Fort Lauderdale Airport Service Animal Policies

Assistance animals are welcome to travel with passengers who have disabilities. Certain exemptions are provided to these animals, but some rules and restrictions still apply. To determine if your dog qualifies to be certified as a Psychiatric Service Dog and can be accepted as such for air travel, you can visit Pettable’s PSD service.

Fort Lauderdale Airport Pet Relief Areas

The Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport boasts four outdoor pet relief areas and two post-security options. Each Terminal has a pre-security, outdoor area on the arrivals level. After security, passengers can bring their pets to two indoor pet relief areas located in Terminal 1. In 2017, the airport completed an indoor pet relief area in Terminal 1 Concourses A and B. To access these areas, follow the signs. Fort Lauderdale Airport pet policy requires that all owners clean up after their pets, but dog bags and trash receptacles are available at every pet relief station.

This airport has added six indoor relief areas specifically for Service Animals, which are called Service Animal Relief Areas (SARAs). Each terminal has a SARA available for passengers who are traveling with service animals.


Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Pet Air Cargo Locations

If your dog is too large to fly with you in the cabin, he will travel as either checked baggage or cargo. If you choose to fly a pet as checked baggage, you’ll check him in at the ticketing counter and pick him up at excess baggage. This is a fairly standard protocol across U.S. airports. 

If your airline does not offer a checked baggage option, your dog will need to fly as cargo. The Fort Lauderdale Airport requires that all pet parents retrieve their animals from airline-specific cargo facilities. Though on the general airport campus, these facilities are unconnected to passenger terminals. We do not recommend walking to these buildings, as the roads—Perimeter Road and the Port Everglades Expressway—are not pedestrian-friendly. Additionally, there is no shuttle service to airport cargo facilities; we recommend securing private transportation if you plan to pick your animal up directly after a flight.  

Below, we have listed essential contacts for popular airlines arriving at and departing from the Fort Lauderdale Airport. For additional information, visit the airport’s cargo directory. General cargo services are located at 3519 SW 2nd Avenue, Bay 6, in Fort Lauderdale; if you cannot find what you are looking for, we recommend asking the folks at this service or giving them a call at 954-359-0182. 

Delta Airlines Cargo
Handled by Airport Terminal Services, Inc.
3519 SW 2nd Avenue
Bay 1 
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33315
954-359-1737 

United Airlines Cargo
3519 SW 2nd Avenue
Bay 7
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33315
954-761-2000 

Southwest Airlines Cargo
3519 SW 2nd Avenue
Bay 5
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33315
954-359-0159 

More Fort Lauderdale International Airport Pet Policies

According to airport pet policy, animals are not permitted in the terminals unless they are in proper pet carriers or being used to assist disabled passengers. This rule is in place to protect fellow passengers and the airport’s working dogs; the Fort Lauderdale Airport’s AmbassaDogs program brings therapy dogs through the airport to visit stressed-out passengers. The only thing more stressful than traveling through an airport? Witnessing a dog fight between a fellow passenger’s animal and the therapy dog.  

Though not officially covered in Fort Lauderdale Airport pet policies, passengers traveling through Fort Lauderdale should keep an eye on the weather forecast—especially if their animals plan to travel as checked baggage or cargo. If temperatures raise above 85 degrees, as they do frequently in Florida, it may be unsafe for your pup to fly. To avoid a potential scheduling issue, we recommend that passengers with animals avoid flying through this airport in hot summer months.  

Looking for a different airport? Check out our airport directory.