SAN JUAN (ABC) — An 81-year-old woman went through a travel nightmare after she went to visit her family in Puerto Rico.
Maria Fraterrigo took her pet parrot in a cage to Puerto Rico with her. But now that she wants to come back to New York City on the same airline that flew her there, won’t let the parrot fly home with her.
She said her service animal, Plucky, have been inseparable for more than two decades since the parrot was born.
But now the 81-year-old grandmother from the Bronx and her service animal are stranded in Puerto Rico because of what an airline did but refuses to fix.
“I got no more tears my mind is blank, just want to go home. That’s all, I don’t ask for much,” Fraterrigo said.
Fraterrigo got really close to her African Grey Parrot in 2019.
That’s when her husband Richard, a court officer who also worked for the NYPD, passed away from cancer related to 9/11.
“He kept me going, talking to me, making me laugh when I was down,” Fraterrigo said.
The couple loved traveling to Puerto Rico with Plucky, and did so for years, before Richard’s death.
“I’m ready to fly in a plane and get over there,” Robert Fraterrigo, her son, said.
Her son Robert called a long list of airlines and entered an online chat with Frontier asking about bringing his mom’s 10-ounce bird on the flight, offering proof that it’s a service animal.
The representative replied, “Awesome,” in the chat.
Fraterrigo left JFK Airport on January 4 with no problems. Plucky was with her in a TSA-approved carrier.
Then on Saturday, April 5, she cleared security at Puerto Rico’s main airport but when she got to the gate, the Frontier employee told her she could not get on the flight with the bird.
“You won’t be able to make the flight. Get rid of your bird and give it to somebody,” Fraterrigo said.
Her son has repeatedly reached out to Frontier, which acknowledged the mistake on her flight out of New York, saying the bird “was not checked correctly.”
The airline refunded the ticket, about $190 and issued a $250 voucher while pointing out its policy that does not allow large birds like parrots in the cabin.
“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 Fraterrigo said.
He reached out to smaller airlines to see if his mom can get on a private charter to at least get her to Tampa where he lives, but has not been successful so far.
A reporter reached out to Frontier but has not heard back.
By KIMBERLY RICHARDSON/WABC-TV
