Southwest Airlines became the last major US airline to ban emotional support animals on its flights on Monday.
As of March 1, Southwest will only accept trained service dogs for travel and the company will no longer recognize emotional support animals announced.
Southwest defined guide dogs as those “individually trained to do work or perform tasks on behalf of a qualified person with a disability to travel with the client”. Only dogs are accepted as trained service animals, the company said.
Customers can bring other dogs or cats as pets for a fee, but they must saved under seats.
The changes come after the Department of Transportation issued a last rule limit the definition of a service dog to an “individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of a qualified person with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual or other mental disability”.
The rule also states that “carriers are not required to recognize emotional support animals as service animals and to treat them as pets”, although “psychiatric service animals” will be treated as service animals.
Steve Goldberg, Southwest senior vice president of operations and hospitality, said in a statement that the decision “allows us to make these important changes to address the numerous concerns of the public and airline employees about the transportation of untrained animals in the cabin of aircraft. ”
“Southwest Airlines continues to support the ability of qualified persons with disabilities to bring trained service dogs on their travels and remains committed to providing a positive and accessible travel experience for all of our customers with disabilities.”
Southwest is the last of the major airlines to crack down on emotional support animals on their flights, The Associated Press notes. American Airlines earlier this month announced a ban about emotional support animals that went into effect for flights booked on January 11.