They really should start policing/fining people with fake emergency support animal vests. I'm surprised that it took a peacock for UA to bat an eye on this issue and even now they're dragging their feet.

If I park my car in a handicap space almost anywhere in the world without a permit I get a hefty ticket in the best case, or booted/towed/window smashed in on the worse case. The reason for that is clear, my selfishness on parking is causing people with real disabilities and limited mobility to park further away possibly limiting their choices.

Similarly, people who abuse the support animal laws are being selfish by putting the professional service animals used by the disabled at risk of attack by sparky the family dog. Think of it this way, if your job was to help a blind person navigate a complex building like EWR the last thing you'd want is someone coming over to distract you or worse bite you. It's also unfair to people with allergies and sensitivities to stupidity like this. I have been in pre-check lines with these people who hold up the lines with their service pets which makes me wonder how they had the intelligence to qualify for the program.

Frankly I'd hope all the airlines and TSA put their foot down on these abuses. They should outright ban all of this unless you have actual proof of a disability. The state should provide a permit that people with disabilities carry around with them to prove that they have a disability and their animal is a professional and not sparky trying to travel with their air headed owner. They do this for something as relatively trivial as parking spots surely they could do this for something as vital as service animals.

Safe Travels,

James