1: Emotional support dogs help people suffering from anxiety and other psychological disorders during airline travel. Airlines have responsively recognized this issue within the structure of federal guidelines, which have historically been vague on what constituted a service animal. For years, customers could bring their emotional support pets on board for free under certain conditions. First, airlines typically required customers to confirm that the animal had been trained to behave properly in public and to acknowledge their responsibility for the animal’s conduct. Customers also needed to provide the airline with 48 hours’ notice, a health and vaccination form from a veterinarian, and a letter from a mental health professional stating the benefit received from the emotional support animal.²³⁴ This policy caused a surge in emotional support animals on flights— from 481,000 in 2016 to 751,000 in 2017.²³⁵
The rise also contributed to a significant increase in onboard incidents. In fact, airlines reported receiving over 3,000 complaints about animals in 2018, up from 719 five years earlier.²³⁶ The union representing United Airlines’ flight attendants said many of these incidents included allergic reactions in other passengers and undesirable animal behaviors like aggressive behavior, biting, urination, and defecation.²³⁷ This all contributed to the airline drawing the line when someone tried to bring a pet called Dexter on a flight leaving Newark in 2018.
The airline refused not because Dexter was your typical four-legged emotional support animal, but because Dexter was a peacock—and quite a large one at that.²³⁸
Incidents such as the one involving Dexter resulted in the Department of Transportation drafting new rules. The rules now define a service animal as “a dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of a qualified individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability.”²³⁹ Animals that provide emotional support, comfort, and companionship are now treated as pets. The rule also cracks down on passengers’
increasing attempts to fly with unusual animals such as ducks, pigs, iguanas, and yes, Dexter the peacock.
This means these animals don’t have to be allowed to fly inside the main cabin for free.²⁴⁰
The department’s new rules have been welcomed by the airline industry. Others, however, have not been as supportive. “Emotional support animals provide emotional support and comfort to individuals with psychiatric disabilities and other mental impairments,” says attorney Rebecca Wisch. Wisch contends that these animals are not specifically trained to perform tasks for a person who suffers from emotional disabilities, which is a requirement under the new rules. The number of people needing emotional support animals is not insignificant—
statistics say that up to one in five Americans has a mental illness, according to Forbes. Those against this new policy say that these individuals need emotional support animals to help them get through our traumatic air travel system. Moreover, advocates point to the fact that emotional support animals are recognized as a “reasonable accommodation” for those with disabilities under the Federal Housing Act, so why not by the Department of Transportation?²⁴¹
Service animals, unlike emotion support pets, are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and can go wherever their owners go. Service dogs receive specific training in order to be certified as such. A seeing eye dog, for example, is a carefully trained dog that serves as a travel tool for persons who have severe visual impairments or are blind. Emotional support animals are not required to go through the same training and certifications, a loophole that National Geographic reports some pet owners have abused to avoid the airlines’ surcharge of $125 or more for transporting regular pets.²⁴² A CBS News correspondent was actually able to purchase a support animal vest and accompanying mental health professional letter online without her cat even being evaluated. The registration took just five minutes and cost $150.²⁴³

Questions What would you do if you were an airline CEO?
1. Do not implement the new rules. The airline should allow emotional support pets to travel unrestricted, just as service dogs do. Airlines should not be in the business of categorizing passengers’ pets.
2. Implement the new rules. Emotional support pets are not service dogs and should be treated differently.
The airline needs to ensure the safety of employees, passengers, and other animals during flight.
3. Invent other options.