About a month ago, we were waiting in the Fort Lauderdale, Florida airport to board a Southwest flight. There was a woman sitting near us who was quite distraught.
She had lost her cell phone, and had just received some bad news from the Southwest gate agent. We helped her locate her missing phone by calling it for her. Once the phone was located, we found out what was really causing her distress:
She was traveling with her therapy dog, and the Southwest gate agent told her that she had to pay the $95 fee for her dog to fly. She could not take the dog on her flight as an “Emotional Support Animal” because she did not have the proper documentation from a medical health professional or doctor who was treating her mental health-related disability.
The Southwest gate agent was compassionate, but firm, and the woman paid the $95 fee.
The reason she was so upset is that she thought she had done what she needed to do because she had paid several hundred dollars to some kind of online Dog Registry service like this one (I don’t know for a fact that it was this organization). In addition to registering her dog as an “Emotional Support Animal“, the woman had purchased a special carrier, tags, certificate, and dog vest and leash.
The gate agent told her that none of this was meaningful to airlines in accepting an Emotional Support Animal on board with a passenger. The only thing that was required was something she did not have with her: a letter from the medical health professional who was treating her.
Curious, I looked up the details on Southwest’s website. They are clearly spelled out:
Emotional Support Animals
Animals used for a Customer’s emotional support are accepted in the cabin. Emotional support animals will be allowed to travel on flights to/from all domestic and international destinations with the exception of Jamaica. No animals will be allowed to travel to/from Jamaica on Southwest Airlines under any circumstances due to country-specific regulations. In order for a Customer to travel with an emotional support animal, the Customer must provide to a Southwest Airlines Employee current documentation (not more than one year old) on letterhead from a mental health professional or medical doctor who is treating the Customer’s mental health-related disability stating:
- The Passenger has a mental or emotional disability recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – Fourth Edition (DSM IV)
- The Passenger needs the emotional support of psychiatric service animal as an accommodation for air travel and/or for activity at the passenger’s destination
- The individual providing the assessment is a licensed mental health professional or medical doctor, and the Passenger is under his or her professional care AND
- The date and type of mental health professional’s or medical doctor’s license and the state or other jurisdiction in which it was issued
Assistance and emotional support animals must be trained to behave in a public setting. Customers traveling with an assistance animal or an emotional support animal cannot sit in an emergency exit seat.
Anyone who wants to travel with their cat or small dog in the cabin on a Southwest flight, may do so under certain circumstances when you meet the procedures and pay the $95 fee.
Our cat, Princess Gracie, hates to travel and will not be joining us in flight anytime soon.
But if you want to travel with your pet on Southwest, here is the place to find out all of the details.
The bottom line: if you are traveling with a service animal of any kind, or want to travel with your pet, it is crucial to check the details and requirements of the airline that you plan to fly, well in advance of your flight.
Have you flown with your pet or service animal? What tips do you have to share?