The cat’s out of the bag, er, carrier.
A Russian man is no longer a member of the frequent flier program for the country’s flagship airline, Aeroflot, after smuggling his 22-pound cat aboard a flight using, wait for it, a body-double of the chunky feline, according to NBC News Wednesday.
Aeroflot told the outlet it determined Mikhail Galin violated multiple regulations of the airline regarding the transport of animals — such as the 18-pound limit for animals flying in the cabin — during his successful attempt to take Viktor the cat with him from Moscow to Vladivostok.
After Viktor’s size caued an issue in Moscow, Galin forfeited his ticket, got a local pet owner to bring its smaller cat, Phoebe, to the airport to weigh her instead of Viktor. After successfully fooling airport personnel, they swapped the cats at the terminal, so Galin could bring Viktor aboard his flight.
After running into trouble on another flight, Galin concocted a “strategic decision … to find a similar cat of a smaller physical mass.”
Galin thanked pals from Riga and Moscow for helping him locate the perfect “mini Viktor.”
“The operation to replace Viktor’s fat cat with a miniature kitty Phoebe was successful,” he wrote, noting, “The scales showed acceptable norm, and an employee of the airline kindly issued the landing, wishing a happy flight.”
At the time of publication, Galin’s Facebook post about the ordeal boasted over 18,000 likes.
“In connection with several counts of deliberate violation of the air carriage agreement, Aeroflot has decided to exclude this passenger from the Aeroflot Bonus loyalty program,” read a statement from the company. “All miles accumulated during his entire participation in the program will be cancelled.”
For Galin, that includes a reported 370,000 miles he told NBC News were in his name before being booted from the program.
Though Galin seemed to accept his punishment with ease, telling the outlet, “I violated the rules, and the carrier has every right to take action,” his usage of “Dura lex, sed lex (The law is harsh, but it is the law),” is used by Russians in reference to harsh applications of equally strict laws.
Vladimir Burmatov, the head of State Duma’s ecology committee, has urged Aeroflot CEO, Vitaly Savelyov, to give back the miles “to the owner of the fat cat and revise the rules for transporting animals [toward] greater flexibility” and instead have people pay extra if their animals exceed the limit but fly in cargo.