Crackdown on animals on flights

The US government has approved a set of rules that clamp down on the types of service animals allowed on US flights, reserving the designation for dogs and freeing airlines from having to accommodate a variety of emotional support animals.

The changes, which drew more than 15 000 public comments since the department of transportation proposed them at the beginning of the year, will take effect next month.

They have kindled an intense debate among the airlines, advocates for people with disabilities who rely on service animals and passenger rights groups, and came as a growing number of travellers have taken a variety of animals on flights in recent years.

Most recently, transportation regulators had said that dogs, cats and miniature horses should be prioritised as service animals by airlines. But passengers have tried to travel with monkeys, birds and rabbits, raising eyebrows of other passengers and testing airline policies.

Federal transportation officials said last Wednesday that disruptions caused by taking unusual species aboard airlines had “eroded the public trust in legitimate service animals” and that there were increasing cases of travellers “fraudulently representing their pets as service animals”.

The new rules require airlines to treat psychiatric service animals the same as other service animals. The owners of those service animals must provide documentation developed by the transportation department attesting to the animal’s health, behaviour and training.

Passengers travelling with service animals will no longer be required to physically check in at the airport instead of online.

Some advocates for people with disabilities said the new rules were too rigid and did not take into account travellers with special needs.

“There’s a large number of people with intellectual and emotional disabilities that benefit from having that kind of support on a trip,” Curt Decker, the executive director of the National Disability Rights Network, said last Wednesday. –