Southwest Airlines on Monday became the last major US airline to ban emotional support animals on its flights.
As of March 1, Southwest will accept only guide dogs trained for travel and will no longer recognize emotional support animals, the company announced.
Southwest defined guide dogs as those “individually trained to work or perform tasks for the benefit of a qualified individual with a disability to travel with the Client”. 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 issued a final rule limit the definition of a service dog to “individually trained to work or perform tasks for the benefit of a qualified individual with a disability, including physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual or other mental disabilities”.
The rule also states that “carriers are not required to recognize emotionally supportive animals as service animals and can treat them as pets”, although “psychiatric service animals” are treated as 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 numerous concerns raised by the public and airline employees about the transportation of untrained animals in the cabin. aircraft. ”
“Southwest Airlines continues to support the ability of qualified individuals with disabilities to bring trained assistance dogs for travel and remains committed to providing a positive and affordable travel experience for all of our disabled customers.”
Southwest is the latest major airline to suppress emotional support animals on its flights, the Associated Press notes. American Airlines earlier this month announced a ban on emotional support animals that went into effect for flights booked on January 11th.