A Maine Coon cat called Mittens became an accidental jetsetter recently when her cage wasn’t spotted in a plane cargo hold and she made three trips in 24 hours between New Zealand and Australia.

Mittens was booked for one-way travel with her family from Christchurch, New Zealand to their new home in Melbourne, Australia. Her owner, Margo Neas, said she waited for her beloved cat to be unloaded from the plane’s freight area for over three hours and there was no sign of her.

Ground staff then told Neas the plane had returned to New Zealand – with Mittens still on board.

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

The Air New Zealand pilot was told he had an extra passenger during the flight and turned on the heating in the cargo hold to keep Mittens warm. Neas was told that a stowed wheelchair had obscured a baggage handler’s view of Mittens’ cage and that is why they hadn’t spotted her.

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

The tale did have a happy ending, however. The pet moving company that Neas used to arrange Mittens’ travel met the cat on her return to Christchurch and ensured she was back on the plane for another trip to Melbourne – this time just one way!

Mittens had lost a little weight but was otherwise unharmed. “She basically just ran into my arms and just snuggled up in here and just did the biggest cuddles of all time,” Neas said. “It was just such a relief.”

In a statement, the airline said they would reimburse all costs associated with Mittens’ travel and has apologised for any distress caused.

“We’ll work closely with our ground handler in Melbourne to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” said spokeswoman Alisha Armstrong.

Meanwhile Mittens, who is not usually very affectionate, is “the cuddliest she’s ever been,” Neas said. “The cat gets as much attention as she wants right now because we’re just so absolutely and utterly relieved to have her back.”