Man Uses Feline Body Double To Sneak Cat Too Fat for Flight onto Plane
A frequent flier on Russian airline Aeroflot went a little too far in his efforts to bring his cat with him on a flight.
Mikhail Galin was able to successfully sneak his 22-pound feline, Viktor, onto a flight out of Moscow using a smaller cat as a body double, according to BBC.
Galin was traveling from Latvia to Vladivostok, a city in the far east of Russia, with a stopover in Moscow and was hit with a problem when airline officials would not allow Viktor on board his layover flight.
Airline rules do not permit pets over 8 kilograms (or about 17 pounds) to ride in the cabin, but Galin apparently just couldn’t bear to let his pet ride in the luggage hold.
Instead, he delayed his flight in Moscow and devised a plan to find a similar-looking cat of an acceptable weight, which didn’t prove too difficult.
Galin posted on Facebook and was able to locate the owners of Phoebe, a thinner cat, and they agreed to meet at the airport the next day to help with the heist, according to AFP.
The weigh-in went over without a hitch, and Galin was able to return Phoebe and board with Viktor.
Unfortunately for Galin, he just couldn’t keep the accomplishment to himself.
“The operation to switch Viktor the fat cat for Phoebe the miniature kitty was successful,” he wrote on Facebook to the tune of praise from Russian cat-lovers.
Aeroflot, on the other hand, was not amused.
After launching an investigation and reviewing security footage, officials confirmed that Galin had indeed duped them and would be punished accordingly.
“Aeroflot has taken the decision to take this passenger out of its frequent flyer programme,” the company told AFP. “All of the miles collected during his time in the programme will be annulled.”
Reports indicate that Galin had accumulated nearly 400,000 miles on his account.
Despite his reportedly steep punishment, Galin has appeared to take it in stride. He followed up on the incident with a Facebook post expressing no ill will toward Aeroflot and admitting his wrongdoing.
The post also included a photo of Viktor as a kitten, or, as Galin joked, back when he “still met the requirements of the air carrier.”
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