A cat left in the hold accumulates air miles

A Maine coon cat named Mittens became an accidental jet-setter this month when her cage was forgotten in the hold of a plane and she made three trips in 24 hours between New Zealand and Australia . Mittens, 8, had been booked on a one-way ticket with her family from Christchurch, New Zealand, to their new home in Melbourne, Australia, on January 13. But owner Margo Neas said Wednesday that while waiting for Mittens to be unloaded from the plane’s cargo area, three hours passed with no sign of the cat. That’s when ground staff told Neas the plane had returned to New Zealand, with Mittens still on board. The return trip involves approximately 7.5 hours of flight time.

“I said, how can this happen? How can this happen? Oh my God,” Neas said. The pilot was informed of the presence of an additional passenger during the flight and turned on the heater in the cargo hold to keep Mittens comfortable. Neas was informed that a stowed wheelchair had obscured a baggage handler’s view of Mittens’ cage. “It wasn’t a good start to our new life in Melbourne because we didn’t have family, we weren’t complete,” she said. But the saga had a happy ending. The pet moving company Neas used to arrange Mittens’ trip met the cat on her return to Christchurch and made sure she was back on the plane for another trip to Melbourne, this time on a one-way ticket, the AP reports.

Mittens had lost weight but was otherwise unharmed. “She basically ran into my arms and snuggled here and gave the biggest hugs ever,” Neas said. “It really was such a relief.” Air New Zealand said it would refund all costs associated with Mittens’ trip and apologized for the distress caused. “We will work closely with our ground handler in Melbourne to ensure this does not happen again,” a spokesperson said. Meanwhile, Mittens, not usually an affectionate pet, is “the cuddliest she’s ever been,” Neas said. “The cat is getting as much attention as she wants right now because we are absolutely relieved to have her back.”

(More cat stories.)