Delta Airlines has announced that it will be implementing stricter regulations and requirements for passengers who want to bring animals on board flights for medical or emotional reasons.
In their announcement, Delta said that these new measures will be taken to ensure the safety of passengers from untrained animals.
“The rise in serious incidents involving animals in flight leads us to believe that the lack of regulation in both health and training screening for these animals is creating unsafe conditions across U.S. air travel,” said John Laughter, Delta’s Senior Vice President, in a press release.
Delta officials also said that there has been an 84 percent increase in reported incidents since 2016, “including urination/defecation, biting and even a widely reported attack by a 70-pound dog.”
The new animal guidelines will require passengers traveling with animals to submit proof of their animal's health and vaccinations 48 hours before they fly. Anyone bringing an emotional support animal on a flight will also need a letter from an animal professional that confirms the animal will be able to behave properly on the flight. As of now, only a signed doctor's note stating the necessity of the animal is needed.
While increasing the requirements for a passenger to bring an animal on a flight, the airline emphasizes that they will not discriminate against customers with legitimate needs.
Art Caplan, director of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU Langone Medical Center, thinks Delta's decision is timely.
“I do think the companion thing has gotten out of control,” he said during an interview with Boston Public Radio Wednesday. "If you don’t have a certificate that you need — what people are doing is they are going on the internet and buying one of this little vests and putting it on Fido and saying, 'It's my medical companion.' There is no screen or test. I think that is getting abused. It’s time to cut back on that.”
“It is a Noah’s ark phenomenon, we get two of everything coming through,” he added.
In its statement, Delta reported having passengers who attempted to fly with “comfort turkeys, gliding possums known as sugar gliders, snakes, spiders and more.”
“You can’t just turn every airline into some kind of transit for every animal on the planet," Caplan said. “This was not the intent for companion animals.”
