HuffPost: Southwest Airlines Cracks Down On Emotional Support Animals

[Destino]

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/southwest-airlines-emotional-support-animals-royal-caribbean_us_5b73d749e4b0182d49aecca9

 

Quote

Emotional support animals had a tough day on Tuesday, with Southwest Airlines’ announcement of tighter rules and reports that Royal Caribbean is banning them from cruise ships.

 

Southwest is limiting passengers to one emotional support animal per person, the Los Angeles Times reported. The only emotional support animals that will be permitted on flights are dogs, cats and miniature horses, and the animals must be kept on a leash or in a carrier at all times.

 

If you click the link you'll get a wonderful photo of someone's emotional support pea**** that was not allowed to board a flight.  No, this is not an Onion article. 

[The Evil Genius]

It's gotten pretty bad and of course people took advantage of it, it is the 2010s. 

 

I'm glad theyve cracked down on it but I do wonder how they will enforce which breeds qualify.

[Destino]

2 minutes ago, The Evil Genius said:

It's gotten pretty bad and of course people took advantage of it, it is the 2010s. 

 

I'm glad theyve cracked down on it but I do wonder how they will enforce which breeds qualify.

As long as my miniature horses are still permitted, I'm fine with this.  The thought of having to fly on one of those dreadful contraptions without Clipclop there to help me through it, is just too much.    

[Popeman38]

Horse**** on an airplane. Nothing like it.

 

Miniature horses?  Seriously?  Emotional support animals have become a joke.  All it takes is a note form a mental health professional.  You can basically call someone and have one in the mail.  

[Zguy28]

I've had enough of these mf'ing snakes on a plane!!

[Cooked Crack]

My emotional support gator is still being discriminated against I see. I thought reptiles were the only cold blooded features but I thought wrong. ?

[zoony]

People and their public animals are the worst in general.   This is just next level bad.

 

I love it when im in a store and some attention whoring emotional cripple has decided they cant go shopping for 5 minutes without Fido.  No thought to the employees of the store, no thought to people who might have allergies or just dont like dogs, no thought to anything other than their narcissistic impulse to parade their labradoodle around home depot, letting him walk up to strangers and lick/sniff with abandon.

 

These people are the tops, man.  Just awesome

[tshile]

If you have found a loop hole and enjoy exploiting it then don’t tell the internet, idiots. 

[Larry]

Yeah, I confess that when I see one of those I instantly assume that it's just some jerk who thinks they're entitled, sending a "eff you" to the world, by pulling a "so what if I'm lying my ass off, you'll let me get away with it". 

 

If it wasn't for the fact that I know someone who actually does need it. She's had really bad agoraphobia, for 2-3 years now. (Originally, the only time she could leave her house was when the two of us, and her miniature poodle, would go to a restaurant during the slow time of the day, 2-3 in the afternoon, when there were only two tables occupied in the dining room. And we had to sit far away from them. (She's gotten better, but it's still a problem). 

 

OK, so the dog is an emotional crutch. Hasn't had any training at all. (Well, she has been working on making him behave. And he was well mannered in many ways, to begin with. But no specialized "service dog" training). But he does allow her to go out in public. 

[Kosher Ham]

Problem is that folks can register their dog as a service animal...simply from owner training. 

 

Monkeys, Birds, Horses, even a Wolf...

 

Typically in the US only dogs are accepted though. 

9 minutes ago, Larry said:

OK, so the dog is an emotional crutch. Hasn't had any training at all. (Well, she has been working on making him behave. And he was well mannered in many ways, to begin with. But no specialized "service dog" training). But he does allow her to go out in public. 

 

Order to go food. And the lack of training will get you kicked out of places. 

Trained service dogs just lay down and hang out. 

[Larry]

3 minutes ago, Kosher Ham said:

 

Order to go food. And the lack of training will get you kicked out of places. 

Trained service dogs just lay down and hang out. 

 

He's always done that. Even in their home, when the people eat dinner, he stays in the living room and does not beg. (When mommy scoots back from the table, then it's time for his bowl). 

 

What she had to work on, for some time, was getting him not to react when he sees kids. 

[Kilmer17]

Now, about the screaming kids..........

[bearrock]

7 minutes ago, Kilmer17 said:

Now, about the screaming kids..........

 

Can we tackle assholes before kids though?  (not calling Kilmer17 that obviously)

 

I was on a flight once where a mom was traveling with her two kids across the aisle from my row.  The baby was in the window, in a car seat, the other kid was in the aisle (4-5 years old maybe?).  The kid was sitting behind a lady who asked to be seated elsewhere before takeoff (flight attendant said no).  

 

By mid flight, the lady had complained to the mom about the kids being too noisy (they were not) and accused the older kid of kicking her seat.  Mom apologized each time and said she'll try to keep them under control.  Mom folded up the tray table, had the kid slant more sideways to angle the leg away, and gave her book to read.  I'm watching the entire thing since her last complaint and this lady turns around again and says your child kicked my seat and I'm calling the stewardess.  Immediately, several people, including me told her off and said she did not kick your seat so stop complaining.  Moral of the story?  I'd much rather travel with kids and even miniature horses than assholes.  

[zoony]

52 minutes ago, Larry said:

Yeah, I confess that when I see one of those I instantly assume that it's just some jerk who thinks they're entitled, sending a "eff you" to the world, by pulling a "so what if I'm lying my ass off, you'll let me get away with it". 

