It is hard and expensive to fly with pets. When you can’t keep them in the cabin with you and they have to be put in the cargo hold, things get even worse. People who are worried about their pets’ safety and comfort during the flight try to stay away from the cargo hold like the plague. Some people will even try to trick airlines. A Russian man named Mikhail Galin went viral for doing just that. He smuggled his cat onboard, even though it didn’t weigh enough. Aeroflot’s airline decided to kick him out of the frequent flyer program because he didn’t follow the rules.
After staying in Riga, Galin went back to his home city of Vladivostok. Airport workers wouldn’t let his cute, fat tabby cat named Viktor fly in the cabin, which messed up the trip. They told him that his rather fat cat, which weighs 22 pounds, is way too heavy for the 5-lb limit. Aeroflot’s rules said that Viktor had to be put in the cargo hold. Galin wouldn’t let it happen, though.
A source reached out to Viktor’s owner, who said that his 4-year-old cat usually feels terrible on flights. Since this wasn’t Viktor’s first flight on an airplane, his owner already knew how he reacts to changes in air pressure and new places.
So, the man came up with a plan to help his friend stay close to him. He told airport workers that his cat was not as fat as they thought. He did this in a pretty easy way.
Galin asked for help on his social media sites by asking people to lend him a cat similar to Viktor. He was able to find a cat that looked a lot like Victor but was much smaller. Then, at check-in, Galin switched cats with a friend and gave the cat he had borrowed back to the friend. He was able to get on the plane with Viktor in his hands.
The surveillance video showed that Galin broke airline rules when she switched Viktor for a cat that looked the same. The airline decided to kick the man out of the frequent flyer program and take the 400,000 miles from his account.
Here’s how people reacted.
