Cat Ends Up Taking 3 Flights After Being Left on a Plane by Airline Staff

We all know that traveling without our cats is an option — even if it would break our hearts. We also know that traveling with our cats is an option — even if it can result in its own set of nightmare scenarios. But most of us never consider that our cats might go jet-setting without us. Recently, a cat named Mittens made two solo-trips between New Zealand and Australia when the airline mistakenly forgot to remove her from cargo.

Margo Neas, Mittens’ pet parent, was relocating her family to Australia on an Air New Zealand flight last week, reported the BBC. When she landed in Melbourne, she waited three hours for her cat to be unloaded from the plane — but her cat never showed up.

Airline staff told Neas that Mittens was still on the plane, and the aircraft had begun its return flight to New Zealand. “They said: ‘Look, we have located your cat — but it’s actually on the return flight to Christchurch,” Neas told the BBC.

Apparently, a wheelchair had hidden Mittens’ carrier from the staff’s view. The airline alerted the flight’s pilot, and the pilot turned on heating in the cargo to keep Mittens warm. After she landed in New Zealand, Mittens was returned on a plane to Australia, where she was finally reunited with Neas.

Air New Zealand has apologized for the situation and reimbursed all costs associated with Mittens’ travel. “We’ll work closely with our ground handler in Melbourne to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” spokesperson Alisha Armstrong told AP News.

Thankfully, Mittens was unharmed — and she’s happy to be in her new home. “She basically just ran into my arms and just snuggled up in here and just did the biggest cuddles of all time,” Neas told AP News. “It was just such a relief.”