To travel with an emotional support or psychiatric service animal in the cabin, you must provide documentation dated within one year from the date of the scheduled initial flight on the letterhead of a licensed mental health professional (psychiatrist, psychologist or licensed clinical social worker), or from a medical doctor specifically treating the passengers mental or emotional disability.

Documentation must state:

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 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.

The date and type of the mental health professional or medical doctor’s license and the state or other jurisdiction in which it was issued

Hawaii animal quarantine

Hawaii is a rabies-free state. If you’re traveling to Hawaii with a service animal, emotional support animal or psychiatric service animal, you must have a health certificate issued within 14 days prior to travel. You must also contact the Hawaii Department of Agriculture to get a Neighborhood Island Permit before leaving the mainland if you’re traveling to Maui, Kauai or the Big Island.

US Airways will only permit service animals, emotional support animals and psychiatric animals in the cabin for travel to/from Hawaii.

When the service animal or emotional support animal, or psychiatric service animal is a bird or for information on requirements for allowing service animals, emotional support animals and psychiatric service animals to enter the state of Hawaii without quarantine, please contact the Hawaii Department of Agriculture.

Hawaii Department of Agriculture
Animal Quarantine Station
99-951 Halawa Valley Street
Aiea, HI 96701-5602
Phone: 808-483-7151

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:

1) The passenger has a mental or emotional disability recognized in the Diagnostic
and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – Fourth Edition (DSM IV)
2) The passenger needs the emotional support or psychiatric service animal as an
accommodation for air travel and/or for activity at the passenger’s destination
3) The individual providing the assessment is a licensed mental health professional,
and the passenger is under his or her professional care AND
4) The date and type of the mental health professional’s or medical doctor’s license
and the state or other jurisdiction in which it was issued.

*Southwest Airlines does not accept for transportation therapy dogs or exotic animals.

Please note that Customers traveling with an assistance animal or an emotional support animal may not sit in an emergency exit seat.

Emotional Support/Psychiatric Service Animals

Emotional Support/Psychiatric Service Animals require current documentation (i.e., not more than one year old) on letterhead or prescription from a licensed mental health professional or physician* stating the following:

The customer has a mental health-related disability.
The animal accompanying the customer is necessary to the customer’s mental health or treatment.
The number and type of animal(s)
The individual providing the assessment of the customer is a licensed mental health professional and the customer is under his or her professional care.
The date and type of the mental health professional’s license and the state or other jurisdiction in which it was issued.
If you would like documentation for your Emotional Support Animal pre-screened before arriving at the airport, please fax your documents to us at 801-449-2440 or email an attachment to SSRAlert@jetblue.com no less than 48 hours before your scheduled departure.

Always include the confirmation number on all correspondence.

Please note: Required documentation for Emotional Support Animals must always accompany the animal when traveling and is to be presented upon request to JetBlue airport personnel for review.

*Any licensed mental health professional (e.g., psychiatrist, psychologist, licensed clinical social worker) including a medical doctor who is specifically treating a customer’s mental or emotional disability.

Documentation is not required for service animals; however,
behavior must be consistent with animals in work mode.
Customers with mental health-related disabilities must provide
a letter from their mental health professional to verify service, an
emotional support animal/psychiatric assistance animal provides.
The professional’s letterhead must include mailing, email and
telephone information. Failure to provide documentation may
result in denial of boarding for the emotional support animal.
Emotional support animals are expected to respond to the
direction of the owner.

Exceptions (contact delta.com or 800-221-1212 for more
information):
• Hawaii – must notify Hawaii Department of Agriculture.
• United Kingdom – must comply with British laws for service
dogs and cats.
• Other island nations may require quarantine or other
restrictions. Contact appropriate embassy or consulate
for more info.
• For international travel on partner airlines, please see their
websites or contact them for their rules concerning service/
emotional support/psychiatric assistance animals.

Kendra Velzen, a 28-year-old GVSU student who reportedly battles a heart condition and severe depression, wanted to keep a pet guinea pig in her dorm as an “emotional support animal.” However, campus housing rules say students can only keep non-predatory fish and service dogs in their dorm rooms.

