SeananSince I have not told this story on Mastodon, and have never told it threaded:
I was flying to the Pacific Northwest to visit friends. Alice was two. So still small (about 16 lbs.).
No issues at the airport, no red flags at security, nothing but net. I get on the plane.
Halfway to my destination, I finish my book and get up to get a new one from my suitcase.
The suitcase meows at me.
Alice pops her head out.
Uh.
Crap.
Alice pops her head out.
Uh.
Crap.
I flag down a flight attendant. "I have a cat."
"I have a dog. Please sit down."
"Meow," says Alice.
"Uh," says the flight attendant.
"I have a dog. Please sit down."
"Meow," says Alice.
"Uh," says the flight attendant.
Alice had REMOVED MOST OF THE CLOTHING from my bag, crawled under what was left, curled up, and gone to sleep.
I had to hold her for the rest of the flight. She thought this was the best idea ever.
I had to buy new clothes AND a cat carrier AND a pet ticket to get her home. And I will never have faith in the TSA again. (Not that I had a lot of faith to begin with, but there's "this is security theater" and then there's "YOU MISSED THE LIVE CAT.")
Mina Li (she/her)@seananmcguire this entire thread is sending me into gigglefits, but OMG TSA, SERIOUSLY.
Fuzzysteve@seananmcguire I'm guessing you saw https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/cat-suitcase-tsa/index.html recently :D
I AM BANKSY β / πβπ₯@fuzzysteve @seananmcguire I was about to post that too ;)
Pratik Patel@seananmcguire Best laugh ever.
Ruthanna Emrys@seananmcguire And they're sharp!
PJ "Vote Green" Coffey@seananmcguire OH! I had to read this twice to realise that you encountered unexpected cat error.
How the... wow. Those guys are seriously bad at their jobs.
Cate@seananmcguire Great story! πππ
Hypersensory Space Butt@seananmcguire my cats got rear-ended coming to my new place :(
Mourning_star85@seananmcguire This is both precious and terrifying. What a sneaky bum
Kitty Chandler@seananmcguire β¦ that is the kind of TSA fail that should be immortalized in a stern lecture during TSA training. WOW.
mneme@seananmcguire Never gets old. THE TIME YOU ACCIDENTALLY SMUGGLED A CAT ONTO A PLANE
Alan Langford π¨π¦π§€π§ζ@seananmcguire In fairness, live cats rarely explode in mid flight. π
AutisticTeacherGriffOperative word there is "rarely."
KoraunuiPakeha@alan @seananmcguire But are heavily armed with sharp things
Nashveggie@seananmcguire
This from yesterday may have you saying "I know how they feel."
http://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/cat-suitcase-tsa/index.html
Francisco (he/him)@seananmcguire fatigue is a real thing. Monitoring those screens require more rotating shifts.
Dani β MLT(ASCP)
The Kath in the Hat (she/her)@warkittens @seananmcguire good point! My cats are each under 5 kilos (~11 pounds)- and theyβre nearly 8yo!
@seananmcguire @warkittens I thought mine were small but my vet says theyβre just right!
annaraven
Joe Pallas@seananmcguire To be fair, she wasnβt strictly forbidden https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/items/small-pets and once she went through the x-ray machine what could they do?
Lizakowski@seananmcguire maybe the cat has TSA pre-check status?
Noam@seananmcguire that's adorable!
Zorin =^o.o^=@seananmcguire OMG. I think my feeling would be overwhelming relief that she didn't suffocate in there! I'm glad she was okay even if your trip got messed up.
fluffy π@seananmcguire At least she didn't end up in checked luggage! That could have gone very, very badly.
yakkoj π¦@seananmcguire exactly. This thread vindicates my suspicion that post-9/11 "security" is all show and absolutely no go.
Sam Waggoner@seananmcguire I fly often and somehow missed a pack of razor blades, like real razor blades, in my backpack. I realized when I must have put them in and figure Iβd been through airport security at least 20-30 times with that bag.
KatUvaggio@diebesbeute @seananmcguire On 9/11 I was at a conflict resolution seminar. It got postponed because our building evacuated. (Not in NYC, just a federal building.) When the seminar resumed several weeks later (person giving the seminar couldn't get a flight), I got in early and chatted with her. She's unpacking her teaching materials as we chat. With her hands in her bag she freezes, goes pale. "OMG, I use these for crafting, I forgot they were in there." Pulls out a package of six boxcutters.
398w π¨βπ»@seananmcguire it's almost a win/win
J.T. Grimes@seananmcguire TSA agent: "Has your baggage been under your control since you packed it?"
Seanan [tired of answering the same stupid question]: yes
Alice [from inside said baggage]: Not really!
@seananmcguire Reminds me of the Ansett Fluffy ad from many years ago - itβs on YouTube
Lars Karlslund 
@seananmcguire not TSA, as this is Europe, but we have the same safety checks here - all carry on gets at least scanned, and some get manual inspection. I have a friend who had unknowingly (or was unaware of) been carrying a huge PH2 screwdriver in his laptop bag for several trips, until an airport inspection back from Poland finally caught up with him. So security theatre ... yeah. Also how are you going to hijack a plane with a locked cockpit with a screwdriver? It's just nuts.
Arthur Wyatt@seananmcguire @jradavenport βdid you pack this luggage yourselfβ
Elena ``of Valhalla''@seananmcguire that's a pretty epic fail on their part
(also, that final phrase looks like something that is worth embroidering or illuminating or something)
(also, that final phrase looks like something that is worth embroidering or illuminating or something)
Crystal Huff (they/them)@seananmcguire Oh. My. GOD. WOW! πππ (Glad there wasn't one of your epic Hugo dresses in this story!!)
That one Jewish network nerd@seananmcguire I get tagged by them for flying with coffee. Maybe next time Iβll hide the coffee behind a cat.
Teacherdev@seananmcguire she got what she wanted
@Teacherdev She did, and while I was annoyed at the time, I have no remaining regrets.
@seananmcguire and a great story to tell.
Anne Zanoni@seananmcguire She is a smart cat.
Also, hallo! Happy to see you over here.