by Donald Wood
Last updated: 5:10 PM ET, Tue June 5, 2018
JetBlue announced Tuesday it had updated the airline's requirements for customers flying with emotional support and psychiatric service animals.
As part of JetBlue's commitment to ensuring the safety of all customers and crewmembers, passengers who travel with a service animal are now required to submit advanced notification and documentation.
The new policy applies to anyone scheduled to travel on or after July 1. On the other hand, the former policy for non-psychiatric service animals which are trained to perform specific tasks to provide disability mitigation directly to traveling customers remains unchanged.
As a result of several recent incidents involving inadequately trained emotional support animals, JetBlue is following an industry-wide crackdown on pets that can cause health and safety risks for customers, crewmembers and other service or support animals.
"As always, we welcome the opportunity to support customers who require special assistance or accommodation while ensuring a safe environment for everyone onboard. This is not only a requirement, it's simply the right thing to do," JetBlue vice president of safety John Allen said in a statement. "With these new policies, we've developed a thoughtful and collaborative approach to balance the needs of customers requiring assistance while responding to the extensive feedback we've received from customers and crewmembers concerned about their health and safety."
Starting on July 1, JetBlue will only accept dogs, cats and miniature horses as emotional support or psychiatric service animals. Owners must also download, complete and submit three documents online at least 48 hours in advance.
The documents include a Medical/Mental Health Professional form, a Veterinary Health form and a Confirmation of Animal Behavior form. All of the proper paperwork can be obtained through JetBlue's official website.
For the latest travel news, updates and deals, subscribe to the daily TravelPulse newsletter.
Topics From This Article to Explore
