For once, it’s a good thing the cat’s out of the bag.

When a New York traveler unknowingly packed a cat into his checked luggage earlier this month, the feline would have made it onto a flight to Florida if not for the X-ray machine and security agents at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

The stowaway was discovered when an alarm went off at JFK’s checked baggage screening point on Nov. 16, according to TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein. Agents looked at the X-ray image and saw the clear outline of an animal.

“The bag was opened by a TSA officer, who was shocked to see a live orange cat inside,” Farbstein wrote in an email.

We’re letting the cat out of the bag on a hiss-toric find. This CATch had our baggage screening officers @JFKairport saying, “Come on meow”! Feline like you have travel questions reach out to our furiends @AskTSA. They’re available every day, from 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. (ET). pic.twitter.com/LpIkLbAgzC
— TSA (@TSA) November 22, 2022

TSA agents contacted Delta, the passenger’s airline, who then paged the Orlando-bound passenger, Farbstein said. The passenger said the cat was not his, but belonged to another person in his household.