Business travelers on US airlines have often felt they were instead boarding Noah’s Ark, encountering emotional support roosters, snakes, pigs, monkeys, hamsters, dogs and even a purported emotional support peacock that ruffled United’s feathers. Yet thousands of flyers will not board without their support animal. American just put out an announcement detailing what the airline calls, in wonderfully Orwellian language, the “enhanced requirements” for traveling with emotional and/or psychiatric support animals. According to a spokesman, American wanted to get input from disability advocacy groups before initiating the new regulations, which focus primarily on emotional support animals, not trained service animals. And “emotional support and service animals” (categories that many experts believe are quite different) cannot protrude into or block aisles, occupy a seat, and, no matter how cute or clean, eat from tray tables.

Source: Forbes May 17, 2018 14:48 UTC