Under the Fair Housing Act, the school should’ve made an exception for Velzen’s Blanca, her attorney Stephen Dane claims.

Velzen has now filed a lawsuit against the school and a complaint with the Michigan Civil Rights Department. The Fair Housing Center of West Michigan is assisting Velzen.

GVSU officials told the Grand Rapids Press that they never told Velzen she could not keep Blanca; instead they offered a compromise. She could own the guinea pig but she could not take it to common areas, class or to food-service areas. Velzen’s attorney said those restrictions were not acceptable.

“The university has never said, ‘OK, you may have your guinea pig, no conditions,’ Dane told the Press. “They haven’t given her any unconditional permission to have her guinea pig. She’s in limbo.”

Negotiations have stalled between Velzen and GVSU. Blanca has since died.

The AP reports the university has not yet received the lawsuit.

A student at the University of Nebraska at Kearney made a similar argument in 2011 to keep a small dog as an “emotional support animal” in their university apartment.

Psychiatric assist animals and emotional support animals are also accepted in cabin for qualified individuals with a disability if certain documentation requirements are met. Additional documentation may also be required for an animal traveling to an international destination.

An animal should sit at the customer’s feet without protruding into the aisles to comply with safety regulations. Customers may elect to use an approved in-cabin kennel for smaller animals. Exit row seating is prohibited. Refer to the U.S. Department of Transportation 14 CFR Part 382 or contact United for additional information.

Customers traveling with an emotional support or psychiatric assist animal must provide a minimum forty-eight (48) hour advance notification to United Reservations. The disability desk in reservations (1-800-228-2744) must receive and validate the required documentation prior to the time of travel. Verification of documentation will include United contacting your mental health care professional. If we are unable to validate the documentation or if the advance notification is not given, customers will be required to transport the animal as a pet, and pet fees will apply.

Note from Sussie: They did not divulge WHAT type of documentation is required. So I would suggest calling them.

Maybe pigs can fly after all.

Pot-bellied pigs, as well as miniature horses and monkeys, could be permitted to travel on planes under new Department of Transportation rules.

The guidelines are part of a draft manual on equality for disabled people traveling on commercial passenger planes.

Animals should be allowed on flights if they are used for ‘emotional support’ by their owners, the manual states.

Transportation officers would have to determine whether the animal is permitted on the plane by running through a list of guidelines.

‘A passenger arrives at the gate accompanied by a pot-bellied pig,’ the manual states. ‘She claims that the pot-bellied pig is her service animal. What should you do?’

According to CNSNews, it continues: ‘Generally, you must permit a passenger with a disability to be accompanied by a service animal.

‘However, if you have a reasonable basis for questioning whether the animal is a service animal, you may ask for some verification.’

Airline employees should enquire about how the animal aids the passenger and what training it has had.

If the employee has doubts that the animal is a service animal, they can ask for further verification or call a Complaints Resolution Official.

WHAT SUPPORT CAN THESE ANIMALS GIVE?

Service animals help perform some of the tasks that people with a disability have difficulty with or cannot perform for themselves.

Pot-bellied pigs, which can weigh upto 300 lbs, are favoured service animals for people allergic to dogs. They are intelligent companions and attuned to dangerous situations.

Miniature horses work as guide animals for the blind and visually-impaired. They are more cost-effective than guide dogs as their life spans are longer, around 30-40 years. They are also chosen for their calm natures, excellent eyesight and stamina, according to the Guide Horse Foundation.

‘Finally, if you determine that the pot-bellied pig is a service animal, you must permit the service animal to accompany the passenger to her seat provided the animal does not obstruct the aisle or present any safety issues and the animal is behaving appropriately in a public setting,’ the manual adds.

Pot-bellied pigs can grow as large as 300 pounds. They can be trained to open and close doors and use a litter box.

‘They seem to have a sense if the owner is not feeling well to stay by them,’ said Wendy Ponzo, from the North American Potbellied Pig Association.

