Felix the Cat Is Going Home--After 180,000 Miles

A female cat named Felix that escaped in a jumbo jet on a transatlantic flight and stalked the cargo hold for nearly a month--flying 180,000 miles--will be shipped back to its owners in California, airline officials said Friday .

Felix was safely in quarantine outside London, recovering from her incredible 64-flight journey, the equivalent of seven times around the world.

She was found at Heathrow Airport on New Year’s Day in the hold of a Pan American Boeing 747, a Pan Am spokesman said.

He said the cat had escaped from her travel cage on Dec. 3 on a flight from Frankfurt, West Germany, to Los Angeles, and had spent 29 days loose in the cargo hold without food.

She apparently survived on water formed in the massive hold as condensation when the jet traveled through different temperature zones, and possibly on food scraps left by baggage handlers at other airports who suspected a pet might be on the loose, the spokesman said.

The cat’s owner, U.S. Air Force employee William Kubecki, had been transferred to Edwards Air Force Base in California and traveled with his wife, Janice, and daughter, Nadine, on the plane with Felix stowed in the hold, the spokesman said. But when the cat’s cage was brought out in Los Angeles, it was empty, he said.

When Felix was found at Heathrow, she was immediately taken into care by Pan Am ground hostess Jane Ford, a cat lover. She arranged for the feline to go into quarantine until its owners were traced.

Kubecki and his family were “delighted” and “astonished” by their pet’s journey.

Felix is expected to fly home early next week--this time traveling with Ford in a first-class seat.