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American Airlines next to ban emotional support animals
American Airlines is joining Alaska Air;ines in banning emotional support animals on its flights.
Starting from 1 February, only verified and trained service dogs will be able to fly in the cabin, American said.
American made the change a week after Alaska Airlines, following a new updated policy from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The DOT’s rule takes effect on 11 January, and from this date American will not ‘authorize new travel for animals’ that do not meet the DOT’s designation of a trained service animal.
The DOT rules were revised due to existing policy ‘erodimg the public trust in legitimate service animals,’ the DOT said.
Untrained emotional support animals have caused disturbances on flights while many owners have been accused of gaming the system.
There is past evidence of passengers being able to purchase bogus documents attesting to an animal’s status as an emotional support pet.
This is done to avoid paying hefty pet carriage charges.
The DOT said there has been a huge increase in recent years of passengers ‘fraudulently representing their pets as service animals.’
Written by Ray Montgomery, US Editor
TravelMole Editorial Team
Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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