BUFFALO, N.Y. — It's a problem you might not believe to be real, unless you heard it from the Transportation Security Administration.
"We indeed have seen and uptick in the number of people who are accidentally leaving their pets in the carry on cases and putting them through the X-ray machine," TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein said.
Part of the reason may be an increasing number of air travelers unfamiliar with proper procedure.
Another part of it, according to one veteran TSA screener at Buffalo's airport, may be because modern pet carriers are increasingly being designed to look like ordinary luggage.
"They're making them like a duffle bag for privacy issues for the comfort of the pet," explained Amber Hernandez, a lead transportation security officer.
Indeed, the carriers used as as part of a demonstration held Wednesday on how to properly travel with a pet, are a far cry from the once ubiquitous plastic carriers with caging on one side that gave a clear indication there was an animal inside them.
"When the passenger is not communicating with us that they have a pet, the pet ends up in the X-ray," Hernandez said.
The proper procedure, according to the TSA, is to tell the screener you have a pet, and they'll let you carry it through with you after it is removed from its carrier.
And while some pet owners may fear their pet escaping and bolting across the airport, the TSA has a remedy for that as well.
"If your pet is skittish, then you'll want to request screening in a private screening room," Farbstein said. "That way if the pet wiggles or scratches or bites or nips and hops down on the floor, it's not to run away because it'll be contained in a private screening room."
Added Hernandez: "That way the cat is not going to get hurt, or scratch or bite the passenger or one of us, and we're not going to have a cat running around the checkpoint."
In her four years at Buffalo's airport Hernandez has seen passengers bring every kind of animal from common pets to fish, birds, and reptiles while reminding that it is up to the individual airlines to determine which kinds of animals may board flights and how they may be transported.
In the meantime the TSA says even if a pet goes through the airport X-ray scanner they won't suffer any ill effects to their health because of it.
It's often the case, Hernandez said, that the screener is more unsettled by the experience than the pet.
"It is uncomfortable to see an animal on the X-ray screen when it pops up," she said.