Overweight cat body-double flight scam leaves owner without thousands of air miles
“I violated the rules, and the carrier has every right to take action,” Galin told NBC News.
Viktor the cat on board the plane en route to Vladivostok. Mikhail Galin
Nov. 13, 2019, 5:01 AM EST
By Matthew Bodner
MOSCOW — A Russian man has lost hundreds of thousands of air miles after he smuggled an overweight cat onto a cross-country flight last week.
Russia’s flagship airline, Aeroflot, kicked Mikhail Galin off its frequent flier programme after accounts of the high-stakes operation went viral on Russian social media.
In a trick reminiscent of a bank heist or spy thriller, Galin used a body-double cat to work around Aeroflot’s 8 kilogram (about 18 pound) limit for animals transported in the plane’s cabin when flying from Moscow to Vladivostok, on Russia’s Pacific coast.
Galin published a detailed account of the operation on his Facebook page on Nov. 6, after both he and his 10 kilogram (22 pound) cat, Viktor, had safely landed in Vladivostok. Photos showed Viktor standing on Galin’s lap, gazing out the window, as his owner sipped champagne.
Mikhail Galin with Viktor the cat on board a flight to Vladivostok.Mikhail Galin
Aeroflot, however, was not amused. The company told NBC News it had conducted its own investigation and concluded Galin violated several airline regulations on transporting animals.
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Rules is rules...
= new reply since forum marked as read
I took several Aeroflot flights back in the day and I remember hearing what I thought sounded like a dog bark. When I checked it out, turns out that a woman sitting several seats ahead of me had her small dog sitting on her lap. And when we went to leave, a smiling flight attendant was holding a much larger dog on a leash - which I assumed was waiting for the passenger/owner.
I learned that many Russians are dog people, our Moscow guide who was with us for the whole trip liked to talk about her Afghan. And I did see a lot of pet dogs. I was bummed that I couldn't take my Cairn Terrier with me since, though he was on the small side, he exceeded the weight limits of a pet that could travel with me in the cabin here in the States. They must have changed the rules. 
Hope he didn't mind all the publicity.
