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Their partially sighted cat went missing on a flight. Weeks later they still don't know what happened to it
Julia Buckley, CNN • Published 17th April 2024
(CNN) — It's a nightmare scenario for any animal lover: having to take your beloved pet on a plane and then finding out they've been lost during transit.
That's what happened to Alyssa Kopp and her mother Mary Gomes Kopp when their cat Rodri went missing on a flight in Europe on March 8.
Over a month since Gomes Kopp was presented with Rodri's broken, empty cat carrier, the pair are still fighting for answers about what happened to their pet -- and want to raise awareness for other animals lost in transit, too.
But mostly, they just want to be reunited with Rodri, the partially sighted cat who turned one year old on April 1.
Instead, they say, both the carrier, Greece's Aegean Airlines, and its baggage handler have now stopped responding to them.
'She was so grateful'
Alyssa Kopp and her mother Mary Gomes Kopp rescue stray animals on Crete.
Courtesy Alyssa Kopp
It was September 2023 when the pair first crossed paths with Rodri.
Gomes Kopp and her husband, Alyssa's stepfather, are German but have a home on the Greek island of Crete. It's there that they care for around 60 stray cats -- feeding them, taking them to the vet for medical treatment, and getting them neutered in a country where stray cats are not always treated well. They also arrange adoptions, and often fly cats and dogs off the island to new homes in destinations around Europe.
Last September, Alyssa Kopp was staying with them when they found a kitten living in a pile of trash.
"We saw her various times and saw that one of her eyes wasn't there, and she was in a really bad condition," says Kopp.
"We caught her, and took her to the vet, who closed [her missing eye] really well, but he said that her second eye was already turning white, and that when she was older and was ready to be neutered, it'd be better to fly her to Germany to an animal hospital, not just a vet. He said they could handle it better in Germany."
Rodri swiftly became a much loved member of the family. When they first took her home, says Kopp, "Mum cleaned her eye, and after just a few minutes she was on her lap, sleeping for hours. She was so grateful and wanted to cuddle." Although she couldn't see well with her one remaining eye, Rodri quickly gained confidence. "When my parents let her out to explore, she was so happy," says Kopp.
So on March 8, Gomes Kopp prepared to fly Rodri to Munich, where Alyssa would look after the cat after its treatment.
But Rodri never made it to Germany. One month on, the family still have no clue about what happened to her.
The empty box
Aegean Airlines staff presented Gomes Kopp with a broken cat carrier.
Courtesy Alyssa Kopp
Rodri was one of three cats checked in for Aegean Airlines flight 331 from Chania, in Crete, to Athens. From there, after a short transfer of just under an hour, they were due to be loaded onto another Aegean Airlines flight to Munich. The two other animals -- one cat, one kitten -- were being taken to a new home. They had been adopted by a German family, and Gomes Kopp had offered to bring them over.
Gomes Kopp and her husband had put each cat in its own carrier, securing the sides with cable ties and additional screws. "They do that so nothing can happen," says Alyssa Kopp, speaking with CNN on behalf of her mother, who speaks little English.
Ironically, Aegean does allow travelers to carry one cat in the cabin -- but Gomes Kopp felt it was better to load all three in the hold, since they are all former strays.
"Not all the [rescue] animals are comfortable with too many people around -- they can be more scared of people than of loud noises," says Kopp.
"It was hard, but because we'd had many good experiences with Aegean in cargo, she decided it was better to [put them in the hold]. Flying is stressful for animals, but it's better to fly five hours than live on the street."
At Chania airport, a representative for Aegean Airlines checked the paperwork and cleared the animals for the flight. The family had paid 360 euros ($390) for the three cats.
Gomes Kopp, who was traveling alone, made it to Athens without a problem. But when she was waiting to board her next flight to Munich, her daughter says, she was approached by an airport employee who took her to the plane which would be flying to Munich.
"They showed her the boxes. One was broken," says Kopp.
A large section of plastic on the top of one of the carriers had been broken off, leaving a hole big enough for a cat to get through, and the carrier was empty.
"They asked her if she gave them the box like this [at Chania], and where the animal was. Then they asked her to check if the other two animals were in the other boxes."
Checking the carriers, she realized it was partially sighted Rodri that was missing.
"They told her they didn't know what happened," says Kopp. "Nobody could give her answers, they said it must have happened in Chania."
