TSA Agents at John F. Kennedy International Airport, in New York, caught an un-ticketed stowaway trying to board a flight to Florida ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. They won’t be pressing any charges against Smells the Cat or the passenger who inadvertently smuggled him.
Stowaway caught by TSA
He wasn’t a typical stowaway, that’s for sure. Any TSA agent will tell you that they’re no longer surprised by ANYTHING that passengers try to smuggle past them in their luggage, both carry on and checked.
Extra vigilant ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, one sharp eyed screener noticed a smuggling clue. Orange fur poking up out of a partially open zipper. When he opened the checked suitcase, he discovered a “sneaky feline.”
The incident happened on Tuesday, November 22. When they approached the passenger about it, he claimed no knowledge of animal smuggling and said he was totally unaware the stowaway was in his case.
A @TSA officer was shocked to find an orange cat inside a checked bag at @JFKairport after it went through the X-ray unit. Traveler said the cat belonged to someone else in his household. On the bright side, the cat’s out of the bag and safely back home. pic.twitter.com/5XZVJLaZNm
— Lisa Farbstein, TSA Spokesperson (@TSA_Northeast) November 22, 2022
Lisa Farbstein with the TSA issued a statement about how “shocked” the agent was, to find the furry contraband. Especially after the checked bag had been X-rayed when handed in. Security totally missed the cat, which was clearly obvious in images.
According to Farbstein, the passenger “said the cat belonged to someone else in his household.” It wasn’t even his cat. They didn’t have any reason to doubt his response but weren’t about to let him or his stowaway go free without digging deeper.
As reported by New York Post, “authorities were ready to brand the man a catnapper and put him on the No Fly list.”
Just climbed in
When 37-year-old Brooklyn resident “Alix” answered the call from TSA, she was stunned to hear the officer ask “if I wanted to press charges.” The traveler had been a guest and was returning home.
The TSA “wanted to know if there was any reason he was trying to steal my cat and go to Florida.” Eventually, they figured out the stowaway had concocted the plan on his own. Alix quickly reassured the officer that their guest was innocent.
“Our cats really like to check out bags and boxes and apparently one of them climbed into his suitcase. It was just an accident,” she explained.
Smells knew what he was doing, the guy’s been sneaking him treats and he wanted to go to Miami, even if it meant being a stowaway to do it. Alix sent her fiancé to rescue their family member. Smells wasn’t phased in the slightest by all the excitement.
After being treated like a criminal stowaway by strange people in a big and scary airport, which gives humans passing through it nightmares, he seemed to enjoy the adventure.
“I was worried he’d be freaked out but he wasn’t even meowing on the way back. I went to give him some extra treats and he acted like nothing had happened.“
