If you are a frequent traveler, you may have noticed a marked increase in the number of passengers traveling with emotional support animals. In the recent years, passengers have realized the therapeutic benefits of traveling with emotional support animals. But, traveling with emotional support animals requires complying with few many policy guidelines of service animal travel. Let’s take a brief look on the policy guidelines of traveling with emotional support animals in flights.

Policy Guidelines on Emotional Support Animal and Psychiatric Service Animal Travel

ESA’s why needed?

Emotional support animals or psychiatric service animals provide emotional and psychiatric assistance to individuals suffering from certain kind of psychological disorders. These animals make positive therapeutic impact on the mental health of such individuals and so they are recommended by many psychologists.  

When an individual is prescribed an emotional support animal or psychiatric service animal, he/she needs to remain in all-time companionship of those animals. But, at times of travel this becomes difficult to show the importance and need of emotional support animals. Here is when you need to make an evaluation and understanding of the policy guidelines of traveling with emotional support animals.

Policies of Psychiatric Service Animal Travel

If you wish to travel with an emotional support or psychiatric service animal, you need to ensure that you have the supporting documentation in the form of an original letter on the letterhead of a licensed mental health professional, dated within one year of your departure date. This service animal travel letter helps to verify that you have genuine mental disability issues, which is why you are prescribed an emotional support or psychiatric service animal.

The letter must confirm that:

• You have a mental or emotional disability recognized by the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders)
• You need your emotional or psychiatric support animal during travel and/or at destination
• The person who is prepared the document is a licensed mental health professional. You are currently under the care of the licensed mental health professional who prepared the document
• The service animal letter must also provide information on the mental health professional’s license (i.e. type of license, date issued, and issuing authority).

Other than the service animal travel letter, it is important to make a service animal travel notice before 48 hours of the actual travel. This policy mainly implies for airline travel.

Major Benefits of Having a Service Animal Letter

Not only the service animal letter plays a vital role when traveling in flights with ESA but carrying an emotional support animal letter has many benefits, such as:

• Free Travel Allowance in Flights, Trains, Cruise Ships, Taxis, etc
• Unlike the Other Pets, the Emotional Support Animals are treated specially
• Special Tarvel Allowance in Flights
• And much more alike!

There are federal laws governing the rights of the emotional support animals. As per these laws, mandating to the following regulations is essential:

1. ESA Letter- A letter of confirmation by a licensed medical practitioner mentioning the need of emotional support animal should be there with the individuals every time they go out with these animals, travel somewhere, or visit some place with them

             This letter must state that the passenger’s medical problem for which he or she has been allotted an emotional support animal. The letter should surely contain a mentioning about the mental health-related disability of the passenger that substantially limits one of more major life activities and that the disability is listed in the DSM-IV. This letter signifies the importance for the presence of the emotional support animal for the passenger’s health and treatment

2. Travel Regulations - When traveling in airline with an emotional support animal, you must make a 48 hours’ notice to the airline

Advantages of Having an ESA Letter

Carrying an emotional support animal letter (ESA letter) has many benefits, such as:

1. Free travel allowance in trains, flights, cruise ships, taxis, etc
2. Unlike the other pets, the emotional support animals are treated specially
3. When traveling in flights, the emotional support animals are allotted a travel in the cabin of an airplane instead of a storage crate
4. No extra charges are charged for the emotional support animals
5. Since an emotional support animal is a service animal or aid people in some manner, so these pets need not rent housing facilities for them
6. No limitations is there on the size of the emotional support animals, like for instance, some rental properties limit the size of the dogs but in case of ESA’s it is not needed
7. And many more alike
   
   

There are more than a few psychological or emotional disorders that subsequently lead to severe psychosomatic issues. People fail to execute easy tasks, to communicate properly to move from one place to another, and so on. Many of these problems can completely be restored with the help of animal therapy. The animals used in the cure of the ailing individuals are generally referred to as emotional support animals. You might be thinking, how can these animals help restore the psychological or emotional disability problem. Well, emotional support animals provide emotional comfort, love, and companionship to those individuals that have specific therapeutic effects on them. The diseases for which the support of such animals is recommended are:

• Anxiety
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Bipolar Disorder
• Social Phobia
• Aviophobia
• Stress related problems
• Depression
• Cognitive Decline
• Autism
• And many more

Your Mental Health Wellness Is Important – Make the Right Decision and Apply for Your ESA Letter

There is absolutely no reason for you to hesitate in applying for your ESA letter. If you have a genuine medical problem related to psychology, then there should be no worries of verification from a counselor. People in the United States have gained practical benefits of having an ESA. By applying for an ESA letter, you secure the rights of your ESA and ensure all time accompaniment of them with you.

So, secure your mental health condition with the help of an emotional support animal by applying for an ESA letter.