A few of the PUPs at LAX

You may have heard me rant about travelers gaming the system with their so-called emotional support animals—A.K.A. pets that have no certification but fly for free.

Well, that may be a gray area, but I’ll tell you what I AM okay with: therapy dogs at airports.

Nearly 30 airports around the country are bringing in dogs to help ease the stress of traveling. These are actual legitimate, trained therapy dogs.

Charlotte-Douglas Airport just started this program with a team of dogs, including a Labradoodle named Tucker and a Yorkshire Terrier named Winston Churchill.

One of the first airports to do this was Mineta San Jose, after the events of 9/11, when an airport pastor brought in his own dog to help stressed-out flyers.

LAX has about 30 dogs that roam the terminals at any given time as part of the Pets Unstressing Passengers—or PUP—program. Just look for the little guys in red vests that say “pet me.”

So when someone complains that travel is going to the dogs, you can say, you bet it is.

For more information about pets at airports, check out:

• Emotional Support Animals: How More People Are Flying With Their Pets
• Puppy Therapy at the Airport

Keep reading for more travel tips.