Transportation Department Restricts Pets on Planes

Canines will be the only animals allowed to accompany passengers aboard flights under new government regulations.

The United States’ Department of Transportation announced on Wednesday, December 2nd, that emotional support animals will no longer be considered service animals and will not be able to accompany passengers in the cabin of airplanes. The new restrictions are limited specifically to dogs that need to be specially trained to do work for a person with a disability and will go into effect at the beginning of next year.

This is a departure from DOT regulations last year that required only a doctor's note for passengers to bring “emotional support” animals on board. This forced the airlines to accommodate all sorts of animals such as birds, rabbits, lizards, monkeys and even miniature horses. In one such instance, a woman attempted to bring a peacock onto her flight, however the airline refused to allow the bird on the plane, stating that it did not meet the size guidelines. Due to the unhindered nature of these rules, supposed support animals were untrained and unruly which resulted in a magnitude of passenger and airline complaints.

Prior to issuing the regulations the Department of Transportation sought the public’s opinion. They were ultimately rewarded with more than 15,000, relatively positive comments regarding the rules. Over time more and more people have called for a change in the DOT’s rules surrounding service animals on board airplanes including flight attendants and airline officials who have been pushing for change. Also, just last year close to 100 disability and veteran groups sided with banning untrained service animals on planes. When the new regulations were announced this year disability advocates were in favor.

The founder of a disability advocacy group named “My Blind Spot,” Albert Rizzi, stated that the rules are “a wonderful step in the right direction for people like myself who are dependent on and reliant on legitimate service animals” and “people want to have the benefits of having a disability without actually losing the use of their limbs or senses just so they can take their pet with them.”

The DOT acknowledged that this sort of abuse by passengers under the old guidelines “eroded the public trust in legitimate service animals.”

The new regulations are a welcome sign for passengers and airline personnel alike as man’s best friend will still be able support people who actually need it and flight attendants will not have to worry about unruly animals hurting them.