Instead of just returning the stuffed tiger, Manager Tony D'Aiuto had a different idea. He planned to share Hobbes' adventure trail with the 6-year-old.
This is a lost and found story with the most unexpected, happiest ending ever.
A family travelling to Houston found themselves in a bind when their 6-year-old son Owen lost his stuffed tiger named, yes, Hobbes in the airport at Tampa.
Not knowing what else to do, the family sought the help of Tampa International Airport's lost and found department. Little Owen was distraught by the loss of his beloved Hobbes.
After various calls made between the airport staff, Hobbes was found near the children's play area and sent across to the Airport Operations Center to be returned to the family.
However, manager Tony D'Aiuto had a different idea. Instead of just returning the stuffed tiger, he planned to share Hobbes' adventure trail with the 6-year-old, and began documenting the homemade toy's journey from the airport back to Owen.
"I pitched this idea a couple of months ago after I saw a similar idea where someone took a stuffed lion around a museum," D'Auito writes on the airline's website, adding that all the photos were clicked during his lunch hour. "This seemed like the perfect opportunity," he says.
This Hobbes really did get to have a secret inner life, just as his fictional namesake is imagined to have in the Calvin and Hobbes cartoon strip. The pictures are a photographic record of Hobbes' tour of Tampa airport and include:
Hobbes also had fun napping in a hammock by the Marriott pool, playing Jenga and working out at the employees' gym among other things.
D'Aiuto went a step ahead. He got a book printed with a storyline, photographs, the works.
Then Owen and his family received the big surprise, with Hobbes, no less.
Mother Amanda Lake was in tears when she saw the book.
"It was very, very sweet," said Ms Lake according to the website. "We already told him over and over that Hobbes was on an adventure so it was nice to get back and show him that Hobbes really had been on an adventure."
She also thanked everyone at the airport. "It was such a nice surprise," she said.