Lapses in security could lead to cat-astrophe

Did you hear about the air passenger who flew home to Fort Worth, Texas, and let the cat out of the bag -- literally?

Apparently, he picked up a suitcase and when he got home and opened it, the fur began to fly. Again, literally -- it was a kitten.

However, it wasn't his kitten. It wasn't his clothes or his bag either, which brings up the point about checking your baggage claim numbers before leaving the airport. But I digress.

It seems the kitten jumped into his owner's suitcase while he was packing for a trip and decided to take a little cat nap. His wife became "purr"-plexed when she couldn't find little Gracie Mae after her husband left. Luckily, the kitten was wearing a collar with her name and phone number and was able to fly home.

It shouldn't happen again. Gracie no doubt developed a "glowing" personality after going through baggage-security screening. Now she's probably her own nightlight and can easily be spotted even in a packed suitcase.

This isn't the only animal to ever stow away in a suitcase.

Several years ago, when a British Airways purser opened his suitcase in Montreal after flying from London, he also let the cat out of the bag. It was the same scenario. Only this one wasn't so lucky. Because of British regulations at that time, she had to spend six months in quarantine before going home.

A few years ago, a couple of youngsters flew to Canada from overseas with their pet bird. Evidently, the airline forgot to check to see if the bird needed documentation to enter Canada. So the bird was winging it. Unfortunately, it didn't fly with Canadian Customs. There were a few ruffled feathers before the bird was finally allowed to land.

A couple of weeks ago, Customs inspectors in Hanoi, Vietnam, thought there was something fishy about cargo that arrived from Bangkok, Thailand. The declaration forms claimed it was "live fish." But the agents smelled a rat.

Turned out they were right. The boxes were filled with rat snakes, which were being shipped illegally out of Thailand.

The only one of these animals who paid for her flight was Gracie Mae, the kitten from Florida, who had to pay for her return trip (although the rat snakes paid dearly with their lives; most of them arrived dead).

But it isn't the issue of money that's of concern here. It's the issue of security. Each of these incidents shows an error in judgment or a serious loophole in our airport security program.

Every time we check our luggage at the airport we carry it to a security agent to have it X-rayed. If the X-rays can't pick-up a live kitten, what else are they missing?

Just recently a man carried a gun through a security checkpoint at Washington D.C.'s Reagan National Airport. It wasn't detected. The man wasn't a terrorist, just forgetful. When he realized he had the gun with him, he returned to security and turned it in.

Airport employees could use a little screening as well. Last November more than 20 illegal immigrants were using fake security badges to work at Chicago O'Hare International Airport in secure areas of the airport.

If cats, snakes and guns can get past security, and fake identification papers can get jobs at airports, there's a serious problem with our security system. And that might be the cat that was really let out of the bag.

Gail Todd, a free-lance

writer,worked as a flight

attendant for more than 30

years. She can be reached via

e-mail at gailtodd@aol.com.