Minnesota native Virgil Wiebe was waiting out a long delay at Chicago's O'Hare Airport when he stepped outside for a smoke break near the little park outside Terminal 1.

An orange kitten came running up to him out of nowhere — he had already missed one flight, and he figured he might be missing another one. He looked around for a mother cat, assuming the kitten may have been born in the bushes, but found none, so he carried the animal up to the ticketing counter.

According to NBC 5 Chicago, the TSA agent had no idea what to do, saying they had never seen a stray at the airport, and told Wiebe he would need a kennel.

With his flight set to board, he used DoorDash to deliver a kennel and kitten formula to the airport while United Airlines booked one more passenger on the flight home. Wiebe said he was charged $150 for the cat ticket, 'and that was it.'

The TODAY show also covered the airport adoption as its Morning Boost.

The three-week-old kitten is now named Macanudo O'Hare, after the cigar Wiebe was smoking and the place where they united — or Harry, for short.

It is not clear how the tiny kitten found its way to the middle of one of the world's busiest airports, but from that moment forward he had a home with Wiebe. 'He's just a joyful little thing, and it's so coincidental how it all happened,' Wiebe said.

'Who knows where Harry came from, but now he's ours.'

The story has become a textbook example of the internet's beloved 'cat distribution system' — the running joke that the universe delivers cats to the people who need them, whether they planned it or not.

A missed connection and a long delay, usually the most miserable part of air travel, instead produced a joyful adoption that NBC 5 Chicago and TODAY both highlighted. It is a reminder of how a stray surprise can turn a travel nightmare into the best trip of someone's life.