An airline can absolutely choose to not allow animals the DoT deems acceptable. An airline cannot accept animals the DoT says are not allowed.
Wonder if the drivers will still feel the same first time they get a back seat full of road apples...
Then this has nothing to do with Trump, or anyone from the government for that matter, anymore. For some reason, some airlines find it worthwhile to allow these animals on their flights. Whether this will backfire and end up like a "Gillette-like virtue-signaling fuck up", time will tell and they will adjust soon enough(or not and other companies will take their place.) Yeah... As I wrote in my first post here, this is where the problem lies. Not only because having the government dictate what a private business can or cannot do is the REAL UNAMERICAN THING HERE... But because you are essentially paying useless bureaucrats to do something that the market does far better.
You may well be right but I thought it was the exact opposite. They have to allow the approved animals, and if they refuse them, they are subject to penalty. They can allow anything else they want, in their discretion.
Here's the part I don't get. The cabin attendants are very strict on you having anything under your feet that does not completely go under the seat in front of you. Safety issue. But somehow this is not a safety issue? How are you supposed to get out of that window seat? And I'm sure that horse will remain calm in a crash or other emergency.
No, the DoT doesn't tell the airlines what they should consider acceptable. They're concerned with safety. An airline couldn't allow a non-approved animal on (what if someone wanted to take their support Silverback Gorilla on the plane and it caused an accident). The DoT is basically saying "we don't see a problem with a miniature horse on a plane", regardless of how silly it is. That is how I understand it to work.
After this pic, we cannot be too dismissive of any absurdity: By any measure, a horse's ass in the Oval Office is more ridiculous than an entire horse on a plane.
Anyone remember the woman who wanted her peacock on the plane? She ended up going by land with her peacock and the airline barred her and her peacock for reasons of safety yet, she made a fuss out of it and liberal media gave her a lot of attention! Mini-horses are cute as pets but, certainly, do not belong in a plane! Maybe, passengers with anxiety riding a plane should instead, take a sedative to calm them down for a few hours? There, problem solved for everyone!