Confessions of a Sky Princess: Cat in the Cockpit

"Cat in the Cockpit Delays Flight" ...YES, this was my flight one morning from DFW to ATL. We were delayed an hour and 15 minutes while the mechanics got the cat out from inside the plane walls where it had hidden itself. Here's the entire story as I wrote about it on my Facebook page:

The cat escaped when TSA let the proverbial, but literal, cat "out of the bag" so the owner could walk with it through the scanner. (I guess people actually try and smuggle stuff in their pets, or they just tape it to their legs....) The scared little kitty (actually it was a pretty big cat) ran down the hall, past several gates, into the boarding area, right down our jetway, and straight into the cockpit. I was standing between the boarding door and the flight deck door when it all went down. I thought about grabbing it as it ran over my foot, but it was so fast... it was under the First Officer's chair before anyone could even blink. The owner missed her flight trying to coax the scared little kitty out, but it managed to slide down into a space behind the rudders and was inaccessible from the cockpit at that point. It was funny for about five minutes, and then it was just plain irritating. I had a package of tuna in my bag and offered to let them use it to coax out the kitty, but the flight leader told me to just take care of the passengers. So she made me hand out water instead. Did you know that flight attendants don't start getting paid until the boarding door is closed. All that work for free!

I was hoping a hot fireman would come and rescue the kitty, but no such luck. Instead, we had to call the mechanics who basically pulled the plane apart to retrieve the cat. They had to go through a bunch of wiring and so we had no electricity while they were extricating the cat. Once the cat was safely out, they had to re-wire everything and put it all back together. An hour and a half later, we were finally on our way.

Did I mention it was a black cat? As if I needed anymore bad luck. I was already working my 7th day in a row...into my off day and missing my niece's Christmas show at school. Grrrr. The cherry on top of this lovely day is that as soon as I got to my car, I realized I had left my make-up bag on the plane--and it was already airborne to Charlotte, North Carolina. I made a few calls, but no luck. So I had to stop on my way home that night and replace all my makeup at the bargain price of $50+ (I was scrimping here, people.) I also lost the necklace my mom bought me in Egypt that happened to be in my makeup bag at the time. So stay away from black cats. They're nothing but trouble!

And another thing, this is the second time I had a loose cat on one of my flights. I was doing a beverage service once and felt something wrap itself around my ankle. I almost screamed but then looked down and saw a tiny, gray kitten... it had escaped from its carrier mid-flight and the owner didn't even notice. That cat was lucky it didn't get run over by a 300-pound beverage cart!

Did I mention I'm a dog person?