Oh boy, cat lovers, do I have a story for you.
When Mikhail Galin decided he wanted to take his sweet, precious cat Viktor in the cabin on a recent flight, he quickly ran into one, um, big issue. Viktor's weight clocks in at 22 pounds, which puts him 4 pounds over the airline's 18-pound limit.
Not one to be deterred, Mikhail hatched a nefarious plan. After booking another ticket for the following day, he approached the airline counter at check-in, cat in tow. Everything went off without a hitch, and "Viktor" was approved to fly in the cabin.
Mikhail was overjoyed, but not for reasons you might think. It turns out that he had enlisted the help of a friend, who loaned him a look-alike cat who happened to meet the airline's weight requirements. After the body double was approved, Mikhail swapped the two cats and carried Viktor on board with him.
And then … the trouble began. Luckily, Mikhail shared the tale on Facebook. With a little help from Google Translate, we can all (somewhat) follow along with their plight:
Mikhail recounted the story in a lengthy post on Facebook. He explained that even after all that effort, Viktor did not really enjoy the flight: "On takeoff and landing, Victor was a bit sick of the pressure drop, and I spent the whole flight (and it basically consists of takeoff and landing) covered his ears and wiped drool that flowed in streams all over the cat, my arms and carrying. The cat did not understand what was happening and plaintively looked into his eyes in search of an answer."
"A stamp was put on Victor’s passport control that his homeland officially accepted it and we went to check in for the Moscow-Vladivostok flight. Roulette of the queue directed us to the most responsible employee of the airport, who with a measuring tape measured all baggage measurements (the first time in my 300+ flights), several times placed each bag on the scales and announced that the cat will also be weighed."
"Control weighing showed that the animal was fed up to 10 kg that were not allowed for transportation in the cabin. After which, the lady solemnly announced that the cat was poisoning in the luggage. To all attempts to explain that the cat wouldn’t fly alive for 8 hours in baggage and would be in her nightmares for the rest of her life, she replied that she had rules and was not going to take responsibility for 2 extra kg of Victor in the cabin."
"The number of airline employees involved at my request to resolve the issue increased, but the verdict remained the same – Kota in baggage. But as Leonid Romanov said, 'Bro should be near, bro – not baggage.'"
"Having sent the entire delegation of the air carrier in a predetermined direction, handed them his boarding pass and took off the flight with all the luggage and the cat. Next, a strategic decision was made to find a similar cat of less physical mass. Thanks to friends from Riga and Moscow, who actively participated in the search (for which I am infinitely grateful), the mini-Victor was found with Veronika Buka’s girlfriend."
"A new problem arose – tickets to Vladivostok for flights the next day cost 1000-1500 euros . After examining a couple of dozen options, the only available ticket for bonus points was found, but a day later in business class. A little envious of the cat, without hesitation for a long time, he took the business."
"After spending the next night in the capital, we went to the airport with a cat, an understudy cat and its owners. The operation to replace the fat cat Victor with a miniature cat Phoebe was successful – the scales showed an acceptable norm, and the airline employee kindly issued a boarding wishing a happy flight."
"Sitting in the passenger seat, when all the wanderings were left behind, I wanted to suspect the Stuart and looking into the soul to quote the classic 'Boy, bring vodka to us, we are flying home.'"
It seemed that all ended well … until the airline released the following statement: "Aeroflot has decided to exclude this passenger from the Aeroflot Bonus loyalty program. All miles accumulated during his entire participation in the program will be cancelled."
However, it appears the world traveler remains unbothered. He is happily posting photos to his account of his cat, and he will likely find that other airlines are more than happy to host the now famous, and infamous, Viktor the fat cat.
