A couple, Voirrey and Nick Coole were flying to New York from the Isle of Man to celebrate Mr Coole’s 40th birthday. They had packed a hand luggage suitcase and left part of it empty to allow them to bring back goods from New York.
After they checked in at the airport and were going through security they were stopped because the scanner picked up a cat in their hand luggage.
It’s interesting to note that Mrs Coole seems to have realised that one of her cats had climbed into her suitcase because when she was stopped at security and was being interrogated she asked, “it’s not a cat is it?”.
She must have had a hint of suspicion that one of her three cats was in her hand luggage. It was Candy. I am guessing that she realised that the suitcase must’ve been open for a while while she was out of the room and, as domestic cats do sometimes, Candy crawled into a cozy spot, nestled down and wasn’t spotted when the case was zipped up. It is difficult to see how that could happen but it did and it can happen.
They were placed in a very difficult position because they had to get their cat back home. Fortunately the staff at the airport were very accommodating. They helped to get Candy back home and they still managing to make their flight.
Mrs Coole’s brother came to the airport to pick up their cat. As is usual in these instances, the couple posted the story online and it’s gone viral to a certain extent (5k Likes). They had the presence of mind to make sure that they had a photo of Candy on the hand luggage in preparation for a social media posting.
It does make one think and perhaps it is a caution to check. It is similar to domestic cats crawling into tumble dryers and washing machines. They are hard to spot.
