Southwest Airlines has updated its baggage policy to prohibit human-like and animal-like robots from its flights after a humanoid robot boarded a Dallas-bound flight earlier this month.
The policy change followed a May 7 flight from Las Vegas to Dallas Love Field on which an employee of The Robot Studio, a Dallas-based company, traveled with a robotic companion named Stewie.
We just got robots banned from Southwest Airlines. You’re welcome 🫡
Yesterday we flew our humanoid robot Stewie from Las Vegas to Dallas on Southwest — something we (and others) have tried and failed multiple times because batteries are always the issue.
This time we cracked… pic.twitter.com/FqJjk1vSfQ— Aaron Mehdizadeh (@rentbotsTX) May 12, 2026
The company purchased a separate plane ticket for Stewie and verified that the robot’s battery met Federal Aviation Administration requirements before the trip. Videos shared on social media showed Stewie walking through the terminal, boarding the aircraft, and interacting with passengers as flight attendants looked on.
Two days after the flight, Southwest revised its baggage rules to address robotic devices.
“To ensure compliance with our guidelines for traveling safely with lithium-ion batteries, Southwest clarified its baggage policy to include robotic devices,” the airline said in a statement to FOX 4 KDFW.
The carrier’s website now states: “Southwest Airlines does not allow human-like or animal-like robots to be transported in the cabin or as checked baggage, regardless of size or purpose. A ‘human‑like robot’ is a robot designed to resemble or imitate a human in its appearance, movement, or behavior. An ‘animal-like robot’ is a robot designed to resemble or imitate an animal in its appearance, movement, or behavior. All other robots, including toys, must be able to fit within a carry-on size bag and comply with existing battery restrictions.”
Aaron Mehdizadeh, who owns The Robot Studio and rents out robots such as Stewie, said the company followed every precaution before the trip. He pushed back on online criticism over the lithium battery used to power the robot.
“The battery that we used was not a safety hazard, and a lot of people online were like how can you bring a lithium battery, you’re endangering people,” Mehdizadeh said. “This battery was totally under the FAA limit.”
“It’s a total conspiracy,” robot Stewie told CBS News Texas through his programmed voice. “I swear they don’t want us robots peeking at the clouds, seeing what’s really up there. My dreams got clipped faster than a bad haircut.”
Mehdizadeh said he anticipates sweeping changes in artificial intelligence and robotics.
“I understand why people have the fear,” he said. “But if you are aligned towards the future and position yourself to be always learning, every new AI feature that comes out, and being ahead of the curve, this could be one of the greatest things that’s ever happened in human history.”
Stewie’s trip was the second reported instance of a humanoid robot boarding an airplane as a passenger. On April 30, a Southwest Airlines flight from Oakland to San Diego was delayed for nearly an hour while the flight crew addressed safety concerns after Eily Ben-Abraham, of Dallas-based Elite Event Robotics, brought his robot, Bebop, on board.
In this instance, the crew determined that Bebop could not sit in an aisle seat because that would violate the company’s policy on large carry-on items. Bebop was moved to a window seat, but Ben-Abraham was required to remove the robot’s battery, which the airline said exceeded the maximum allowable size.
Pushkar Shinde, chief technology officer at The Robot Company, likened current attitudes toward robots to early public reactions to automobiles in the 1920s.
“So from my perspective, this is like a very early industry,” Shinde said, Fox 4 reported. “It’s still predominantly entertainment.”
