Airlines may soon be able to ban emotional support animals on flights after new rule

A new rule means airlines no longer will be required to classify emotional support animals as service animals, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced Wednesday.

The revision to the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) will allow airlines to distinguish between service animals and emotional support animals, effectively allowing carriers to ban the latter from traveling onboard.

The rule defines service animals as “a dog, regardless of breed or type, that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of a qualified individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability.”

Airlines will be allowed to categorize emotional support animals as pets, the rule states.

This means emotional support animals may have to travel as cargo — often for a fee — or passengers may need to leave them home entirely, the Associated Press reported.

“This final rule is intended to ensure that our air transportation system is safe for the traveling public and accessible to individuals with disabilities,” the department said.

The rule will go into effect 30 days after it’s published in the Federal Register.

Officials sought to revise the ACAA after an uptick in passengers tried to pass off their pets as emotional service animals in an effort to avoid fees, the department said.

In 2018, United Airlines made news after barring an “emotional-support peacock” from a flight departing Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, NBC News reported.

Another passenger tried to board a Frontier Airlines flight with an emotional-support squirrel, NPR reported. She was denied.

The new rule is a shift away from Department of Transportation guidance issued in 2019 that prevented airlines from barring passengers from traveling with emotional support animals, USA Today reported.

The new rule allows airlines to require that passengers fill out a form detailing a service dog’s training, behavior and health before it’s allowed on board. Passengers will also be limited to two service animals per person.

The DoT said many veterans and disability groups expressed their support for excluding emotional support animals from the definition of service animals.

“This is a wonderful step in the right direction for people like myself who are dependent on and reliant on legitimate service animals,” Albert Rizzi, founder of My Blind Spot, said when the rule was proposed in January, USA Today reported.

Airline association Airlines for America told the DoT that emotional support animals are more likely to misbehave on flights than trained service animals, the department said.

Other groups remarked that the new rule could make travel difficult for some people with mental disabilities.

For instance, the Autistic Self Advocacy Network said that emotional support animals “can assist with sensory regulation, anxiety, and provide focus for social communication,” according to the DoT, adding that the network feared declassifying emotional support dogs as service animals could make it impossible for some people with mental disabilities to travel.

This story was originally published December 2, 2020 at 11:17 AM with the headline "Airlines may soon be able to ban emotional support animals on flights after new rule."