Cat actually delayed the flight for 2 days by sitting in the pilots lap in the food court of the airport.

Pilot couldn't move, because there was a cat in his lap. Those are the rules. And without rules there is no structure to society. Everything becomes chaos and anarchy.

So for the good of society, the pilot couldn't move. That way your house doesn't burn down.

When my cat's carrier just broke open randomly on a train station in winter and cat jumped under the train cart, the train operator just said "you have 10 minutes, I'm not delaying my train for a cat".

We made it in time though, I got my hands sliced on something under the train quite badly, but found her, she is an old lady now sleeping in a chair beside me now, hopefully long forgotten about that adventure.

The article doesn't mention a "million-dollar loss", where is the picture from?

The only mention of money in the article is at the end:

... the unauthorised cat posed a serious risk at cruising altitude and could have cost the Irish budget airline thousands of dollars in damages.

Careful, he's a hero!