Southwest Airlines has tightened up its rules on emotional support animals and I could not be happier.
Starting on September 17, 2018, Southwest Airlines will only accept dogs and cats as emotional support animals onboard. Furthermore, passengers will only be allowed one emotional support animal and must keep them on a leash or in a pet carrier at all times.
And your animal better behave as well. Southwest Airlines spokesman Brian Parrish told the LA Times:
If an animal is presented as a service animal and does not display the behavioral characteristics of a trained service animal, including being under the handler’s complete control, we will not accept the animal for travel as the customer’s assurance would not be credible.
That means you may have to demonstrate to check-in or gate agents that your dog can obey commands.
This is GREAT News
You’ve witnessed it. I’ve witnessed it. Out-of-control emotional support animals on planes that do not keep to themselves and are not well-behaved. We’ve also seen the number of so-called emotional support animals proliferate in recent years.
Heck, one person even tried to bring a peacock onboard as an emotional support animal.
I applaud Southwest for this reasonable policy change. We don’t need pet snakes slithering around the cabin or other exotic emotional support animals onboard. This is a logical move that still ensures those who really need an emotional support animal will not be shut out of flying Southwest.
> Read More: United Airlines Denies Boarding to Emotional Service Animal…a Peacock
But Southwest Can Do More…
It is still much easier to bring an emotional support animal on Southwest Airlines than on some competitors. For example, United Airlines requires both an Animal Behavior Form and Veterinary Health Form (signed by a licensed veterinarian) at least 48 hours prior to travel. Southwest requires only a doctor’s letter stating the passenger needs an emotional support animal. These letters can be obtained in mere minutes from a number of (dis)reputable sources online.
I’d like to see Southwest add further requirements like United.
CONCLUSION
My sentiment on emotional support animals is not meant to be mean-spirited. I know that many people, especially those suffering from PTSD, lean heavily on a dog or cat for emotional support. At the same time, there are far too many passengers who abuse the emotional support animal program to skirt pet fees. This is not only unconscionable, but ruins the program for those who legitimately need these animals. Southwest’s narrowing of the scope of what constitutes an emotional support animal is a smart move.
image: Southwest
I spent some of my early years at work in the field of mental health. I don’t want to board an aircraft with anyone who needs an ’emotional support animal’ of any description. A guide dog is fine but there I draw the limits. Anyone who needs emotional support from an animal is probably not stable enough to fly. I may be old fashioned but there is too much indulgent nonsense around this.
This!
If these people are so nuts they can’t make it thru the flight without their pet then they should not be on board at all. They represents danger to the flight.
Also, why don’t airlines require a muzzle for dogs after that incident when an “emotional support” dog bit a child? Crazy!
Not all of us have animals that bite those ones most likely got fabricated licenses online. I have to go to therapy each week to help but having my dog has changed my life for the better. People that need ESA go through the proper networks and it takes many hours before we can be approved and they have to meet the dog before saying yes. My dog doesn’t need a muzzle because he is behaved and doesn’t go up to anyone. To correct your statement about people being nuts some of us actually do need the dog or cat to get by and going to other places in the world when you do have mental illnesses such as anxiety isn’t fun but when I do take my dog on a plane he will remain behaved. Thanks for your time!
I just flew with my emotional support 10 pound Chihuahua. It is to the great relief of all of us who have these Wonderful theraputic pets that you will not be sharing our flights.
Thank God some common sense, Finally! I have Major Panic Disorder and PTSD/PTSS. I don’t need my caged parakeet to keep me calm during a flight. I take a Prescribed Xanax or two from my Board Certified Psychiatrist! People with true mania’s are on some type of Phychiatric prescribed drug.
My preferred E+ seat on any UA flight is in Row 7 (bulkhead). That’s where United seats most folks with large service dogs. I’ve had no problem with any that I’ve sat with including a heavy shedder.
However, there was one flight a few years ago when I was sitting in 7D and a young woman in 8D had a chihuahua she was holding in her lap. It was obviously small enough to fit in a pet carrier under the seat that she did not have. During boarding, the dog snapped at a seatmate who was reaching across her and the dog to put a bag on the middle seat before stowing a carry-on in the overhead. She explained that the dog didn’t like people reaching across her. Later in the flight, I was headed to the aft lav. I tripped over her foot that she had in the aisle. When I put my hand next to her head on the seat back to keep from falling, the dog bit my arm. I was wearing a long sleeve shirt so it didn’t break the skin, but there were teeth marks. No apology, just a stare like “what?”
The breaking point was during the final landing prep, the senior FA reached across to collect the trash from her row and the dog bit her hand hard enough to draw blood. That finally prompted a meeting with the police, a UA manger, and we witnesses/victims when we landed in DEN. They took a statement but I never heard anything after that from UA.
SW should treat emotional support animals like peanuts.
So you think miniature horses are reasonable? A well-behaved dog in/out of portable kennel is reasonable. Horses not do much…..
Miniture horses are defined by law as a service animal.
