An elderly woman from the Bronx is stranded in Puerto Rico after an airline would not let her board her flight home with her emotional support animal, which is a parrot. 81-year-old Maria Fraterrigo is stuck on the island with her African Gray parrot, Plucky, as Frontier Airlines refused to transport her pet back to the U.S. Fraterrigo expressed her desire to return home, saying, “I don’t ask for much,” the distraught woman informed ABC7, per the New York Post.
The 10-ounce bird was not a problem for the grandmother on her flight from JFK to #PuertoRico on Jan. 4. She boarded the Frontier flight with her TSA-approved carrier for Plucky. However, on April 5, after clearing security at Luis Munoz Marin International Airport, Fraterrigo was denied entrance at the gate.
An airport staffer allegedly instructed the woman to “get rid” of her bird, which was authorized as a service animal, to board her flight. Her son, #RobertFraterrigo, shared with ABC7 that the employee told her, “You won’t be able to make the flight. Get rid of your bird and give it to somebody.”
Robert reached out to Frontier Airlines through online chat, but they only offered a $190 ticket refund and no assistance.
“My mother did nothing wrong and she just needs to be taken care of and sent home… She didn’t want anything else but to go home and no one wants to help,” said the son.
After her husband Richard passed away from 9/11-related cancer, the elderly woman grew close to her emotional support bird, Plucky.
#Clique, what are your thoughts?