Kopp says that her mother -- by now distraught -- was urged to take the next flight as planned, rather than look for Rodri on the ground. Staff took the remaining carriers to the hold as she decided what to do.
Since the two other cats had to get to their new home in Germany, Gomes Kopp decided to take the flight.
She has never seen Rodri again.
'They were each blaming the other'
Athens International Airport is the busiest in Greece.
Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto/Getty Images
The family, who have been campaigning on social media for the past month to find Rodri, paint a frustrating picture of their efforts to relocate him, saying neither Chania or Athens airport would take responsibility.
Gomes Kopp has made four return trips to Athens after receiving tip-offs of possible sightings, they said, but was initially only allowed to search public areas. Aegean Airlines has covered three of her eight flights to search for Rodri.
After receiving another handful of possible Rodri sightings at Chania. Gomes Kopp was allowed into an aircraft loading area one time, but has not been allowed back since. The family says subsequent efforts to find the cat have hit a brick wall, with staff at both airports removing posters, and workers from Chania returning a humane cat trap.
A spokesperson for Fraport Greece, which manages Chania airport, told CNN it had done everything it could within aviation regulations to locate Rodri and said the airline and the ground handling company, Goldair Handling, were responsible for the safe transport of live animals.
Goldair said it had followed protocols in trying to find the cat. "We are investigating the circumstances surrounding the damage to Rodri's carrier, with the intention of implementing preventive measures to prevent similar occurrences in the future," it said in a statement.
Athens International Airport said it had no indication the cat had arrived at its facilities and that the airline and ground-handling company were responsible, even though it had allowed the family to search its facilities.
"We have also established a direct channel of communication with the family... [and] invited the family to search for Rodri at the airport in line with the applicable security protocols and procedures," a spokesperson said.
For Kopp, the inability to explain what happened to the cat, points to wider and more troubling issues.
"How can they not know what and where it happened? It's their job to know what's going on [in an airport]. I think it's a big problem for security," she says.
Silence from the airline
Posters about missing Rodri were taken down by staff at Chania airport.
Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto/Getty Images
Meanwhile, Aegean Airlines has not responded to the family in over a month. In email exchanges between the Kopps and Aegean seen by CNN, a customer services representative said the three cats were loaded properly onto the plane at Chania, but on arrival at Athens a ramp agent noticed that one cage was damaged and Rodri missing. The Kopp family say that the CCTV does not show the cats being loaded onto the plane.
The email said that airline staff had searched both airports and the plane itself, as well as laying humane traps at an (unspecified) airport and circulating a photo of Rodri to Chania airport employees.
That email was dated March 13. The airline has not replied to the family since then, despite them flagging potential sightings. It has also emerged that Aegean Airlines failed to alert Athens airport of a potential missing cat.
The airline did not respond to specific questions from CNN but said it had done everything it could and was investigating to prevent a repeat of the incident.
"Maintaining open communication with Rodri's parents has been our priority since the moment we were made aware of the situation, and they are already informed both on our efforts to locate Rodri and our commitment to do everything possible to facilitate their travel while they are still pursuing private actions for the same reason," it said in a statement. it did not dispute not responding to the family since March 13.
'Rodri isn't the first'
Gomes Kopp has returned to Athens four times to look for her cat.
Courtesy Alyssa Kopp
For the Kopp family, this isn't just about Rodri. Since their story took hold on social media, they have been contacted by "many people," says Alyssa Kopp, sharing similar stories of their pets going missing.
In the past two weeks alone, two cats have been lost on Iberia flights within Spain. A representative for Iberia told CNN that the airline is "searching" for the animals -- Romeo, a black cat lost at Madrid airport on April 6, and Naia, a tabby lost at Tenerife on March 31 -- but would not disclose how many animals have gone missing in-flight in the past year.
"It's always the same -- if they find the animals again it's not because they do something, it's because of luck," says Kopp. "They don't do anything to change how they work. How can they sell tickets for 120 euros for one small animal, and then something like this happens?
"We're very grateful to airlines that take animals, and every one of us knows how hard the job of ground handling is. But if they can't do it, they should stop taking animals. We paid 360 euros for three cats -- it's a lot of money."
Aegean has not offered a refund for Rodri's ticket, or offered compensation. But Kopp says they don't want it anyway.
"Money doesn't give us the cat back. We don't want the money -- we want them to look, and we want to know what happened, and where."