Service dogs have useful life span of around 10 years at best. At that point a new animal must be procured. The disabled person suffers the loss of the service animal as a personal loss as well as the service the animal provides miniature horses have a much longer lifespan. Many are not much bigger than a large dog. I know it sounds bizarre but when possible the miniature horse can be a true better alternative to a canine service animal.
So you think miniature horses are reasonable? A well-behaved dog in/out of portable kennel is reasonable. Horses not so much…..
Frankly, I would not mind paying for my dog to travel with me. I have need and my dog fulfills it, but he does take up some room and fair is fair.
Someone like u are full of shit just because u need a emotional support animal doesn’t mean there nuts my min pin mine and he’s not because I am nuts it’s because I am a. Diabetic and he knows if I am low but it’s ok Southwest. Airline is a bunch of asshole and I wouldn’t ride on it
Service dogs have useful life span of around 10 years at best. At that point a new animal must be procured. The disabled person suffers the loss of the service animal as a personal loss as well as the service the animal provides miniature horses have a much longer lifespan. Many are not much bigger than a large dog. I know it sounds bizarre but when possible the miniature horse can be a true better alternative to a canine service animal.
From the other side of this argument, as someone who does have an emotional support animal and who has flown with him and he does travel extensively with him, I understand the concerns and would like to see tighter regulations. But please don’t lump us together. When I fly with my dog he is either in my lap or in the container. Most often he is in his flying container under the seat in front of me. When he’s at the hotel and I have to step out to get ice he goes into his kennel. I admit he is not well drained and he does bark, but if I’m having a panic attack immediately comes to me and knows what to do. Don’t lump us together. I am not abusing the system and taking him into grocery stores, I am not taking him into restaurants and claiming he’s a service dog. He’s not he’s there to call me when I have anxiety, and there is a huge difference between an ESA and a service dog. True Esa owners know that difference and they don’t exploite the law for their benefit. Please don’t lump us together. I am fighting just as hard as everybody else for better regulations, but I also don’t want to regulate myself into a corner where I’m not able to travel go to a hotel because I don’t have my companion animal which I desperately need.
People claiming their pets are emotional support animals to get around pet transport aren’t necessarily doing it to “skirt pet fees.” They’re doing it to avoid unconscionably misleading policies and to avoid the disasters that befall traveling pets all too often. When airlines can promise safe passage of pets for a reasonable fee under reasonable policies, then we can sympathize with their desire to restrict emotional support animals or service animals.
Long time ago airlines fly FREE of any Animals mix with passengers on the cabin. How did people who claim to need ESA fly? I agree with someone who said that people who cannot part with their ESA for the duration of flight should not fly at all. I think a lot of people are just dishonest.We have to be concerned of the majority who fly
For their safety than the very few who bring their “ESA” on board in the cabin..If animals need to fly, theybelong to where they are supposed to be placed just like long time ago when you don’t see any animal mix with passengers in thecabin.Let’s go back on this time when flying is more
safe. Free from potential bites from “ESA” or seeing poop on the floor or noise from such animals.Everybody pays for their own seat and paying passengers deserve to be free from those potential irritants while flying.
Screaming children are irritating, should we ban them too? Fat people crowding the seat that I paid for… people with body odor. Even worse, SICK people spreading their germs. My ESA sleeps under the seat in front of me and doesn’t make a sound. To be clear, I’m not so “unstable” I can’t fly without her and you don’t get to have an opinion about the treatment my physician prescribes for my care. Did you ever stop to think that the presence of an ESA is necessary to the person when they get to their destination not just on the flight?
All ESA/handler teams should be required to carry liability insurance. If a team cannot provide proof of insurance they should not be allowed to fly unless the animal remains crated. My wife does not fly with her service dog but they do have a $3 million liability insurance policy.
I could care less Southwest airlines appion they other than Delta are a bunch of assholes my dog not because I’m. A nuts it’s because I’m a diebetic and he cares more about me than those bitches on the plane the stuardess don’t. Care about people
Mental illness in the USA still has a stigma for some of illegitimacy. I would simply ask orhers as many.many prople afford me when they meet her & see her vest, a small amount of compassion. And I will be responsible for and to her as she has kept me sane a long time. My Dr. designated her ESA status not me. She flys with me for where I travel to, not so I can fly. I carry my docs, hers and my responsibility is to be safe & calm, for her to assist me & that she is well behaved. Why she is with me is not anyones business. And if you think I am ” getting away ” with something so she can.fly free you can join me in 20 plus years of psych care & 15 years on.meds which I am grateful I am no longer on to some degree because of my ESA. Just because you can.t see my wounds doensn.t mean they are not there.
Thank you for that article! People who misuse the system to get their pet to fly is so irritating especially when it give those of us that actually need the support of an animal a bad rap. I deal with mental illnesses and have a dog who goes to college with me so I’m glad that when I do travel there won’t be any disruptive animals on there.
I couldn’t tell you the number of times a certain person on my campus has let there dog have control over them and that dog just comes up to us because she has no control over the thing this causes me unneeded stress and my dog just sits there behaved while the other dog sniffs him. Having a dog isn’t just about feeding and walking it. It’s about training it and teaching it to behave.