Jack the Cat is Lost!

I don’t know if any of you have heard about this CATastrophe but a cat named Jack is currently missing in the American Airlines inbound baggage claim at the John F. Kennedy International Airport. As the story goes, Jack’s owner Karen P. was flying her two cats Jack and Barry to California (her family is moving to Cali from NY for a new job). Karen bid her kitties a safe flight after clearing through security. She was later contacted and informed that Jack was missing! Long story short, she missed a flight trying to help find Jack. American Airlines had been giving her the cold shoulder until just recently (more specifically Monday, August 29, 2011 at 11:28am) when they put out a response to the situation. If I were them I wouldn’t want to mess with a bunch of angry, riled up cat owners either. You can get updates at the "Jack the Cat is Lost in AA Baggage at JFK" Facebook page here.

They’ve shared their efforts on their Facebook page about what they’re doing to help find Jack. You can view it, click here. Notice they’ve bolded the top two points. I assume this means they’re trying to sooth the angry cat lovin’ mob with these actions? I hope they realize that the cat lovers won’t really rest until Jack is home safe with Karen.

What I’d like to know is how did Jack get out of his kennel? Did someone try to console him because he was upset at being in a kennel away from his owners and he got out? Did he use the bathroom and a kind employee was trying to help clean it up so he didn’t have to travel in waste? Perhaps he grew opposable thumbs and let himself out of the kennel?

Should cat owners take note of this and maybe skip the flight offers from American Airlines? In the stories I’ve read this isn’t the first time a cat has been lost in the inbound baggage area.

I recently was on a flight through Southwest with Little J out to Michigan for a wedding. Little J is a cat lover. And luckily for me, because a teething 10 month old on a plane is not going to be a happy camper, there was a cat across the aisle from us. Now, the kitty was in his carrier, stowed away under the seat at his owner’s feet. But you could definitely see that there was a live cat in the carrier. Whenever Little J was totally over sitting in her car seat I made sure to point out “A cat!” to her which took her mind off the fact we were in the plane for at least 10 minutes.

My point – it was nice to see that Southwest allowed this guy to bring his cat with him. It assures me that if I ever needed to travel cross country with Stitch and/or Gordita we could have them with us on the flight if we flew Southwest. Along with their free bags deal I give them two paws up! If anyone knows of any other cat-friendly airlines please do recommend for reference.

In the meantime, I truly and sincerely hope that Jack comes home safe and sound. Shame on you American Airlines! I’m definitely not going to make a big effort to fly with you.