If you’ve found yourself in a co-dependent relationship with either a chicken, pig, spider or snake, then sorry guys, but you can’t take your plus one on an American Airlines flight.
You can however, continue to travel with the carrier if your emotional support animal of choice just happens to be a miniature pony.
The airline has updated the terms and conditions of its emotional support animal policy to exclude species that pose safety and/or public health risk.
And fair enough, because while we completely support a person’s right to emotional support, we’re not sure if we’d like to share a cabin at 32,000-feet with rodents…
Snakes…
Dogs that growl (or bite)…
Goats…
Hedgehogs…
Non-household birds such as chickens…
Or pigs (aww intelligent cuties)…
Click here for a full list of restricted animals.
In saying that, properly trained miniature horses are allowed on board just as long as they don’t protrude into or block aisles.
The new restrictions will be imposed from 1 July 2018, with American Airlines saying that while it supports “the rights of customers… with legitimate needs for a trained service or support animal” unfortunately some untrained animals can lead to “safety issues for our team, our customers and working dogs on board our aircraft”.
According to the carrier, the number of emotional support animals boarding planes is quickly growing with a 40 percent increase in 2017 compared to the prior year.
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