Passenger Tries to Smuggle “Emotional Support” Cat Onboard, Gets Booted Off

Surprised Siberian cat lies on a white background

A British Airways passenger from the United States, who had apparently become accustomed to more liberal stateside policies governing air travelers flying with emotional support animals, learned the hard way that European carriers are a bit more strict about exactly what defines a service animal after she was removed from her flight for attempting to smuggle her cat on board.

On North American airlines, it sometimes seems as if anything goes when it comes to permitting emotional support animals to fly in the cabin. Passengers have in the past attempted to travel with potbellied pigs, opossums, turkeys (and even a peacock named Dexter) as comfort animals. British Airways, however, took a much harder line when a passenger, reportedly from the U.S, tried to smuggle her cat onto a Glasgow Airport (GLA) to London Heathrow (LHR)-bound flight on Sunday.

According to the Independent, the unnamed Yankee wouldn’t take “no” for an answer and hid her feline companion in a carry-on bag before boarding the plane. The ruse was foiled only because the too-clever-cat-lady chose a seat in an exit row and was told that she would therefore have to place her bag in an overhead bin. The jig was soon up when the passenger naturally objected to putting her precious, but unauthorized cargo into an overhead locker. When confronted about the contraband cat, the sneaky pet owner reportedly told flight attendants that her four-legged-travel-mate was an officially recognized emotional support animal – a distinction which made utterly no difference to the crew members.

Both the rule-breaking flyer and her furry partner-in-crime were soon booted from the flight. It seems British Airways officials may just have a very canine-centric view of exactly what sort of creatures qualify as service animals.

“Cats cannot travel in the cabin, but recognized assistance dogs are always very welcome and travel completely free of charge alongside their owners on board,” a British Airways spokesperson told the newspaper. “Other animals will need to travel in the hold but will be just as comfortable in a carefully controlled environment. The transportation of pets is handled by our sister company, IAG Cargo. They have decades of experience flying animals and will look after our customers’ pets as if they are their own.”

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