Alaska Airlines ESA Pet Policy
Traveling in-cabin with your pet can improve your flight experience considerably. If you have a mental condition and possess an emotional support animal letter for your pet, you can experience a hassle-free air travel with your ESA. Alaska Airlines is the fifth largest airline in the country in terms of fleet size, destinations covered, and the number of passengers traveling. They welcome emotional support animals on their flight at no extra cost. Some people face difficulty in traveling on flights due to their mental condition. And having your pet with you during the flight helps provide you the support you need during your journey. So, next time don’t cancel your trip because you feel anxious about traveling alone; you have an ESA to take care of you.
Alaska Airlines ESA Policy: Things You Need to Know
To ensure the safety and comfort of you and your fellow passengers the airlines, you need to adhere to some Alaska Airlines ESA policy. Let’s take a look at Alaska Airline’s policy which is similar to Delta Airlines pet policy regarding emotional support animals.
- Each guest is limited to carry only one emotional support animal.
- Animals accepted as ESAs include cats and dogs.
- Emotional support animals can travel in-cabin with their owners at no extra charges.
- The size of the ESA should not exceed the personal space of the guest’s seat or the foot area.
- The guest must keep his/her ESA in control at all times onboard the aircraft and at the airport.
- To ensure the safety of fellow passengers, the guest should either carry his/her ESA in an approved carrier that fits under the seat or put a leash on the pet.
- Preferably, the guest should not overfeed or overwater his/her ESA before the flight.
- The guest must make sure that his/her ESA behaves appropriately at the airport and on the flight.
- For safety concerns, the guest will not be permitted to sit in an emergency exit row when with an emotional support animal.
- It is recommended that the guest sits on a window seat.
- The ESA must not sit on a tray table at any point or obstruct the areas or aisles that should remain clear for emergency evacuation.
Alaska Airlines ESA Rules: Documents You Need to Carry
Emotional support animals assist people who have mental conditions and help them manage their health effectively. So, when you are planning to travel with your emotional support animal, you need to carry along certain documents. These include an emotional support animal letter from a certified health professional, an animal health advisory form (Alaska Airlines recommend their travelers to carry a certified copy of your pet’s health certificate from your veterinarian for the whole journey), and an animal behavior form. You must carry the documents mentioned above to fly in Alaska Airlines hassle-free. Also, the airlines require you to submit all the documents to them at least 48 hours before the departure and keep the forms with you for the entire journey as well.
If you carry the documents mentioned above and adhere to the airline policy diligently, you won’t have any issues traveling on the flight. Having your emotional support animal assist you through the flight will provide you an experience to behold.
All these Alaska Airlines ESA rules mentioned above apply for flights flying domestically in the United States of America except in Hawaii. Though most provisions and parts of the policy remain the same, there are some more conditions that one has to adhere to when traveling with ESA to Hawaii. Hawaii is the only state in the country that is rabies-free. And to remain that way, the state has a strict policy regarding any animal entering their state line. So, they enacted strict guidelines and programs for people traveling with an ESA. An emotional support animal arriving in the state without appropriate documentation may be quarantined up to 120 days at your expense. Also, the airlines hold no responsibility for any extra cost that may incur should you arrive in the state without proper documentation.
When traveling in airlines, you must be extra careful and make sure that your emotional support animal is at its best behavior. You need to ensure that your pet does not.
- Barks excessively, not in the owner’s distress
- Jumps on employees or other passengers
- Eat off, or damage seat back tray tables
- Not respond to the owner’s commands
- Behave aggressively with animals or other guests
