plus dogs, ponies, turkeys, ferrets, spiders, and pigs. Are US planes becoming Noah’s Arks of emotional support animals—some legitimate, some less so? Find out how the airlines and DOT are tightening the rules on critters in the cabin.
A peacock found itself flightless, while Pebbles the hamster became a flushed fatality after an airline-passenger misunderstanding. Meanwhile, dogs in airline cabins have bitten other passengers. What did all these creatures have in common? They were purportedly emotional support animals.
What exactly is an emotional support animal (ESA)?
An ESA is an animal that’s used to help alleviate the symptoms of various emotional or mental disabilities. These can include (but aren’t limited to) depression, anxiety, phobias, PTSD, and panic attacks.
An ESA can be any species: dogs, cats, rodents, birds, chickens, snakes.
An emotional support animal is not a service animal. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a service animal is any dog or miniature horse that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability. The work or tasks performed by the service animal must be directly related to the individual’s disability. Examples include:
- Assisting individuals who are blind or have low vision with navigation and other tasks.
- Alerting individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing to the presence of people or sounds.
- Providing non-violent protection or rescue work.
- Pulling a wheelchair.
- Assisting an individual during a seizure.
- Alerting individuals to the presence of allergens.
- Retrieving items such as medicine or the telephone.
- Providing physical support and assistance with balance and stability to individuals with mobility disabilities.
- Helping individuals with psychiatric and neurological disabilities by preventing or interrupting impulsive or destructive behaviors.
In contrast, an emotional support animal can be an existing pet. It isn’t evaluated for suitability of temperament and isn’t required to be trained. Nor is its owner (owners of service animals undergo instruction on how to work with their animals).
Why is there a problem?
The ADA does not cover emotional support animals. It is the more liberal Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) that opened the way for free travel in the cabin for “any animal” that is trained to assist a person with a disability or that provides emotional support. (The Department of Transportation, as of this writing, has no uniform standards for ESAs.)
The past several years have seen a marked increase in the number of ESAs on flights. While there are no hard numbers, airlines estimate a good number of passengers took advantage of airlines’ lax rules to bestow phony “emotional support” titles on their pets.
Why cheat? Some passengers don’t want to pay the fee to fly a pet in the cabin. (Emotional support animals fly for free; the fee for a pet in-cabin averages $125.) Some want to take pets onboard that exceed the size and weight regulations imposed on in-cabin animals, or don’t want their pets confined in traveling carriers. (ESAs are exempt from both these requirements.) Some worry about their pet flying in the belly of the plane, due in part to well-publicized stories of cargo animal deaths. (Also, many airlines won’t transport animals in the hold to certain destinations during winter and summer months because of temperature considerations, and large dogs or other animals may not fit into the maximum-sized kennel permitted—the kennel has to fit through the cargo compartment door.) Some just like their pets so much they don’t want to be separated from their darlings.
How do they get away with it? Under the ACAA, airlines can require passengers with an ESA to produce a letter from a physician or mental health professional, but the documents are easily forged or obtained from websites that sell unofficial service vests, collar tags, and fake certificates.
The result, according to airline representatives, has been a surge in poorly-trained animals that has turned some flights into airborne menageries, with dogs biting passengers, pigs blocking beverage carts, cats urinating on seats, and hedgehogs getting lost in the lavatory.
The outcry is not limited to airline officials. People with allergies to pet dander claim their concerns are being trumped by those of passengers with animals. And service animal groups say the rise in what are clearly pets on planes has led to heightened scrutiny of and animosity toward working animals.
By the way, this seems to be a mostly American carrier problem. While certain foreign airlines allow emotional support dogs only with the proper paperwork (Air Canada, IcelandAir, KLM), others ban ESAs altogether (British Airways, Emirates, Qantas).
Note that even if an ESA is allowed on a flight to another country, it won’t necessarily allowed beyond the airport interior due to quarantine laws. And in the United States, the Americans with Disabilities Act applies to ESAs on the ground, which means they can be prohibited from airline lounges, terminal restaurants, and the like.
What are the new rules for ESAs?
The increase in fur and fury at 40,000 feet prompted airlines to shorten the leash on their on-board animal policies. In 2018 Delta was the first to crack down, followed by United, American, Alaska, jetBlue, Frontier, Hawaiian, Spirit, Allegiant, WestJet, and Southwest.
Generally speaking, the following documentation is now required:
- a letter from a licensed mental health professional certifying you have a mental or emotional disability and that your ESA accompanying you is necessary for your metal health or treatment
- the ESA’s vet record/proof of vaccinations
- confirmation the ESA will behave in public
Some carriers require the forms to be uploaded or emailed 48 hours before your flight, while others just ask for notice in advance that you will be traveling with an ESA.
There are also size restrictions on ESAs; for example, an ESA “must fit at a passenger’s feet and not protrude into the aisles or other areas” (United) or “cannot exceed the footprint of the passenger’s seat” (Delta). Some airlines ban ESAs on longer trips. (Delta prohibits them on flights longer than eight hours.)
Going forward, expect the rules to change. The U.S. Department of Transportation released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, opening the comment period over how it intends to reform rules over service animals. Under the proposed new regs, while “[t]he Department recognizes the integral role that service animals play in the lives of many individuals with disabilities and wants to ensure that individuals with disabilities can continue using their service animals,” the DOT proposes to:
- Define a service animal “as a dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of a person with a disability”
- No longer consider an emotional support animal to be a service animal
- Provide for a psychiatric service animal if it has “the same training…as other service animals”
- Develop standard forms for airlines to require from passengers “attesting to a service animal’s good behavior, certifying the service animal’s good health, and if taking a long flight attesting that the service animal has the ability to either not relieve itself, or can relieve itself in a sanitary manner”
- Permit airlines to require one additional hour of advance check-in time for passengers traveling with a service animal (to process documentation and “observe the animal”), while requiring “prompt check-in” for such passengers.
- Allow airlines to limit a passenger to two service animals and to require animals:
- to fit into the passenger’s foot space
- to be “harnessed, leashed, tethered, or otherwise under the control of its handler”
- To allow airlines to refuse transportation to service animals “that exhibit aggressive behavior and that pose a direct threat to the health or safety of others. (But airlines will not be permitted to refuse transportation to a service animal purely on the basis of breed. Delta had banned pit bulls; this would explicitly be forbidden.)
A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking opens a public comment period. The DOT is required to consider public comments in promulgating a final regulation. They may or may not reach that stage, and final rules can vary from proposed rules.
Nonetheless, the proposed regs describe current Department of Transportation thinking on the future of service animals and, in particular, emotional support animals. So check your airline’s website for the latest restrictions before you and your ESA leave for the airport.
Will the new rules make a difference?
These changes won’t totally prevent pet owners from taking advantage of loopholes in ESA laws applicable to US airlines. Those who want to take their pets onboard should easily be able to provide the necessary paperwork. The airlines hope, though, that increasing the documentation requirements will reduce the number of passengers with phony ESAs.
Do remember if you’d like to bring your pet with you in the cabin, you can, provided it stays in a pet travel bag that fits underneath the seat in front of you and you pay the applicable fee.
Twist’s Take: Don’t cheat! If you have a genuine need for an emotional support animal, check your airline’s website for its specific rules and restrictions on bringing it on board.
