Alaska Airlines will soon begin limiting emotional support animals on its flights after “numerous instances” of misbehavior from the creatures.
The airline announced the change on Tuesday following a decision by the Transportation Department this month that allows airlines to classify emotional support animals as pets in response to feedback from the airline industry and instances of people bringing exotic animals aboard flights.
The new Alaska Airlines guidelines will go into effect on Jan. 11 and will limit travelers to only service dogs that are “specially trained to perform tasks for the benefit of a qualified individual with a disability.”
Ray Prentice, director of customer advocacy of the Seattle-based company, hailed the decision in a press release.
“This regulatory change is welcome news, as it will help us reduce disturbances onboard, while continuing to accommodate our guests traveling with qualified service animals,” he said.
The Transportation Department released a statement of enforcement priorities in 2019 that listed dogs, cats, and miniature horses as emotional support animals. In 2018, Delta Airlines began limiting which animals can travel after people attempted to bring comfort turkeys, gliding possums, and spiders aboard flights.
After the 2019 DOT statement that included miniature horses, people took videos of passengers successfully bringing their equine on to flights. One video shows a small horse walking through an airport wearing a vest designating it as an emotional support animal.
The emotional support………MINI HORSE? @stooloutdoors (via IG/cjkras) pic.twitter.com/1tY1XgoqZp
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) August 30, 2019
The Alaska Airlines decision will limit passengers, who will have to fill out a DOT form, to a maximum of two service dogs per guest.
