Emotional Support Squirrel: "Support animal" of a Frontier airline passenger removed from his flight with the help of the police in Orlando

A woman told Frontier Airlines that she was carrying an animal with emotional support when booking a flight between Orlando, Florida and Cleveland. But the airline says it neglected to mention one key detail: its pet was a squirrel.

Dogs and cats are allowed in Frontier cabins, but not squirrels and other rodents. The carrier said the police were called when the unidentified woman boarded a squirrel and refused to leave the plane after company employees had explained her policy Tuesday night.

The 1612 flight from Orlando to Cleveland was delayed nearly two hours when law enforcement officers arrived at the scene, asking other passengers to get off the plane while on the scene. they were arguing with the owner of the squirrel, according to local media. The woman and her furry friend were finally escorted from the flight.

The scene was described in a video posted on social media by a man who also tweeted: "You can not invent this stuff".

While she is taken in a wheelchair, the woman asks the spectators to be silent before raising her middle finger. Under the scattered applause, she raises her thumbs and thanks those who watch them, the video shows.

On Wednesday, Frontier sent the following explanation via email to CBS MoneyWatch: "On the 1612 flight from Orlando to Cleveland last night, a passenger boarded the plane with a squirrel saying that It was an animal with emotional support animal, but it was not stated that it was a squirrel.R rodents, including squirrels, did not are not allowed on Frontier flights. "

The airline said in its statement that the police had been called after the passenger had been informed of the policy but had refused to leave the craft.

Online attention is reminiscent of a woman's attempt in January bring his emotional support peacock on a United Airlines flight from Newark, New Jersey.

United and other carriers have since restricted comfort animals on board aircraft and Frontier limits emotional support animals to a single cat or dog from November 1st.

The airline industry has also encountered errors that have inadvertently caused its pets to travel to destinations different from those of their owners, and worse still, the death of a puppy kept in an overload compartment during a United flight from Houston to New York in March.