Most airlines no longer accept emotional support animals (ESA's)

In the late 2010's and early 2020's there were a ton of airlines that allowed animals on planes with a doctor's note and someone just claiming that they needed to have this animal with them or they would go CooCoo for Coco Puffs or something. This was something that I never understood but I recall being on a plane with a very cute doggy in the seat next to me and while it was fine at first, the dog started to get grumpy and tired of sitting still so soon the situation got to be a bit more annoying even though I do like dogs.

Airplanes are a stressful enough of an environment without having a dog that the owner cannot fully control or if the animal starts to get curious and wants to meet all the other people on the plane. Plus you know, there is a doo-doo situation that can and probably does happen on the longer flights.

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i'm not unsympathetic towards people with problems that I was fortunate enough to avoid but lets think back just 20 or 30 years or so and if you were someone that was absolutely terrified of flying, the answer for you was simple: You don't fly anywhere. I am sure that the intention was probably good when this whole craze started, but just like anything else in the world, people were going to start taking advantage of it, and other were going to take the piss for internet points.

People started having increasingly absurd support animals and while I didn't witness it I did hear about an emotional support hawk, a kangaroo, a pony, and a peacock.

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I personally know a few people that once they found out that they could transport their beloved doggies on the airplane with them free of charge because of airline generosity or because of perhaps a government mandate, they quickly went and got the bullshit certificate from a psychiatrist so that they too could travel with their dog in the plane with them.

There are a lot of airlines that have specific areas of a plane that are meant for people traveling with pets, and even more airlines that are more than happy to have your pet stowed below with the luggage, but these were all things you had to pay for. Once people knew they could get it for free, people were going to take advantage of it and that is exactly what several of my friends did, even though I thought it was dispicable.

Well here we are a few years later and most airlines no longer offer this service and the US government stopped forcing airlines to do it as far back as late 2021.

While I do sympathize with the people out there with genuine difficulty and anxiety when flying, maybe I could suggest a Valium or some other sedative that your doctor can give to you. If someone out there genuinely had a violent and super-emotional reaction to being on a plane, I think that person should not be allowed on a plane and that the other passengers shouldn't have to put up with special circumstances that have nothing to do with them.

The Department of Transportation refined their rules so that the only animals that airlines are required to allow are service animals and "emotional support" does not qualify. This would be for people that are blind, have a heart or blood condition that the dog can detect, or something similar.

This doesn't necessarily mean that ESA's are completely banned, the airlines just can't be forced to allow them the way that they were before. While their numbers are few, some airlines still allow ESA's and just here locally where I fly regularly AeroMexico is one of the airlines that still allows them. A friend of mine travels with his small dog when he visits in Mexico and he has to use that airline. It costs him more to do this, but if you wanna bring the dog that is what it is going to take! You are meant to have paperwork to prove the animal is a certified ESA but this paperwork is such nonsense that she has told me nobody ever asks to see it.

Service dogs and PSD (Psychiatric Service Dogs) are still allowed but there is a very real difference between a PSD and an ESA. The PSD is not designated by the individual with the issue, it is a dog that is specifically trained for whatever disorder the person has and the animal is assigned to them, they do not just find a cute Pug one day and say "yep, that's my ESA!"

For me, someone that just wants to get to my destination with as little hassle as possible, I am personally quite pleased that most airlines stopped allowing ESA's in the cabin. Since there are other airlines that by way of supply and demand ARE willing to do it, then we aren't really leaving these people high and dry. The biggest thing for me was that so many people were abusing this policy and didn't really need it. I remind my friend of this every time I see him and his dog even though they are both lovely.