Chrissy Teigen jokingly flew with an 'emotional support casserole' and made a point about how bizarre the debate over support animals on planes has become
- Chrissy Teigen brought an "emotional support casserole" on an American Airlines flight on Saturday.
- Teigen documented herself cooking the casserole, asking American and TSA if she could bring it on her flight, and carrying it through airport security.
- Teigen has written a cookbook, Cravings, and is working on its sequel.
Airline carry-on rules can be confusing, so Chrissy Teigen went on Twitter this weekend to ask if she could bring her "emotional support casserole" on an American Airlines flight. After checking with the Twitter accounts for American and the Transportation Security Administration, she received permission.
"If I don't have a carry-on, can I bring a large ceramic casserole dish of scalloped potatoes on the plane? I am not kidding, is this okay? Is it too blunt/heavy an object? I'll cry if they throw it away," she wrote on Twitter.
"That's a good question, Christine! Scalloped potatoes are allowed in carry-on and checked bags. You can place them in a ceramic casserole dish," the TSA's customer service account replied.
Teigen documented herself cooking the casserole, asking if she could bring it on her flight, and carrying it through airport security.
"We made it!" she wrote after the casserole made its way through security.
While Teigen gained fame as a model, she has written a cookbook, Cravings, and is working on its sequel. She has posted dishes she's made and shared cooking tips on her Instagram and Twitter accounts.
Teigan jokingly bringing an "emotional support casserole" comes at a time when airlines have faced controversy around how they handle emotional support animals.
Delta and United Airlines have introduced revised policies, but recent incidents, including a dog that bit a passenger, an emotional support peacock that was denied boarding, and a customer who claimed she was encouraged to flush her hamster down the toilet, have shown how quickly an emotional support animal can become a public-relations disaster.
So while Teigen's request didn't involve an animal, her use of the words "emotional support" to describe her casserole may have put American Airlines on edge.