Airport official says monkey on flight was certified service animal

The monkey that reportedly got “loose” on a Las Vegas-bound Frontier Airlines flight from Ohio late Tuesday was a certified service animal, airline officials said.

Melissa Nunnery, a spokeswoman for McCarran International Airport, initially said a Frontier staff member reported to McCarran “that the monkey was loose, or got loose” briefly during the flight, but couldn’t clarify what “loose” meant.

Early Wednesday, the airline clarified that the monkey was in the main cabin, but never broke free during the flight.

“The monkey was never loose in the cabin,” Frontier spokesman Richard Oliver said Wednesday. “It was always with the passenger it was traveling with.”

The flight in question was No. 1087, which departed out of Columbus, Ohio at 9:43 p.m.

It’s unclear what type of monkey it was, but Nunnery said the monkey was an emotional support animal, adding that “the passenger had all the proper paperwork to have the monkey on the plane with him.”

The Metropolitan Police Department responded to assist with the incident, but determined that nothing criminal took place, Metro officer Laura Meltzer said.

The plane landed at McCarran at 11:02 p.m., and its passengers — including the monkey — had since disembarked, Nunnery said about midnight.

No injuries were reported as of early Wednesday.

Review-Journal reporter Lawren Linehan contributed to this report. Contact Rachel Crosby at rcrosby@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290. Find @rachelacrosby on Twitter.