[ad_1]
Southwest Airlines on Monday became the last major U.S. carrier to ban emotional support animals on its flights.
As of March 1, Southwest will only accept assistance dogs trained to travel and will no longer recognize emotional support animals, the company ad.
Southwest has defined service dogs as “individually trained to perform a job or perform tasks for the benefit of a qualified person with a disability to travel with the customer.” Only dogs are accepted as trained service animals, the company said.
Customers can bring other dogs or cats as pets for a fee, but they must be stored under the seats.
The changes come after the Department of Transportation released final rule by limiting the definition of service dog to a “dog individually trained to perform work or perform tasks for the benefit of a qualified person with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual or other disability.”
The rule also states that “carriers are not required to recognize emotional support animals as service animals and may treat them as pets”, although “psychiatric service animals” are treated as service animals. service animals.
Steve Goldberg, senior vice president of operations and hospitality at Southwest, said in a statement that the decision “allows us to make these important changes to address the many concerns raised by the public and airline employees regarding transport of untrained animals in aircraft cabins. ”
“Southwest Airlines continues to support the ability of qualified persons with disabilities to bring trained service dogs for travel and remains committed to providing a positive and accessible travel experience for all of our customers with disabilities.”
Southwest is the latest of the major airlines to crack down on emotional support animals on their flights, the Associated Press notes. American Airlines earlier this month announced a ban on emotional support animals that went into effect for flights booked Jan. 11.
[ad_2]
Source link