United tries comfort dogs to ease fliers' holiday stress

Don’t be surprised if you see a friendly dog if you’re flying United on Wednesday.

“The joyous Christmas season can be stressful. United Airlines understands – and is enlisting help from some of its furry, four-legged friends on a mission to reduce stress and deliver smiles to anyone who needs one,” United says about its “United Paws” program. The carrier has deployed a team of "professionally trained comfort dogs" at seven of its busiest U.S. hubs. The dogs began their stress-reducing mission on Monday and will continue working through Wednesday’s flights.

The Comfort Dogs are appearing at United’s hubs at Chicago O’Hare,, Denver, Houston Bush Intercontinental, Los Angeles, Newark and Washington and Dulles. They’ll also appear at Cleveland, where United still has a large presence despite dropping its hub there last year.

The United Paws dogs are on duty between 9 a.m. and noon and between 1 and 4 p.m., all times local.

"In ways large and small, all of us at United want to bring a bit of comfort and joy to our customers during this busy season of travel," Tom O'Toole, United's chief marketing officer, says in a statement. "We introduced comfort dogs during the holiday season last year, and they were very popular with our customers, so we're bringing them back at more airports this year."

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