Cat’s Out of the Bag: Feline Halts Plane

A wayward cat forced a U.S. airline to cancel a flight in Providence, R.I., by clambering up into the wheel well of an aircraft and refusing to budge even when offered a slice of fresh salmon.

The gray and white cat, named Muffy, broke out of her cage in another airline’s baggage room, ran down the tarmac and clawed her way up into a Continental Airlines MD-80 jet, forcing 82 passengers off the plane, which was scheduled to fly to Newark, N.J.

After eight hours of trying to coax the would-be stowaway, maintenance crews finally had to remove panels on the bottom of the wing to pull Muffy out.