[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by GreenTeaFrapp

You do know that an airplane is airtight, right?

Originally Posted by Dion

Airplanes recycle the air you breathe. Once the dander is in the air it gets recycled to all parts of the plane.

Firstly, aircraft are not airtight and I suggest that you go smack whoever told you this rubbish. Secondly, both of you guys missed the point entirely.

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

Why are we arguing rare situations? The person with allergies can be moved around the plane so they are far from a service dog. How often do you even see a service dog in public let alone on a flight?

Then I suggest...

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

So move the person with allergies to another seat and let someone's pet dog sit up front with its owner. Problem solved and the dog doesn't need to go into the cargo area.

... which in turn gets this response:

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

I figured this was the angle you were vying for. Unfortunately your dog shouldnt be afforded the same rights as a service animal. Besides, why do we discriminate against larger dogs that can't fit under the seat, instead we allow the rodents in the cabin since they're small.

So dogs carry allergens and thus for the comfort of passengers with pet allergies, they must go in the cargo hold. Unless, however, that dog is a service dog. Same allergens and all that, but now we're willing to inconvenience passengers with allergens for someone else's comfort. Then are people allowed to have their dogs on the plane only if a service dog is already scheduled to fly on that aircraft?

This is basically the idea:
Service dog = Fukka you, dolphin! Sneezy, we'll move you elsewhere on the aircraft.
Family dog = That dog will have to go into cargo - Sneezy over here has allergies. No, we can't just move Sneezy, pet dander will carry throughout the cabin! What a stupid idea.

I'm playing Devil's advocate here - I myself don't own a dog at the moment, but you have to see where I'm going with this. You inconvenience passengers traveling with dogs to appease allergy sufferers, then inconvenience allergy sufferers to accomodate those with service dogs, but still inconvenience those with pets anyway.

If you want to talk about 'rare' situations, burn_this_city, how often do people fly with dogs in the cabin? How often do service dogs show up? Either allow dogs on the whole or don't - the occurance of either happening is low to begin with and a member of the flight crew or airport staff will have no problems assisting whomever needs to go pick up their service dog from the Oversize cargo pickup ... I mean, they're going to need to be told where it is anyway.