The pair had a seat on a domestic US Airways flight but were asked to leave the plane before the flight took off when the pig paced the cabin, becoming "disruptive and stinking out the cabin".
An American woman has been ordered off a plane after bringing a 70-pound pot-bellied pig on board for "emotional support".
The pair had a seat on a domestic US Airways flight but were asked to leave the plane before the flight took off when the pig paced the cabin, becoming "disruptive and stinking out the cabin".
Jonathan Skolnik, a professor at the University of Massachusetts who was sitting next to the unnamed woman and her pig, said he initially thought the farmyard animal was a large duffel bag.
"It turns out it wasn't a duffel bag. We could smell it and it was a pig on a leash," Prof Skolnik recalled.
"She tethered it to the arm rest next to me and started to deal with her stuff, but the pig was walking back and forth," he told ABC News.
The US Department of Transportation’s Service Animal Guidance says pigs and other “unusual animals” like miniature horses and monkeys are allowed on aircraft on a “case-by-case basis”.
“Factors to consider are the animal’s size, weight, state and foreign country restrictions, and whether or not the animal would pose a direct threat to the health or safety of others, or cause a fundamental alteration (significant disruption) in the cabin service,” the guide says.