Airline Rejects Woman's Emotional Support Peacock

'This animal did not meet guidelines for a number of reasons'
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 31, 2018 1:54 AM CST
Airline Rejects Woman's Emotional Support Peacock
Not on United.   (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

If you need emotional support from a peacock, don't count on flying United. The airline turned away a woman who tried to bring a peacock on a recent flight from Newark Liberty International as her emotional support animal, reports Business Insider. The woman initially argued that she was entitled to bring the enormous bird on board for free, but her request was denied even after she said she was willing to buy a ticket for it, according to the Live and Let's Fly travel blog. "This animal did not meet guidelines for a number of reasons, including its weight and size," the airline said in a statement. "We explained this to the customer on three separate occasions before she arrived at the airport."

The Jet Set travel show posted photos of the bird on Facebook. United says its policy on emotional support animals requires "these customers to provide documentation from a medical professional and at least 48 hours advance notice." The peacock incident follows controversy over Delta's new policy on support animals, Fox reports. The airline says it tightened the policy after a steep increase in incidents including animal defecation and attacks on crew members. The new policy, which takes effect March 1, bans exotic support animals including insects, spiders, goats, ferrets, and anything with tusks. (A badly behaved emotional support pig was kicked off a US Airways flight.)

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