An 81-year-old New York woman is stranded in Puerto Rico because her airline will not let her leave with her pet parrot.
Maria Fraterrigo, of the Bronx, visited Puerto Rico with her pet parrot, Plucky. Fraterrigo raised the bird from birth, and the pair has been together for more than two decades.
When Fraterrigo tried to return home to New York, she was told her parrot would have to stay behind.
“I got no more tears my mind is blank, just want to go home. That’s all, I don’t ask for much,” Fraterrigo told ABC 7 New York.
Fraterrigo will not leave her parrot behind. The bird helped her process and cope with the death of her husband, an NYPD police officer who passed away in 2019 from cancer related to the 9/11 terror attacks.
“He kept me going, talking to me, making me laugh when I was down,” she said of the bird.
The couple had traveled to Puerto Rico multiple times with the bird, and never had any issue getting home with Plucky in tow.
On Saturday, April 5, Fraterrigo was on her way home when a Frontier Airlines employee told her she couldn’t board the plane with the bird.
“You won’t be able to make the flight. Get rid of your bird and give it to somebody,” Fraterrigo said she was told by the Frontier Airlines employee.
According to her son, Robert Fraterrigo, he has been working on his end to try to find a way to get his mother home. He said that Frontier allegedly acknowledged that the bird was “not checked correctly” upon Fraterrigo’s departure from New York.
He said he provided evidence that the bird is considered a service animal for his mother.
The airline refunded her ticket — about $190 — and issued a $250 voucher, and pointed out that its policies do not allow large birds like parrots in its cabins.
Frontier told The Independent that it is investigating the issue and is working to find a way to get Fraterrigo home.
“We are currently investigating the matter and attempting to reach the customer to assist her in returning home,” a Frontier spokesperson said.
“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,” Robert told the broadcaster.
Robert has been trying to find smaller airlines that will allow his mother to fly to Tampa with her parrot, but has thus far been unsuccessful.