Ponzo, who has multiple sclerosis, added: ‘They help me a great deal when I feel at my worst.’

Not all animals that could help humans are allowed in the cabin, including ferrets, rodents, spiders and snakes.

But miniature horses and monkeys are also ‘commonly used service animals’ and are allowed inside, the manual states.

It adds that cases will be dealt with individually and animals can be turned away if they are too large or heavy, or will cause disruption.

The owner must also provide a ‘relief area’ for his or her animal.

The rules come despite the TSA banning less potentially troubling items, such as sporting goods and snow globes.

They are outlined in the DoT’s Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in Air Travel: Draft Technical Assistance Manual.

The manual, which is open for public comments until October, is designed to ‘help carriers … provide services or facilities to passengers with disabilities’.

Who knew that pets could be so controversial? Here at Wes, the emotional support animal policy has been generating a fair amount of stir over the past couple of months.

From a post on the Parents Talk forum:

“Does anyone have experience with the University’s ‘support animal’ policy? Apparently students go through an application process to bring an animal for emotional support. We are baffled by this.”

From one Wes administrator to another (overheard) (maybe they should make office doors a little thicker?): students should not be allowed to have a new pet as an emotional support animal because “how would that create routine?” and “where is the bond?”

Yeah, I know. Those are things I should have never seen nor heard. But I did. More importantly, if you ask me, those are some things that should never have been said. Based on the amount of skepticism that the policy seems to generate, I thought I would give a brief explanation of what it means and why it exists.

Emotional support animals, as you might have guessed from the name, are animals that live with students who have documented disabilities. Before you, the healthy college reader, exclaim, “Wait, that’s just a pet!” with some indignation, let me break this down a little further.

You are probably aware by this point in your Wesleyan career that you are required to live on campus all four years unless you have a really awesome reason not to. You are also probably aware that you are not allowed to have a pet in campus residences, which means that the University has effectively banned you from having animals in your life for four whole years. Other than the basic stupidity of this (like, I don’t know, we are all adults and should be allowed to own cats), this can have negative impacts on our health.

Research shows that the presence of a pet can improve many conditions and even change people’s prognoses. That’s why there are services that bring dogs and cats into hospitals to visit patients. It doesn’t just “cheer them up” on a surface level, it actually improves their condition. This is especially true for depression. Having a pet helps to create routine, and can give people who are severely depressed a reason to get out of bed and a steady schedule that can help them succeed.

And in case you were wondering what conditions might affect our seemingly healthy population of college students, here’s a quick list: fibromyalgia, bipolar disorder, ADHD, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, eating disorders, epilepsy, autism spectrum disorder, multiple sclerosis, depression, migraines, diabetes, asthma, and severe allergies. That’s a list that I created from conditions that my friends and I have. That probably doesn’t even come close to covering the range of medical conditions that can be found here on campus.

This, as you may have guessed, is why emotional support animals are allowed. But getting an emotional support animal is not an easy process. If I were to make it a step-by-step type of thing, it would go like this: 1) students must have a documented disability and be registered with disability services, then 2) they must get a note from their doctor which states that having an emotional support animal is the best course of treatment for their condition (this is often combined with another treatment such as medication), and finally, 3) CAPS and the health center must agree that this is a reasonable accommodation to have. If the request gets approved, ResLife is then supposed to make sure that a student with an emotional support animal is housed with people who are not allergic to animals and would feel comfortable having an animal in their residence.

In the same way that there are students here with conditions bad enough to get medical weed (jealous?), there are students here who require other accommodations and who, even though you might not be able to tell, are disabled. That’s why it’s called an invisible disability. And as “baffling” as it may be to some people, an emotional support animal can be a valid and valuable course of treatment for these invisible (and visible) disabilities. Were I blind and requesting a seeing eye dog, nobody would question it. We as a society already understand on that level that animals can provide help for those in need, so it’s time to take the next step and realize that they can provide emotional support as well. It’s especially disappointing to see criticism coming from parents and the administration, those who are supposed to be a little more grown-up than we are.