Alaska Airlines becomes the first in BAN emotional support animals and will only allow service dogs

In two weeks, no belly pigs, miniature horses or peacocks will be welcome aboard Alaska Airlines flights amid industry-wide crackdown on emotional support animals.

The Seattle-based airline announced changes to its pet policy on Tuesday, saying that as of Jan. 11, the airline will no longer allow emotional support animals on its flights.

“Alaska will only carry service dogs that are specially trained to perform tasks for the benefit of a qualified person with a disability,” the airline said in a press release.

The move comes just weeks after the U.S. Department of Transportation said it would no longer ask airlines to make the same accommodations for emotional support animals as for service dogs.

“This regulatory change is welcome because it will help us reduce on-board disturbances as we continue to accommodate our guests traveling with qualified service animals,” said Ray Prentice, Alaska’s director of client advocacy. Airlines.

Under the revised policy, Alaska will not accept more than two service dogs per guest in the cabin. Passengers will be asked to complete a form on the airline’s website confirming that their pet is a legitimate service dog, that it is specially trained and vaccinated and will behave appropriately during the flight.

Passengers who booked their flights before January 11 will be allowed to travel with their emotional support animals until February 28, but not later.

The new DOT rule limiting emotional support animals, which was announced on December 2, aims to resolve years of tension between airlines and passengers who bring their pets on board for free by saying they need them for emotional help. According to a long-term policy of the department, all necessary passengers were a note from a health professional.

The airlines claimed that the passengers abused the situation to bring on board a menagerie of animals, including cats, turtles, belly pigs, kangaroos, pandas and, in one case, a peacock named Dexter.

The agency said it was rewriting the rules, in part because passengers carrying unusual animals on board “eroded public confidence in legitimate service animals”.

He also mentioned the increasing frequency of people who “fraudulently represent their pets as service animals” and an increase in the inappropriate behavior of emotional support animals, ranging from peeing on the carpet to the bites of other passengers and crew. flying.

The revised policy will require passengers with pets to check them in the hold – and pay a pet fee – or leave them at home. The agency estimated that airlines, which have been severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic, will earn up to $ 59.6 million a year in pet taxes.

The number of animals on planes took off a few years ago, and a cottage industry has grown around providing papers, doctor’s notes and even dog vests for support animals.

According to the final rule of the DOT, which comes into force in early January, a service animal is a dog trained to help a person with a physical or psychiatric disability. Veterans’ lawyers and others pressed for the inclusion of psychiatric service dogs.

Airlines for America, a trade group for America’s largest carriers, said the new rule would protect airline passengers and employees while helping people travel with trained service dogs.

“The days of Noah’s Ark in the air are coming to an end, we hope,” said Sara Nelson, president of the USA Today Flight Attendant Association.

Supporters of emotional support animals have been in the arms over the new DOT rule, saying the animals help them with anxiety, post-traumatic or other problems that would prevent them from traveling.

“While it is no secret that we are far from a truly accessible transportation system in this country, the DOT rule will only exacerbate existing inequities for people with disabilities who participate in air travel and instead adapt almost exclusively. interests of the airline, “Curt Decker, executive director of the National Disability Rights Network, said in a statement, as reported by The New York Times.

Defines a service animal as a dog that is individually trained to work or perform tasks for the benefit of a disabled person;