Alaska Airlines Clamps Down on Emotional Support Animals on Flights
The airline says it will permit service dogs only, following a move by the U.S. Department of Transportation to reclassify the types of service animals allowed on flights.
Alaska Airlines said it would disallow emotional support animals on its flights starting Jan. 11.Credit.Elaine Thompson/Associated Press
Dec. 29, 2020
If you’re flying on Alaska Airlines starting in mid-January, don’t plan on boarding with your support pig or miniature horse.
The airline, acting in the wake of new federal guidelines aimed at reining in a range of at times exotic animals that passengers have brought onto commercial planes as emotional support animals, kept it simple in announcing on Tuesday what it would allow: only qualified service dogs that are able to lie on the floor or be held in one’s lap.
In this Saturday, April 1, 2017, file photo, a service dog named Orlando rests on the foot of its trainer, John Reddan, while sitting inside a United Airlines plane at Newark Liberty International Airport during a training exercise, in Newark, N.J. (Photo: Julio Cortez, AP)
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Alaska Airlines announced on Tuesday that it will no longer allow passengers to bring emotional support animals on its aircraft for any reservations made after January 11. The airline is the first to ban emotional support animals following new guidance from the U.S. Department of Transportation about what kind of animals should be allowed on passenger planes.
Alaska Airlines will only allow service DOGS on its flights from January 11 as it becomes the first carrier to ban ALL emotional support animals
Alaska Airlines on Tuesday announced that beginning on January 11, it will no longer allow any emotional support animals on its flights, only service dogs
Policy change comes just weeks after Department of Transportation said that it will no longer require airlines to accommodate emotional support animals
The decision could earn airlines an extra $60million a year
Airlines were previously required to allow animals for free with passengers who had a doctor s note saying they needed the animal for emotional support
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