Airlines Cleared to Ban Emotional-Support Pigs, Peacocks
- Regulators received more than 15,000 letters on proposal
- Only dogs allowed as service animals in plane cabins
Emotional support animals such as
peacocks, alligators, or pigs will be banned from flying inside the cabin on
U.S. airlines under a new rule aiming to counter the growing menagerie of
species brought on flights in recent years.
The rule, announced Wednesday, will
narrow the Department of Transportation’s definition of a service animal to
include only canines trained to assist a person with a disability. Customers
traveling with a support animal that isn’t a service dog would be required to
pay an airline’s pet fee to bring the creature aboard. Airlines will be allowed
to require that a service dog fit in the passenger’s foot space on the plane,
according to the Transportation Department.
The nation’s largest flight attendant
union and Airlines for America, a group that represents carriers such as JetBlue
Airways Corp., United Airlines Holdings Inc., and American Airlines Group Inc.,
have long advocated for a policy that would help airlines cut down on animals
that they say pose a threat to passengers and crew.
Emotional support animal behavior “has
ranged from mauling and biting to urinating and defecating,” Airlines for
America, the carriers’ trade group, said in a statement Wednesday. “This
misbehavior not only threatens the health and safety of passengers and crew, but
also passengers with disabilities traveling with trained service
animals.”
Airlines have already altered their
stance on animals on their own in recent years in response to a soaring number
of passengers incorrectly claiming they needed them for emotional support. The
Department of Transportation said in 2018 that it wouldn’t penalize airlines if
they refuse to let passengers fly with more than one support animal or require
proof of an animal’s training. Delta Air Lines Inc. and United in 2018 began
requiring 48-hour advance notice to travel with an emotional support
animal.
Under the rule released Wednesday,
airlines can limit a passenger to two service dogs.
The rule will narrow the Department of
Transportation’s definition of a service animal to only include dogs trained to
assist a person with a disability.
The rule is likely to be controversial.
Advocates for people with disabilities, including the National Disability Rights
Network, said earlier this year that forcing flyers to fill out paperwork to
travel with a service animal is burdensome. The rule released Wednesday allows
airlines to require forms developed by the Department of Transportation
attesting to a service animal’s health and behavior.
Curt Decker, executive director of the
National Disability Rights Network, said in a statement Wednesday that the rule
will “undermine the rights of people with disabilities and instead almost
exclusively accommodate the interests of the airline industry.” The group has
yet to review the full rule.
Thousands of Letters
The Transportation Department’s January
proposal to ban emotional support animals from flights inspired about 15,000
letters from across the country weighing in on the issue, from animal lovers,
guide-dog owners, and canine trainers, among others.
Melanie Benware, president of the
International Association of Canine Professionals, wrote with colleagues that
airline employees should be trained to recognize “unsafe animal behavior.” Abby
Volin, a lawyer who specializes in animal accommodation law, wrote with Vivian
Leven, a canine behavior consultant, that air carriers should consider lowering
their pet fees to “a reasonable amount.” And Allie Epstein, a California eighth
grader who said she uses a service dog, wrote that airlines should ask service
animal handlers whether they would like to board ahead of other
passengers.
“This way, there are no complications
between humans and animals that might end badly, such as a dog allergy or a
smaller service dog being trampled,” Epstein said in a letter to Transportation
Secretary Elaine Chao.
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