Beginning January 11, 2021, Alaska Airlines will ban all emotional support animals on its flights. Service dogs will still be accepted onboard.
Alaska Airlines Bans Emotional Support Animals
Live and Let’s Fly wrote about DOT’s decision earlier this month that airlines no longer need to accommodate emotional support animals, only trained service dogs.
Alaska noted “emotional support animal misbehavior which caused injuries, health hazards and damage to aircraft cabins” as the reason behind its change.
Ray Prentice, Director of Customer Advocacy for Alaska Airlines, noted:
“This regulatory change is welcome news, as it will help us reduce disturbances onboard, while continuing to accommodate our guests traveling with qualified service animals.”
Concerning dogs, Alaska will accept a maximum of two service dogs per guest in the cabin, including psychiatric service dogs. Live and Let’s Fly noted the disturbing loophole in the DOT’s new guidelines that will continue to allow for disgusting, poorly trained dogs onboard aircraft under the “psychiatric service” loophole. At least that will only be dogs and no longer lizards, rabbits, horses, pigs, and peacocks…
> Read More: There’s A New Loophole To Allow Emotional Support Animals On Planes…
Passengers must certify that the animal is a “legitimate service dog” and has proper training and vaccinations. Disturbingly, this will be on the honor system.
Up until January 11, 2021 you can still secure space for your emotional support animal under existing policy. However, no emotional support animals will be accepted onboard after February 28, 2021.
CONCLUSION
This is good news…I think my position on the matter is quite clear. Even when I was traveling the week before last I noticed all sort of ridiculous “emotional support” animals onboard my United flight, including a large Cane Corso that took up a huge amount of floor space.
Somehow, the rest of the world manages just fine without emotional support animals. Now that Alaska Airlines has made the move, I hope to see other airlines follow.
Glad they’re stopping this. I’ve only seen 1 time an ESA actually fulfilled its purpose as one. The other dozen times I’ve seen them were just excuses to get their pets on the plane.
Now they should ban emotional support passengers.
I wonder how they will deal woth codeshare partners like AA who have not yet seen the light. An emotional support animal ok on AA in DFW traveling AA to SEA and then AS to ANC for example.
You beat me to it.
Anyone who claims they have a deep, critical need to have their pet nearby at all times has no business on an airplane.
Good for them
Hurray! Great decision and hope other Airlines will do the same.
Great news. Question is will pet owners now use new loopholes. I hope the airline also enforces behavior standards for the animals to weed out the loophole self-certified etc.
Although it’s not been announced, I have a client flying JetBlue with an ESA on January 10th, and they were told when completing paperwork that a ban goes into effect the 11th for that carrier as well.
Seems like the headlines this year have been more about “disgusting, poorly trained” humans on flights than dogs, though.
Lol. Defending your client because they paid you.
Any guarantees that your client really need emotional support? Or just being a snowflake?
What a joke…
Emotional pets should be like kids… seen but not heard.
A hundred thumbs up.
This is a regressive and unfortunate mistake. Some people genuinely need their animals with them on trips. I don’t see why those needs can’t be accommodated in a way that represents …at the very worst…a trivial inconvenience to others. We should be looking out for those with special needs, not penalising and isolating them.
Please. My emotional support when I was a kid was a stuffed Tigger.
Those who’s emotion is unstable and need ESA should not be allowed to fly as they might endanger other passenger and eventually the flight itself.
The rest of the world understand this. You snowflake are…. Well…. Being a snowflake….
Well when you have asthma and you have to sit beside an animal that triggers an attack how would you qualify this??? A mere inconvenience? Last time this happened I was in first class w AA and was told to get off the plane !!!!! I am a physician and never saw any of these so called support animal be needed. This is a scam and bring real distress to people w allergies and asthma. WE have real life threatening disabilities
Really how does this stop the abuse and the fact that people are using this as a ruse to get their pets to travel with them for free?? It doesn’t, does it?? They can just get a phoney baloney letter from Dr. Nick Riviera from the internet.
Fantastic!!! There is always a Greyhound bus for the that insist to travel with their animals.
It’s too bad they won’t ban ” disgusting, poorly trained humans onboard aircraft” or from the comments section of these blogs.
Otherwise your comment will be banned also.
Stupid snowflake like you disgust me. Fair enough, little boy?
Service animals have in the past included miniature horses as trained seeing-eye animals.https://usserviceanimals.org/blog/miniature-horses-as-service-animals/
Just saw a dog take his/her early morning dump on a beautiful, new airport concourse!!! Good morning to you too!!!!
It’s funny that you use a picture of a Vizsla as the cover photo for this story. As my wife and I recently brought our first Viszla puppy into our home and it’s a well know trait (first hand experience as well) of the breed to not be used a emotional support animals, but they are typically in need of their emotional support humans! 😉
Close the loophole
That is awesome Chuck! No doubt it is about time an airline get some you know what and stands up for this abused issue! Now lets see some action from SWA and more!
As always, everything in this country is about money and airlines just want people to pay for animals that will be travelled with them. Of course, you’ll see less animals on board of airplanes – animal’s haters…
This is not about animal hating animals but about the abuse of the system and lies people do to get their pets on board an airplane for free at the disturbance to other paying passengers. It also discredits the true service dog that is trained to perform a service to the disabled person. How can one hate a loving and trained dog to assist a person in need?
It’s about time. A few years ago, while on a flight between Seattle WA and Ontario CA, I felt something cold and wet bumping the back of my ankle. It was the nose of a small dog another passenger had allowed to run under the seats. That person was not happy when the flight attendant told her to keep the dog in its carrier or on her lap.
ADA.GOV state: Service animals are defined as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. Examples of such work or tasks include guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack, or performing other duties. Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability. Dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA.
Darlene, my reply was meant for JAMES, further up the queu. It’s nice to see a person who has accurate information on this subject; so much of it is subjective and emotional. (Some of which I fully support, given the former extravagant abuse of the DOJ’s rulings!)
People have used trained dogs as Psychiatric Service Animals to stop a PTSD attack, often coming from combat experience. These episodes can cause injuries, even death, to self and others. There is no other known method, drug or other, as effective as the service animal’s intervention. Don’t assume you know everything about a field, especially when you clearly do not. Hopefully, as you mature, you’ll learn a little more about life.
no, darla–it’s about money. it’s always about money.
And how does this affect you? I’ve personally been annoyed by drunken, loud passengers on several flights. I would gladly travel with four legged animals in place of humans that behave this way.