An Emortional Support Duck on an American Eagle Last Week Had Red Shoes and a Diaper

by Gary Leff

The Air Carrier Access Act of 1986 prohibits airlines from discriminating against passengers with disabilities, and thus they must make reasonable accommodations for them which allow them to fly — like having access to their emotional support animals.

Reforms may be coming, like limiting the kinds of animals allowed on planes. But in the meantime almost anything goes.

Like an emotional support duck on an American Airlines regional carrier flight between Charlotte and Asheville, North Carolina.

It was a duck. Making his way down the aisle.

Wearing red shoes. And a Captain America diaper.

The duck’s human introduced him to their fellow, now-amused passengers: This was Daniel Turducken Stinkerbutt, or Daniel for short. He is a 4 1/2-year-old Indian Runner duck and is her emotional support animal, she explained.

This was the duck’s first time on a plane, and the passenger had a doctor’s note.

@mark_essig caught video and perhaps ironically, he’s the author of A Snout-to-Tail History of the Humble Pig

He also gets pictures of the duck’s red shoes,

(HT: @H4ppYtraveller)

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

More articles by Gary Leff »

Comments

  2. At some point isn’t this unfair to the animals, let alone the passengers and crew that have to deal with this? A duck? Ducks don’t belong indoors. Ridiculous!

  4. seriously what is it with the insane rise of emotional support animals and the ridiculous rise of people with “gluten allergies”…..?!?! I am aware of the incidence of celiac disease in the general population, but that is maybe 1/15 people who claim this gluten allergy to be part of a fad…

    The sissy-fication of america….

  6. How awesome!

    How can I book a flight where the duck is going to be traveling? I’d pay more for this: she looks very cool.

  8. I would find having any of my animals on a plane to be super stressful; forget about them being of any support, emotional or otherwise. If a passenger is that needy she should not be flying, IMO.

Comments are closed.