Passenger Told to Put Cat in Storage Bin on Long-Haul Flight by Cabin Crew

A Finnair passenger was horrified after being told by crew to place her cat in the overhead storage compartment on a long-haul flight, and she ended up downgrading to “protect” her pet.
Marketing executive Atika Lim, a 30-year-old from Singapore, was returning from visiting family in Germany with her cat Ellie and her husband when she discovered there was no space for her pet under the seat in front of her during her second flight.
Lim boarded the flight, from Helsinki Vantaa Airport to Singapore Changi Airport, at 12.25 a.m. on September 13, she told Newsweek. “We added a Pet Add On to my ticket,” she explained.
“The flight to Germany was smooth sailing, but on the way back from Germany via Helsinki, we encountered issues with our seats. When we boarded the plane bound for Singapore, we realized that under both seats in front of us, where we were supposed to put our cat’s carrier, was a metal partition that prevented anyone from placing any sort of hand luggage under.”
In a video posted by Lim on TikTok, she explains that she had to take a seat in economy class to “protect” her cat after it was suggested to her that her cat go in the overhead compartment.
The video, which has received over 776,000 views since it was shared on September 16, shows the cat’s carrier in front of her in her newly assigned seat.
“We tried, before take off, to see if anyone would be willing to switch seats with us, and we also offered to pay the difference in the seat selections that others had paid for. However, no one wanted to give their seat up—which is fair because they have a right to—so we reached out to a steward for assistance instead.”
Lim then says that the steward told the couple that they could place the cat carrier in the overhead compartment for takeoff and landing, says Lim. Following that, another attendant stepped in and suggested that they could be downgraded and that a report would be filed so that they would receive a refund for the difference in price.
Lim has since received the refund she was promised.
Finnair told Newsweek: “The customer was booked in our premium economy cabin in a seat where they could not place a pet carrier under the seat in front of them. Unfortunately, a cabin crew member then suggested that the customer could place the pet carrier in the overhead compartment during take off and landing.
“This is, of course, completely against Finnair’s procedures. When the incorrect guidance was noticed, the customer was moved to another seat in economy class where the pet carrier fit in the correct place.
“We have gone through this with the cabin crew member in question, so that they understand that this was not how we operate. We always have more senior cabin crew members and pursers working in the same crew with our new cabin crew members to support them in working according to our procedures.
“The safety of pets is very important to us, and we are very sorry that this situation caused our customer unnecessary distress. We have addressed this directly with the customer and refunded them the premium economy fee.”
There have been past reports of pets dying after being placed in overhead compartments while on flights. In 2018, a family’s dog died on a United Airlines flight after cabin crew told the family that the pet had to be stored in the overhead bin.
A 2022 report by the American Pet Products Association says that 80% of cat owners traveled by air with their pets, while 90% have traveled with their cats by car.
Explaining why she had shared the now viral TikTok video, Lim told Newsweek: “We’ve all heard horror stories of passengers being kicked off flights for unruly behavior. I worried that, out of fear of being removed, people might feel pressured to put their pets in the overhead bin, thinking they have no other choice.”
TikTok viewers were quick to share their thoughts on the incident in the comments section. One person, Conor P, commented: “There’s no air in the overhead compartments. There have been cases where small pets were put up above and they suffocated.”
“Crazy that they asked you to put the cat in the overheads!!” said @jjennielu.
Meanwhile, one person with the username @soso shared: “I was bringing my cats from another EU country and the Finnair captain and staff FOUGHT to have my cats on so very different experience.”
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