Alaska Airlines is the latest carrier to tweak its rules on the carriage of emotional support animals.
Alaska is making some policy changes for passengers who fly with their support pets including the requirement to provide documentation about the animal’s health and behaviour, with a signed letter from a doctor or mental health professional.
These need to be submitted 48 hours in advance of departure, the airline said.
The new policy takes effect on May 1.
"We are making these changes now based on a number of recent incidents where the inappropriate behavior of emotional support animals has impacted and even injured our employees, other guests and service animals," said Ray Prentice, Alaska Airlines’ director of customer advocacy.
The airline says it carries about 150 emotional support animals on its planes every day.
It said the changes do not affect passengers with traditional service animals and existing policy will continue for them.