 

If it wasn't for the fact that I know someone who actually does need it. She's had really bad agoraphobia, for 2-3 years now. (Originally, the only time she could leave her house was when the two of us, and her miniature poodle, would go to a restaurant during the slow time of the day, 2-3 in the afternoon, when there were only two tables occupied in the dining room. And we had to sit far away from them. (She's gotten better, but it's still a problem). 

 

OK, so the dog is an emotional crutch. Hasn't had any training at all. (Well, she has been working on making him behave. And he was well mannered in many ways, to begin with. But no specialized "service dog" training). But he does allow her to go out in public. 

 

Stop making me feel guilty about my old man rants

21 minutes ago, Kilmer17 said:

Now, about the screaming kids..........

 

I was on a flight once with two children who both clearly had autism or some other type of clear emotional disease.  At one point one of them had a meltdown and kicked the seat in front of him and screamed for 5 straight minutes, uninterupted.  It was a full blown meltdown.  I honestly feared the person in that seat might have sustained injuries.  The other child was slamming the tray table up and down for the entire duration of the flight.

 

I had 2 simultaneous thoughts.  1.  God bless those parents and those children, that has got to be ridiculously tough.  2.  Maybe that family should not be flying?

 

 

[Destino]

I shared this article with my sister, who is away attending a conference on the west coast, and it turns out that a group of her coworkers report that there was an emotional support pea**** on the flight.  How the hell is this real life?  lol

[TheGreatBuzz]

8 hours ago, Popeman38 said:

All it takes is a note form a mental health professional. 

My understanding (and I could be wrong) is that you don't even need that.  You only need to claim the animal provides service.  Them asking for proof is a HIPPA violation I'm told.

[Cooked Crack]

6 hours ago, Destino said:

I shared this article with my sister, who is away attending a conference on the west coast, and it turns out that a group of her coworkers report that there was an emotional support pea**** on the flight.  How the hell is this real life?  lol

You must have missed the story from 6 months ago when a lady was denied from bringing her pea**** on a plane.

 

 

[Renegade7]

11 hours ago, zoony said:

 

I had 2 simultaneous thoughts.  1.  God bless those parents and those children, that has got to be ridiculously tough.  2.  Maybe that family should not be flying?

 

 

That's a tough one, 2 is like saying they shouldn't travel, train or bus would be same problem, and imagine driving cross country with that?  I forget, where are we with giving THC to children who go through that to help calm them down?  I know I've read its been used to help kids with seizures.  If you could basically legally sedate kids with problems like that for flights, that might be the way to go.

[skinsmarydu]

5 hours ago, Renegade7 said:

 

That's a tough one, 2 is like saying they shouldn't travel, train or bus would be same problem, and imagine driving cross country with that?  I forget, where are we with giving THC to children who go through that to help calm them down?  I know I've read its been used to help kids with seizures.  If you could basically legally sedate kids with problems like that for flights, that might be the way to go.

Totally agree. Benadryl for the masses! (jk, but my friends with kids usually travel at night, which helps).

I've waited on oodles of folks with "care dogs"...every single one has had the proper paperwork...not that I would ever ask, I'm a pet lover. Never had a problem with any dog in any of the many dining rooms I've worked in.

Still want that 6 foot support iguana to come through the door so I can thoroughly blow some minds...about how awesome they are! ?

[Riggo-toni]

I want my emotional support wallaby hopping down the aisle so it can kick the seat of any crying 5 year olds sitting in front of me.

[PokerPacker]

19 hours ago, bearrock said:

I'd much rather travel with kids and even miniature horses than assholes.  

Given the choice, I'd rather travel with miniature horses than people.

[Busch1724]

It'd be fun to tour the White House with an emotional support cobra. 

 

Could visit Jerry World with an emotional support African elephant. 

[Dan T.]

I don't have an emotional support animal.

 

Instead, I bring along my emotional support flight attendant:

 

 

 

 

[PleaseBlitz]

It's unfortunate that people were given an inch and took a mile.  Emotional support pea****?  **** you.  Southwest had to limit you to only one emotional support animal?  **** you if you are bringing a goddamn herd of animals with you.  I don't want to be in a confined space with someone that emotionally ****ed up.  

 

My policy with kids is that I don't mind so long as the parents are doing their best to keep the kid calm and behaving.  One time i was flying home from Europe on like a 9 hour flight and an infant was right across the aisle from me and cried nearly the entire way, but mom was doing her best and apologetic, and I appreciate the effort.  More recently, I was coming back from the west coast and managed to be on a plane with an entire school full of pre-teens on a class trip who may have been feral (probably half the plane), and the chaperones did absolutely nothing until the other 50% of passengers started issuing threats (to both chaperones and children).  In an ironic twist, the kid in front of me had a rough ride; the back of his chair got kicked about 150 times.  

 

We had to take our then 2 year old on a 3 hour flight.  Once we got seated but before the plane started taxing, we had her pass out candy to the passengers near us as sort of a preemptive "I may cry or otherwise annoy you, thanks in advance for your cooperation." 

[Destino]

6 hours ago, PleaseBlitz said:

Emotional support pea****?  **** you. 

 

Perfectly stated, but I can't shake the suspicion that had South West said exactly that, there would have been a massive wave of social media support for emotional support pea****s.  The future is stupid.