the following circumstances: (1) The animal poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others (see definition in § 382.3); (2) The animal causes a significant disruption in the cabin or at an airport gate area, or its behavior on the aircraft or at an airport gate area indicates that it has not been trained to behave properly in public (e.g., running freely, barking or growling repeatedly at other persons on the aircraft, biting or jumping on people, or urinating or defecating in the cabin or gate area); (3) The animal's carriage would violate applicable safety or health requirements of any U.S. federal agency, U.S. territory or foreign government; or (4) The passenger with a disability seeking to travel with a service animal in the cabin of the aircraft does not provide completed current forms as set forth in § 382.75 (a) and (b) to the carrier when requested to do so.

— 14 CFR § 382.79(a), all four circumstances. The third is the line below; the fourth is the forms already covered above.

"Itself" is the rule's requirement, in (b) and (c), that the airline "must make an individualized assessment, independent of the dog's breed or type". "No step short of refusal would ease it" is (d), whose word is "mitigate":

In conducting the analysis required under paragraphs (a)(1) and (2) of this section, 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).

— 14 CFR § 382.79(d). eCFR

Refuse the dog if carrying it would break a US federal, US territory or foreign government safety or health rule.

That is § 382.79(a)(3), quoted above. It is why the documents rule below has an exception for other governments' animal rules, and it is the paragraph a gate agent reaches for on an international flight.

What an airline may not do

Ask about the passenger's health beyond those two questions, or for a demonstration of the task. Section 382.73(a)(1), above: "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."

Require papers beyond the DOT forms, except where federal, US territory or foreign animal rules require them.

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). A US state is not on that list.

Refuse the dog for late forms, if reasonable efforts could carry it without delaying the flight.

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.

— 14 CFR § 382.75(h). eCFR

Refuse the dog for its breed or type, or because it may offend or annoy staff or passengers. Section 382.72, the rule at the top of this page.

Refuse the dog without a written reason, given at the airport or within 10 calendar days.

If you refuse to provide transportation to a service animal based on any provision in this part, you must provide the individual with a disability accompanied by the service animal a written statement of the reason for the refusal.

You must provide this written statement to the individual with a disability accompanied by the service animal either at the airport, or within 10 calendar days of the refusal of transportation.

— 14 CFR § 382.79(e), first and last sentences. eCFR

Make the passenger check in at the airport, rather than online, because of the dog.

You may not require a passenger with a disability to check-in physically at the airport, rather than using the online check-in available to the general public, on the basis that the passenger is traveling with a service animal.

— 14 CFR § 382.76. eCFR

What else the rule says

Three more sections that are not door lines. Where the dog sits (§ 382.77) and the two-dog limit (§ 382.74) are covered in ServDog's US flying guide. And on money:

While you generally cannot charge an individual with a disability for transporting service animals, or for providing other services that this part requires, you may charge a passenger with a disability for damage caused by his or her service animal so long as you normally charge individuals without disabilities for similar kinds of damage.

— 14 CFR § 382.78. eCFR

What a ServDog record is, here

Nothing ServDog issues conveys rights, and on a flight it is not the document that counts. The documents an airline may require are the two DOT forms named in § 382.75(a) and (b), and § 382.75(c) says it may not require anything beyond them except to comply with the animal-transport requirements of a US federal agency, a US territory or a foreign jurisdiction. A ServDog record is a record the handler keeps. The rule at the top of this page applies whether or not one exists.

If an airline refuses you

ADA.gov's complaint page sends air travel complaints to the Department of Transportation:

Issues with Air Travel (involving a specific airline)

File with Department of Transportation

— ADA.gov, File a Complaint. ADA.gov

Last reviewed: 24 September 2026.

Corrections and updates

  1. 23 September 2026Founder decision, 23 September morning: "within 10 days" becomes "within 10 calendar days". § 382.79(e)'s own words are "either at the airport, or within 10 calendar days of the refusal of transportation", and "10 days" can be read as working days, which would give a handler a shorter deadline than the rule does. The sentence was already quoted in full on this page; only the door line changes. No other line moved.
  2. 22 September 2026Founder decision, 22 September evening, taken one line at a time with the case each way in front of him. He took every word change v2's fourth read had made and this one further qualifier: "Refuse without a written reason" becomes "Refuse without a written reason, at the airport or within 10 days", because § 382.79(e) gives the carrier that choice and a handler who demands it at the gate and is told to wait will decide the card was wrong. He declined the proposed fifth MAY NOT line on online check-in (§ 382.76): it is a problem that happens the day before travel, not at the gate, so it goes in the US guide instead. Four MAY and four MAY NOT.
  3. 22 September 2026Trimmed to the moment on the founder's ruling: four MAY and four MAY NOT lines. The 48-hour notice rule, late forms, online check-in and refusal under another government's rules come off the screen and stay quoted in the body. Two of Strategy's trimmed lines were given back a word the rule has.
  4. 22 September 2026Third read, the same day. Two lines added: § 382.79(a)(3), the refusal ground a gate agent reaches for on an international flight, and § 382.76, physical check-in. The § 382.79(a) quotation now runs to all four circumstances. § 382.78 quoted in the body, and a short section saying what a ServDog record is not on a flight.
  5. 22 September 2026New draft: the US row for a flight. The rule quoted is 14 CFR § 382.72, with § 382.75(a) in the airline panel; five MAY and five MAY NOT lines, each resting on a sentence quoted on this page. Every quotation matched word for word against the live page on 22 September, with an adversarial second read (see the editor's note).

This is legal information, not legal advice.

What ServDog is

ServDog is a private registry. It is not a government agency, is not affiliated with any provincial program, the Canadian Transportation Agency, or the ADA, and registration does not create or confer any legal rights.

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