Cat went by mistake on an plane, made 3 trips that cover 4,500 miles:

A Maine Coon cat called Mittens became an accidental jetsetter this month when his cage was overlooked in a plane loading cellar and made three trips in 24 hours between New Zealand and Australia.

Mittens, 8, was reserved for unidirectional travel with his family in Christchurch, New Zealand to his new home in Melbourne, Australia, on January 13. But the owner Margo Neas said Wednesday that he expected the mittens to be downloaded from the Freight Area plane, three hours without signs of the cat spent.

It was then that the land staff told Neas that the plane had returned to New Zealand, with Mittens still on board. The return trip implies approximately 7.5 hours in the air.

“I said, how can this happen? How can this happen? Oh my God,” said Neas.

The distance of Christchurch, New Zealand to Melbourne, Australia, is approximately 1,500 miles, which means that the cat traveled approximately 4,500 miles before meeting with Neas.

Air New Zealand pilot was told about the additional passenger during the flight and ignited heating in the loading cellar to keep the comfortable mittens, he added. Neas was told that a stored wheelchair had obscured the view of a luggage handling of the mittens cage.

“It was not a great beginning for our new life in Melbourne because we didn’t have the family, we weren’t complete,” he said.

But the saga had a happy ending. The pet moving company that used to organize Mittens’s trip met the Cat on his return to Christchurch and made sure that he returned to the plane for another trip to Melbourne, this time only in one way.

Mittens had lost weight but was not damaged.

“He basically ran into my arms and snuggled here and only made the greatest hugs of all time,” said Neas. “It was a great relief.”

Air New Zealand would reimburse all the costs associated with mittens trips and apologized for the anguish caused, said the airline in a statement.

“We will work in close collaboration with our land manager in Melbourne to ensure that this does not happen again,” said spokeswoman Alisha Armstrong.

Meanwhile, Mittens, is not usually a affectionate pet, is “the most comfortable one that has been,” said Neas.

“The cat receives as much attention as it wants at this time because we are so absolutely and completely relieved to recover it.”

Denials He told New Zealand Herald which received a comprehensive call from the airline’s interim sales manager.

“He acknowledged my concerns and mentioned that if it were his family pet, he would feel the same,” Neas told the newspaper.