Don’t try to bring your hedgehog on the plane anymore
JetBlue announced on Tuesday that it will tighten its policy on animals whom passengers bring for emotional diseases like PTSD, depression, or severe anxiety. Originally, these animals were accepted with a small application and no charge, but that is no longer the case.
After July 1, passengers must fill out an application 48 hours before their flight. The application includes a note from a doctor that the patient needs the animal for psychiatric reasons, the pet’s health form from a veterinarian, and a liability form which states that they are liable for any harm to property or other passengers.
Additionally, JetBlue will now only allow dogs, cats, and miniature horses as emotional support animals. This will remove animals like hedgehogs, insects, and goats from the list.
The policy change follows that of many airlines, including American Airlines, Delta, and United Airlines. These airlines have all had problems with emotional support animals harming or disrupting other passengers; in fact, Delta reported that negative animal-related incidents increased by 84% last year. This figure is not very surprising after learning that the amount of emotional support animals increased by 40% in 2017, according to American Airlines.
Critics of the policy change argue that it is unfair to people who have mental illnesses and emotional trauma. The American Veterinary Medical Association had this to say about the change:
While we appreciate the need of airlines to individually adopt policies that support good decision-making by their employees and safe travel for their passengers, the AVMA looks forward to further collaborative efforts with the airlines and the Department of Transportation to adopt consistent, evidence-based policy that supports the safe travel of these invaluable animals.
It is unclear whether these airlines will continue loosening their policy, but until they can ensure a safer method of transporting support animals, they will likely stick to the tighter regulations.
Featured image via Wikipedia
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