American Airlines Makes It Easier To Bring Dogs Onboard – Live and Let’s Fly

American Airlines is making it easier for passengers to bring their dogs or cats onboard through an important change to its carry-on policy. Will this reduce the number of people gaming the system with fake service dogs?

With Carry-On Bag Changes, American Airlines Makes It Easier To Travel With Your Dogs Or Cats…And Not Be A Scammer

First noted by View From The Wing, American Airlines’ new carry-on baggage policy no longer requires you to choose between bringing a carry-on bag or a pet onboard. Up until now, if you paid the fee for an in-cabin pet, you were allowed a personal item, but not a larger carry-on bag.

Although the website has not been updated yet, you can now bring either a full-size carry-on bag or a personal item in addition to your pet kennel onboard. The new rule went into effect on March 28, 2024.

No wonder so many people choose to pay $20 for a “service animal” vest on Amazon, stick it on their untrained dog, save the $150 carry-on pet fee, and be able to take a large carry-on bag plus personal item onboard.

What a system!

Will this reduce the scamming of passengers who cannot bear to pay $150 or keep their pets in a cage?

I hope so…but I doubt it. It is still too easy to simply attest that your dog is a trained service animal and then bring it on at no charge.

But the new AA policy change makes sense. If you have a pet in a carrier, that will remain at your feet so why shouldn’t you be able to bring in a roll-a-board or other larger item to place in the overhead bin?

CONCLUSION

American Airlines is making it easier to play the rules and bring your dog or cat onboard without lying…you now will be able to take your larger carry-on bag onboard as well. This strikes me as a reasonable and common-sense policy change.

And there is some truth to the notion that if American Airlines (and other carriers) did not incentivize people to game the system through onerous carry-on policies, maybe we would see more people play by the rules.

I guess we will soon find out…

image: American Airlines