Southwest Airlines Community

Charging a pet fee is the same as being charged a pet deposit or pet rent at an apartment. It is for the liability that bringing a live animal onto a plane causes.   You do not know if your pet causes a severe allergic reaction for the surrounding passengers.    They also have to ensure that your pet did not leave a mess after the flight, which adds extra responsibilities to the flight crew.   Also, it is an extra service, so you have to pay an extra fee. They are allowing you to bring a live animal onto a flight without knowing any details about that animals temperament. The pet owners griping about fees in this thread are the kind of pet owners that veterinarians mock for being parasocial. ... View more

This post is ridiculous.   And ESA is NOT the same as a service animal. All pets are technically ESAs as a pet provides emotional support when cuddling, acting cute, etc.   ESA's are NOT trained to do disability related tasks. They do not have any specialized skills. They are animals doing their evolutionary duty of comforting humans. It is a fancy name for a pet. There is no such thing as an ESA certificate as an ESA does not have any specialized training.    A service animal is a dog or sometimes miniature horse that does a minimum of 4 specialized tasks in order to support a human being with a disability. A disability means you cannot do a major life function due to the medical condition. Service animals are NOT pets and may provide emotional support, however that is not their duty. There is also no such thing as a "certificate" for service animals.    The fact that people are out here trying to use legitimate psychiatric illnesses to travel with their pets is horrifying. If someone ACTUALLY needed a service dog present for psychiatric illness to travel, they would be working with their medical professionals for YEARS to select and train the animal. You don't simply go online and print off a certificate and show up at the gate.   This kind of behavior is negative for people who legitimately depend on service animals that are trained to perform specific disability related tasks. Keep your pets at home or fork over the $100. smh ... View more