Man claims airline lost his dog during flight

Frank Ramano is upset about an airline misplacing some very precious cargo on a recent flight: his dog, Ty.

A week later, Ty is still missing.

“I have no clue how they could just lose a pet like that,” Ramano told CNN affiliate WTSP in Tampa, Florida.

Ramano said he booked Ty on the October 31 Delta flight from Los Angeles to Tampa because he would be in Florida for several weeks and didn’t want to leave his best friend behind.

A Delta representative told CNN that the airline is doing everything it can to aid in the search for Ty.

“Delta continues to investigate what happened, but early indications show procedures were followed, and the dog may have compromised the kennel on its own,” Morgan Durrant, a Delta spokesman, said in a statement.

Ramano told WTSP that he is incredibly frustrated with the airline because he was originally told the dog made it to Tampa, but the airline has since changed its story.

“To me, it sounds like they don’t care. They sound like they lost just a piece of baggage. That’s it. He’s family. He’s like my best friend,” Ramano said of the 6-year-old dog, whom he rescued last year from a shelter in North Hollywood.

But, Ramano said, it was Ty who did the rescuing.

At the time of the adoption, Ramano was homeless and bouncing from motel to motel. “He was like a big anxiety pill. He would help me through the rough times,” he told WTSP.

The effort to bring Ty home is ongoing.

Durrant said Delta has refunded the fee to transport Ty, and workers are still diligently searching for the dog, including in Los Angeles-area shelters as Ty was microchipped, according to Ramano.

“Delta understands that pets are an important member of the family and regrets this occurred while this pet was entrusted to our care,” the statement from Delta said.

“I just want him home safe. I just want him back,” Ramano said.

This is not the first time a pet has gone missing in transit with Delta. In 2010, passenger Josiah Allen’s dog Paco broke out of his carrier before a flight from Mexico to Canada. And in 2006, Vivi, a whippet who competed in the Westminster Kennel Club show, escaped on the tarmac at John F. Kennedy International Airport before a flight.