Batman, the cat, vs the TSA. Cat wins.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Read a little article in this mornings Seattle Times that I had to share.

Seems like a lady from Seattle was going thru the TSA inspection at SeaTac airport before boarding a flight to the East Coast. As part of her baggage she had two cats, in separate carriers, that she was taking thru the TSA checkpoints. One of these cats (a female) is named Batman, and is the heroine of this story. The TSA says “you need to take the cats out so we can better check your carriers”.

Cat owner asks “Can we do this in a private room? It might be safer”. TSA says, “no, we’re shorthanded right now and don’t have enough extra hands for that. Open the cage.”

So Batman’s cage was opened. Instantly Batman flew thru the hands of the owner and the TSA, scampered over to he nearest wall, climbed it, and disappeared into the ceiling thru a hole left by the removal of several ceiling tiles for maintenance.

All efforts at enticing Batman back down were failures, and while all this was going on the owner missed her flight. And while some of the TSA folks were trying to coax Batman out of the ceiling, the TSA went on to check the other cat carrier. After deciding that just maybe we had better do this in a nice quiet private room.

This check was completed without any problems (kitty #2 was a lot more mellow than Batman) And the owner was able to get on a later flight, although she was now down to one cat. The TSA assured her that they would do their level best to corral Batman, but it might take a while as SeaTac has some 3 million square feet of ceiling.

Well, after five days, the combination of a cat trap and kitty treats resulted in capture, and Batman was returned to her owner. (Batman was chaperoned on this trip by a TSA employee who just happened to have a trip scheduled at the right time and to the right destination.

Batman’s owner said that the reunion was not a joyful as it might have been as Batman “is a cat” and was plenty PO’d over the way she had been treated. But all’s well that end’s well, and that’s the end of the story.

But I’ll betcha the TSA at SeaTac doesn’t argue about using a private room any more.

2

Heh. :slight_smile:

I’ve been around cats a lot of my life. If a lady comes up to me and tells me that her cat needs to be handled in a certain way–I believe her.

Or, if there truly is no way to do that, I take precautions to attempt to contain a furry Houdini that can run at roughly Mach 2 and carries razors.

3

oh wow I can imagine my evil kitty (yes that’s her given name ) whos possibly bipolar and/or schizophrenic being handled like that… loss of fingers and or face would happen

only reason we still keep her is the vet assured us that she would be put to sleep in a shelter due to shes prone to seriously violent outburst (her sister keeps her in line at home usually )

4

Well done, that cat.

5

So it’s a cat, and it’s a female cat … her owner really didn’t just want to go with Catwoman on this one? Seems like a no-brainer here.

6

Google “batman cat.” If the cat looks like that, it’s a no-brainer, even if she’s female.

7

Sounds like the cat was prepared.

8

The woman missed her flight and the cat was missing for 5 days?

Sounds like the TSA won to me.

9

Here’s the article, along with a photo of Batman.

10

I shared this story with my daughter and we both laughed until we cried.

I just keeping hearing the character from the Lego movie saying, “You can’t catch me, I’m Batman!”

FTR, cats can be hate-filled, furry balls of rage, with lots of razory, pointy bits, and fangs. What the hell were they thinking? :smiley:

11

Fucking TSA. If ever there was an organization full of stupid…

12

Yep.

13

And, yet again, I am crying from laughter. Cats are little demons. :smiley:

14

I was hoping to read one of those knuckle dragging a-holes got scratched up. Drat.

15

Very funny. Reminds me of when my wife was flying from DC to Anchorage, carrying our cat in a carrier on board. The flight attendant was a real bitch to her, warning her not to open the container. Understandable, but she was really rude about things, talking to her like she was a felon. Plane was delayed on the tarmac, and they finally departed.

Feeling sorry for the cat, she waited until the FA was down the aisle and took the carrier into the bathroom to let kitty stretch her legs. Big mistake. The cat immediately leaped out, hit the floor, and began her escape underneath the vanity. My wife was able to grab one rear paw, and it was touch and go as to who was going to win the battle. Luckily, she prevailed and got her back in the carrier. I could just imagine the scene at the destination airport as they dismantled the bathroom unit to get the damn cat out.

16

Eh, not really an explanation, in this case.

That search turns up a few cats with markings resembling Batman’s costume, a number of cats dressed as Batman (and several Banes and a Joker), a LOT of people using black cats as makeshift Batman masks, some Catwoman, and various cats appearing in Batman comics…

And, several pages down, finally shows the cat in question. Who is a calico, and doesn’t have any markings that particularly resemble Batman’s mask, or a bat (even a very abstract one like Batman uses for his logo).

(Also, Batgirl and Batwoman both exist, so if you had a cat whose markings resembled Batman’s costume, there’s 2 options that would better match a female.)