The elusive Jack the cat—missing at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport for the past eight days—may have been sighted today for the first time.

A woman named Deborah Burke Andre posted the following on the “Jack the Cat is Lost in AA Baggage at JFK” Facebook page: “I am an employee at JFK. Today I was driving by the long term parking lot when I spotted a cat that could have been this one. When I got out of my car to try and get a closer look, it ran towards the water edge.”

Jack’s network of over 12,000 Facebook supporters pounced on the tip and alerted American Airlines, which responded by saying they had expanded the search and would have an update soon.

The airline flew Karen Pascoe, Jack’s owner, back to New York from California this week to join the search for her pet. On Thursday, American Airlines acted on Pascoe’s suggestion and added a pet detective to the search.

Pascoe’s sister has been updating the Facebook page regularly and most recently wrote, “We’re all excited…please be patient, though. I’ll update as I find out ANY details at all…it’s frustrating for all of us, but Karen can’t talk to me and call for Jack at the same time.”

Jack has been missing since Pascoe was traveling from New York to California last Thursday. She dropped her two cats off in their kennels at baggage services and soon received a call from an American Airlines agent telling her that one of her cats was missing and they believed he was in the inbound baggage claim area.

The search came up empty and Jack has been missing ever since. Passionate supporters have vowed to renounce American Airlines unless the feline is found. The worried airline has been posting frequent updates on its Facebook.

“We understand that a cat is a beloved family member for so many, including many of our own employees, and we are doing our utmost to find Jack,” American Airlines wrote on its Facebook page Thursday night.