Delta, United and American Airlines have just made a big change and their flight attendants will love it

This is an article about the good old days on American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines.

In the good old days, I mean just a few years ago, before American, Delta and United flight attendants had to worry about Covid-19, furious political passengers and even layoffs and licenses.

At that time, one of the great challenges was the emotional support of animals. This led to problems that went out of control, as almost everyone involved in the airlines agreed – management, unions, employees.

But now, American, Delta and United have written the final chapter in this unsettling saga.

We must recap quickly. In 2017 and 2018, passengers brought all kinds of “emotional support animals” on board aircraft.

An industry group representing American, Delta, United and other airlines has produced a document listing some of the most notorious examples: “comfortable turkeys, gliding possums known as sugar gliders, snakes, spiders and more.”

Heck, on United Airlines, a passenger once tried to bring two animals on board, claiming that one was the emotional support animal required by the other emotional support animal.

Why do airlines allow this? Because they had to do it. Federal rules at the time required airlines to allow service animals to fly, but did not define what a service animal was.

Of course, some people legitimately use real service animals. That’s nice. But others were taking advantage of and bringing animals on planes for convenience, or to avoid paying pet transportation fees.

And that led to a “wave” of “barking, biting, biting, snarling and fighting” incidents on board – not to mention animals doing their thing in crowded passenger cabins, according to the airline report.

There were many incidents, but one that stayed with me was a 2017 incident, in which a Delta passenger was reportedly attacked by another passenger’s emotional support dog, demanding 28 points. (The passenger sued Delta.)

Well, it took years – but finally, last month, the United States government rewrote its rules. Among the major changes:

• Service animals are now limited to dogs “individually trained to work or perform tasks for the benefit of a qualified individual with a disability”.
• Passengers who want service animals to accompany them may be asked to complete a government form confirming the animal’s “health, behavior and training form”.
• And the biggest thing: airlines no longer need to allow “emotional support animals” to travel as service animals and can classify them as pets.

Now, over the past week or so, American, United and Delta have taken advantage of their new discretion, finally placing strong restrictions on emotional support animals and, at least, offering a little comfort to their passengers – and their other passengers, to this subject matter.

Most of the time, so-called emotional support animals will now be classified as pets. The new rules start with American, Delta and United, along with smaller airlines JetBlue and Alaska Airlines. There is also a short grace period for passengers who have already made reservations and plan to fly later.

I also contacted Southwest Airlines, where a spokesman said that its rules have not yet changed and that the company “will announce any changes to our policies in late 2021”.

Look, this is a difficult time for the civil aviation sector. I am sure that you join me to wish the best for the employees and the companies themselves. Maybe I am solving a crisis from three crises ago, but it will make their lives a little easier, however.