Any chance of putting a small cage of sorts into your duffle bag?
That way you could leave the zipper of the bag open enough to get some
air in without the fuzzies escaping. (But be sure the bag is small enough
to fit under the seat!  You don't want it to be up above, and you
definately don't want it to be gate checked if you end up on a puddle-
jumper (i.e., one of those really small planes Continental has).
        As for X-raying -- wear a BIG coat (and no belt or anything metal
-- it'd be a bad time to be stopped by the metal detector) and put the
ferret in the coat for the walk-through. Best to get there early enough
that you won't have to wait in line -- just walk through and run to the
restroom to put them in the duffle (before the ferret starts squirming!).
You may want to sew a big fake pocket into the inside of the coat, so you
can keep your hands free and walk normally.
 
As for making them go to sleep, I haven't a clue...  I've never tried
this with ferrets myself, actually!  Once you're on the plane, you can
probably poke around in the duffle discretely to let them know you're
still there.... I think a waterbottle is out of the question, though.
But they can manage without it.
-Rochelle
 
[Posted in FML issue 0655]