I know I wrote about this yesterday, but I’m still steamed! On Friday’s “Good Morning America” there was a segment about people saying their pets are service animals for “emotional support” and get to now ride on planes for FREE. They obtain a vest and certificate from a training program, all online and all bogus—no doctor’s note or even proof they even need the animal. On the show the reporter investigating even tried to pass off a pig as a service animal—not even a second look by the employees. And a few times they didn’t ask to see proof he was a service animal, just oohing and aahing about how cute he was.

According to the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) signed by President Bush in 1990, it is a crime to discriminate based on any disability, be it physical, developmental, or mental.

Unfortunately, as you have with any law, you have people who try and twist it to benefit them, not the good of our country; what Wikipedia calls the “professional plaintiff”—someone who is not afraid to threaten, even bully, to get they want; always the victim. Think of the lawsuit probably twenty years ago when a customer spilled hot coffee on themselves at a McDonald’s and then sued.

In my opinion that’s why airlines allow it: they are afraid of the one person who might take advantage of the situation, either by filing a lawsuit or smearing their reputation. Now we all get to suffer. My dad travels a lot for work, and I am sure he will be thrilled smelling dog for five hours coming from the lap of someone as able-bodied as himself.