SNAKES ON A PLANE

The latest craze to sweep the airline industry is Emotional Support animals. Have you been on a plane yet with any weird and wonderful creatures.

A woman tried (without success) to bring a peacock onto a United flight recently, reportedly claiming that it was an emotional support animal, which would allow the animal to fly for free.  Quite Rightly United refused her request.

This is becoming so common that airlines have had to introduce rules for which animals can and cannot be taken on-board.  So called, but fake emotional support animals have been such a problem for airlines that Delta has had to be quite specific about what animals are not allowed on a flight.

I mean a Peacock! it could quite easily have pecked someone in the face. I know as when I was young, a neighbour had two and they regularly chased us down the road.

This however is not the strangest animal someone has tried to bring on board an airplane.

Common sense it seems does not prevail.

Here are some of the strangest animals people have attempted (successfully or not) to bring on planes:

Snakes

A penguin (Not sure I would mind this)

A very large Spider

A Pig

A Monkey

A Turkey

A Duck

A Live Lobster (All be it having its claws fastened!)

A Chicken

A Kangeroo

The list goes on and on!

I am wondering how long it is before people start wanting to take them on cruises with them!

What do you think about it all. Is it madness or should people really be able to bring them with them?

Should they have to be secured for the flight?

Airlines are worried about passengers trying to pass off pets as emotional support animals, which fly for free. But airlines are not always clear about what qualifies as an emotional support animal.

You may think it is obvious but how does anyone determine what is and isn’t giving support to an individual.

Delta Air Lines announced new regulations that require passengers to provide documentation verifying their emotional support animals have been trained and vaccinated and Delta, United Airlines, and American Airlines set out rules for emotional support animals and whilst they require passengers to provide documentation proving their emotional support animals are not merely pets, they leave the job of determining what qualifies as an emotional support animal to licensed medical professionals.

Here are the steps passengers have to take to bring an emotional support animal into the main cabin on one of the three major US airlines:

American — Passengers must submit a document signed by a licensed doctor or medical health professional which states that the passenger has a “mental health or emotional disability” and needs the animal “for emotional support or psychiatric service” on the flight or at the passenger’s destination. The document needs to have been signed within the past year and must be submitted at least 48 hours before the flight.

Delta — Starting March 1, passengers will have to submit three documents if they wish to travel with an emotional support animal. In addition to a signed statement from a medical professional, passengers will have to provide vaccination dates and the contact information of the animal’s veterinarian and sign a statement that claims the animal is properly trained “to behave in a public setting” and take the passenger’s “direction upon command.” The document needs to have been signed within the past year and must be submitted at least 48 hours before the flight.

United — Passengers must submit a document from a medical or mental health professional which states that the passenger has a “mental health-related disability” and that the emotional support animal “is necessary to the passenger’s mental health or treatment.” The document needs to have been signed within the past year and must be submitted at least 48 hours before the flight.

While passengers who can complete these steps will often be able to bring their emotional support animals into the cabin with them during a flight, there are some exceptions so it does not guarantee they can take them.

The US Department of Transportation says that airlines don’t have to let support animals into the cabin if they’re too large, heavy, disruptive, or threatening to the crew and passengers. And airlines don’t have to accept ferrets, reptiles, snakes, spiders, or sugar gliders as emotional support animals. American Airlines adds hedgehogs, insects, rodents, amphibians, non-household birds, and any animals with tusks, horns, or hooves, to its no-fly list.

What do you think of it all!

And what will be next?