Emotional Support Animal & Pet Policies: Frontier Airlines
Unlike most airline companies that have tried to make concessions for customers that have unorthodox emotional support animal, Frontier Airlines have formed a policy allowing only the most common animals cited in the U.S. Department of Transportation guidelines and will deny boarding even to animals that do fit in front of the passenger seat and have all of the documentation if they do not meet these standards.
Frontier Airlines emotional support animal policy is based on the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA), which prevents any discrimination on the basis of mental health, mental disability, or physical disability. Customers who have any of these issues and want to bring an ESA on board will need to familiarize themselves with the Act as to know precisely the extent of their rights under the new policy.
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What are the Restrictions?
There are three new categories when it comes to restrictions: size, species, and documentation. Size wise, all animals must be under 18 inches in length, 14 inches in width, and 8 inches tall. This is because Frontier requires all animals to have an ESA approved animal carrier and for this carrier to fit in the space underneath the passenger seat.
Any animal over this size will be denied boarding. It is not probable that any animals will be measured for exact size, and this is more visible if the animals don't fit into the seat. If your animal is slightly longer, wider or taller, they will probably be admitted to traveling if they do not break any other requirement.
As for the breed of the animals, there are significant restrictions with multiple classes of species being denied travel. These classes include reptiles, rodents, insects, eulipotyphla (hedgehogs, moles), non-household birds, and sugar gliders. Even though the species were specified, this doesn’t mean that species that are not technically on the list will be allowed. You will need to inquire with the airline prior to departure as to be sure. For dogs and cats, you will not need to call in advance unless they are on the border of fitting into the in-cabin carrier.
Finally, all animals that do not have the required letter from a mental health professional to prove that they are service animals or emotional support animals will be viewed as pets and charged a pet fee that will be $75 for each flight. Even if you have an emotional support dog, they will need to have proof of training to enter the aircraft cabin without a pet fee.
What Documents will you need?
You will either need an ESA Certificate or a training certificate, depending on if you have an emotional support animal or a service dog. Depending on the place of landing and the location of departure you might also need a health certificate for the animal, even if it is a dog or a cat.
Finally, you will need a signed document from a mental health professional showing that you, in fact, need to bring an animal on board the plane.