American Airlines today announced forthcoming changes to its policies and procedures for travel with emotional support animals and service animals, aligning with regulations recently issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). The new policies and procedures are intended to support customers with disabilities and the service animals that travel with them, as well as the team members who work to keep customers safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur team is motivated by a purpose to care for people on life\u2019s journey, and we believe these policy changes will improve our ability to do just that,\u201d said Jessica Tyler, President of Cargo and Vice President of Airport Excellence for American. \u201cWe\u2019re confident this approach will enable us to better serve our customers, particularly those with disabilities who travel with service animals, and better protect our team members at the airport and on the aircraft.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The DOT\u2019s new rule defines a service animal as a dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of a qualified individual with a disability \u2014 a narrower definition than in the past. When the rule goes into effect Jan. 11, American will no longer authorize new travel for animals that do not meet that definition, such as emotional support animals. Existing bookings involving emotional support animals will be honored through Feb. 1, when the airline\u2019s new policies go into effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Starting Feb. 1, to ensure accessible travel for individuals with disabilities while protecting the safety and well-being of customers and team members, American will ask customers traveling with service animals to complete a DOT form attesting to the dog\u2019s behavior, training and health. The airline will require this form to be submitted electronically 48 hours in advance of a flight, unless the reservation is booked within 48 hours of travel. A service animal\u2019s authorization will be valid for one year or until the expiration of its vaccinations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Animals that previously traveled as emotional support animals and no longer qualify as service animals may travel as carry-on pets or as cargo pets, as long as they meet the requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
American is reaching out to customers who are expected to be impacted by these changes. The service animal forms, along with additional details about the airline\u2019s new policy, will be available on aa.com in the coming days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
American Airlines today announced forthcoming changes to its policies and procedures for travel with emotional support animals and service animals, aligning with regulations recently issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). The new policies and procedures are intended to support customers with disabilities and the service animals that travel with them, as well as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":325,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"American Airlines announces changes to its support and service animal policy #AmericanAirlines #aviation","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,27],"tags":[65,121],"class_list":["post-1964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-airlines","category-americas","tag-american-airlines","tag-aviation"],"yoast_head":"\n