If you have recently boarded an airplane, you might have noticed certain animals in the passenger cabins. You yourself might have thought of bringing an animal onboard. These are emotional support animals meant to offer comfort and support to the disabled and mentally-disturbed passengers on the flight. So, what do you think about emotional support animals on board with their respective owners? You might even be wondering how to get an emotional support dog on the flight that you are taking? Before going into the details of this, it is necessary for you to know that there has been a considerable increase in ESA scams because of strict rules on carrying them onboard.
Recently, it was found that a woman at Newark Airport tried boarding the United Airlines plane with Dexter, her emotional support peacock. But considering the fact that peacocks are quite large and they do not offer any therapeutic advantages, United Airlines completely denied the animal’s approval on boarding the flight. This led to a predictable storm on the social media sites both by the anti- and pro-peacock groups. This had the United Airlines coming up with even stricter and tighter new policies in regards to carrying emotional support animals onboard.
For the ones who have traveled by plane, it is not uncommon to find an assortment of animals like monkeys, pigs, snakes, dogs and turkeys sprawling the passenger cabins. The Federal guidelines state that major airlines across the world should allow disabled passengers to board airplanes with their ESAs but only after ensuring that they are fully trained. This is irrespective of their potential of annoying or offending other passengers on the airplane. However, airlines have the leeway to deny the boarding of unusual emotional support animals like snakes, rodents, spiders, and ferrets. They have full rights to prevent these animals from boarding if they are a threat to the security and the safety of the other passengers on board.
The new stricter and tighter policy of the United Airlines states that passengers traveling with service animals need to present documents confirming their good health and the proper training for public settings. This has been done for avoiding issues on the flight. Delta, another air service provider in the United States has come up with a policy stating that passengers traveling with their emotional support animals need to provide their veterinary health records prior to carrying them on the flight.
The stricter policies from the air service providers across the United States have led to an increase in emotional support animal scams. These days, there are a large number of individuals found using the federal law for fraudulently bringing their emotional support animals into the passenger cabins of leading airplanes. Passengers with the urgency or the necessity to travel with their ESAs frequently are now making use of illegitimately obtained and forged documents stating the good mental and physical health of their animals. These documents are easily available on websites providing questionnaire-type examinations. However, major air service providers are making good efforts towards bringing down the number of scams taking place in this field.
So, if you are one of those thinking about how to get an emotional support dog for your next flight, it is time for you to pay attention to the policies and the rules on carrying ESAs onboard.
