Umer
One thing that pet owners really struggle with is, flying with their pets. Some pet lovers just want to take their pets on their trips, but that comes at a price. It is not as easy for animals to travel through the air as it is for humans. Not only is it stressful but it amounts to a lot of expense as well. Cats do not like unstable settings. Even cars distress cats and anyone with a cat would know what a hassle it is to drive while a cat is in the car.
Pets can cause a lot of disturbance on the flight to you and those sitting around you. It is just not something in someone’s control. And pet owners usually are too concerned about their pet’s comfort and safety to put them in cargo. They would rather sneak them in the plane than go for the cargo option. To avoid cargo, we have seen people go to lengths to deceive or break the rules, to somehow bring their cat along.
You would be stunned to know the story about Mikhail Gail from Russia and how he deceived the airline workers to sneak his cat into the airplane. This absurdity and craziness of this story made it go viral on the internet. Of course, his actions did not go unnoticed and he suffered penalties while facing the consequences of his actions. Aeroflot’s airline removed him from the frequent flyer program for his cunning actions.
Before we begin, here’s a picture of that fat kitty who looks adorable while taking a nap!
Galin was traveling back from Riga to Vladivostok, his hometown. The issue arose when he was being refused to take his healthy cat Viktor into the cabin. The reason they gave was how his chunky cat was 22lbs, which turned out to be 5lbs over the maximum permitted limit. They offered to put Viktor in the cargo hold, but Gail refused without a second doubt.
During an interview, Mikhail explained how he has traveled with Viktor, his 4 years old cat by air before, so he is well aware of how Viktor would react under the conditions of flight e.g. high altitude, change in air pressure, and the airplane setting. So, this makes him avoid letting his cat travel through cargo at all costs.
He would not take a no, so he crafted a thorough plan to bring his cat to the airplane. His plan deceived the airport workers into believing that his cat is not overweight, which made them allow him to enter.
He posted on his Facebook, asking people to approach him if they have a cat that looks similar to Viktor. He requested to borrow the cat if it weighs less than Viktor. How he managed to deceive the airport workers was that he swapped the differently weighing cats at check-in, with the less weighing cat going through all the checking process. He later switched the cats back to their original owners and boarded the plane with Viktor, without anyone knowing.
However, he did not get away with this smuggling and the airline staff later caught him red-handed on the footage where Mikhail was making the exchange of the cats, and they realized what has happened. He was refused to continue in the frequent flyer program and 40,000 miles were removed from his account.
The whole situation is bizarre and there are mixed views of the public on the account. Some people empathize with Mikhail’s situation, probably because of how undeniably adorable Viktor is, and others are not in for it. Some of the comments are below!
Well, lastly we would like to know about your opinions in regards to this story. What would you have done if you were in Mikhail’s place? Let us know in the comments below.