Southwest will allow only dogs and cats to fly as emotional-support
animals beginning on Sept. 17. The airline will also limit customers to just
one emotional-support animal and will require the animals to be either leashed
or caged at all times.
"We welcome emotional support and trained service
animals that provide needed assistance to our customers," Southwest senior
vice president of operations and hospitality Steve Goldberg said in a prepared
statement. "However, we want to make sure our guidelines are clear and
easy to understand while providing customers and employees a comfortable and
safe experience."
The announcement comes as several U.S. carriers are tightening
policies on emotional-support animals. In July, Delta stopped allowing pit bulls
to fly as emotional-support animals. Delta also sparked a trend among airlines
in March when it beefed up documentation requirements for passengers planning
to travel with service or emotional-support animals.
The Department of Transportation is currently reviewing more
than 4,400 public comments as it determines whether it should end a federal
requirement that airlines allow passengers to bring emotional-support animals
onto flights.
Airlines say that many flyers have abused the rules by
falsely claiming they need their pets for emotional support.