Left On The Plane, This Cat Is Australian-New Zealand Block In 24 Hours

Cat illustration. (Unsplash/Yurii Stupen)

JAKARTA - A Maine coon cat named Mittens became an accident rover this month, when its cage was neglected in the aircraft cargo room and it made three trips in 24 hours between New Zealand and Australia.

Mittens (8) was originally due to travel with his family from Christchurch, New Zealand to their new home in Melbourne, Australia on January 13.

However, the owner, Margo Neas, said on Wednesday that while he was waiting for Mittens to be unloaded from the plane's cargo area, three hours had passed without any signs of the cat.

That's when ground staff told Neas that the plane had returned to New Zealand with Mittens still on board. The trip home took about 7.5 hours in the air.

"I said, how did this happen? How did this happen? Oh God," said Neas, launching CNN January 22.

Air New Zealand pilots were notified of additional passengers during the flight and turned on the heating in the cargo hold to keep Mittens comfortable, he added.

Neas then received an explanation that the stored wheelchair had blocked the baggage officer's view into Mittens' cage.

"That's not a good start to our new life in Melbourne because we don't have a family, we're incomplete," he explained.

However, the story ended happily. The pet transfer company that Neas used to arrange Mittens' journey met the cat when he returned to Christchurch and made sure he returned to the plane for another trip to Melbourne this time only one way.

Mittens' weight fell but was not injured.

"He basically ran into my neck and curled up here and did the most tight hug of all time," said Neas.

"That's a relief," he said.

Meanwhile, Air New Zealand will reimburse all costs associated with Mittens' trip and have apologized for the difficulties incurred, the airline said in a statement.

"We will work closely with our ground handling officers in Melbourne to ensure this doesn't happen again," said spokesman Alisha Armstrong.