Southwest Airlines Community

that is illegal to do that and it isnt actual proof of a condition.  ... View more

A service animal is a dog that helps an individual with a diability and is allowed access everywhere. An emotional support animal is allowed on planes and housing, but not out in public.    In South West, traveing with an ESA requries documentation that you need an ESA, where a service animal does not need those documents. Instead workers can ask if it is a service animal and what task it does to help with a disability.  There are no charges for both service animals or ESAs.    Reminder that your animal must be well behaved to go on the flight 🙂  ... View more

Hi!  After reading your article, I want to inform you that people do have invisible disabilities and may actually need a service dog. I personally have a service dog for three rare illnesses that are quite debilitating-but on the outside look like a perfectly fine 18 year old.  Yes, there are scammers who go buy a vest to take their dog where ever they would like and fly for free and it is very sad for the real service dog teams- but please remeber that there are invisable illnesses.    A great way to see if it is a real service dog team is based on behavior- if the dog is laying down and very well behaved and the owner knows their rights it is probably a real team.  If the dog is out of control it proabably is not a real team, and an employee has every right to tell them they cannot board due to it being out of control 🙂    Quick reminder that faking a service animal is ILLEGAL and registring your dog from one of the scam sites online DOES NOT make your dog a service animal- you actually have to have a disability!  ... View more