For some, travelling overseas might be a scary prospect.
After all, you’d be trapped in a metal cylinder with wings many kilometers up in the air; who’s to say nothing would happen?
Touchwood.
A method of coping is to bring a soft toy or something that comforts you.
For one man, he took bringing a sentimental object to a whole new level.
The best part?
It wasn’t even his.
Cat Discovered Inside Luggage that Passed Through X-ray Scan at New York Airport
On 16 November 2022, a cat was discovered hiding inside a suitcase at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The Transport Security Admission (TSA) agent that noticed the outline of the cat in the suitcase immediately stopped it from being transported into the aircraft luggage hold.
Here comes the plot twist.
A Whole Misunderstanding
Not only did the cat not belong to the traveller, the traveller was not even aware of the cat’s existence.
A-paw-lling.
“Traveller said the cat belonged to someone else in his household,” Farbstein explained.
New York Post tracked down the owner of the cat, Alix, and she said that the cat (named “Smells”) must have crawled into their house guest’s bag while she was at work. She didn’t realise the orange tabby cat was missing until she got a call from an airport official.
Airport authorities were ready to arrest the man for smuggling the feline and put him on the No Fly list.
However, Alix reassured them that it was just an accident.
“Our cats really like to check our bags and boxes and apparently one of them climbed into his suitcase,” she said.
The owners, Alex and Alix, have posted the experience on Instagram, with Alex creating a highlight titled “Smells and TSA” and Alix making one titled “Smells’ Story”.
On one of the videos, it shows Smells climbing into the luggage out of its own will, explaining how the entire incident came about.
We all thought that it was an uncanny occurrence, but now we know it was all purr-fectly normal.
Featured Image: The New York Post + TSA