
A man who got his overweight cat into the passenger cabin of a plane - lelf
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/13/world/europe/fat-cat-aeroflot.html
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arcticbull
This was honestly quite impressive; it was billed as a "failure" because he
got his frequent flier miles confiscated. It was a total success except for
the fact he went and bragged about his shenanigans on social media. Would have
gone great if he'd kept his laptop shut.

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noja
I can't understand why his miles were confiscated.

~~~
distances
Seems appropriate if you're openly flaunting very clear rules from the
airline.

~~~
jacquesm
I'm not sure about that. This incident has nothing to do with airmiles the
passenger already collected on lots of other flights. They could take away his
miles on _this_ flight but if airmiles have value this is arbitrary
punishment. They would have a reasonable claim to get him to pay some excess
luggage fine but I highly doubt they have the right to take away an arbitrary
number of airmiles.

~~~
noja
Exactly, it's like taking away someone's pension if they get fired.

~~~
arcticbull
It's more like taking away someone's pension if they steal from the company,
but even that's not a good analogy.

At least under US law, frequent flier miles are property of the airline and
the program operates basically free of oversight. They can take them from you
at their sole discretion for any reason or no reason, and they can't be sued
for it, at least in state court. Only the DOT has meaningful jurisdiction over
airlines, for instance look up the last few battles over 14 CFR 399.88(a).

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brohee
He exploited a classic TOCTOU race.

In software this is so common it has its own CWE
([https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/367.html](https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/367.html))

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lostmsu
My cat flew Delta (I think flight leg might have been operated by Aeroflot)
with me from Moscow to NY in the cabin about 7 years ago.

They let him onboard, once they realized the plane was not suitable for pets
in the cargo hold, and he was already included in the ticket.

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lilyball
Why is a 17lb cat ok in the passenger area but not a 22lb cat?

~~~
floatingatoll
Presumably carriers (heh) have weight limits for loose objects to protect us
all from being hit and killed by them.

What is the heaviest inanimate object permitted to be loose (unstrapped,
unenclosed) in a plane cabin?

A pet cage with a heavy object inside it is an inanimate object. That it
contains a living thing is beside the point from a physics perspective.

~~~
peteretep
> What is the heaviest inanimate object permitted to be loose (unstrapped,
> unenclosed) in a plane cabin?

British Airways’ policy on hand luggage is any weight is fine, as long as you
can lift it into the overhead bins without assistance.

The heaviest Atlas Stone lift is 560lbs, which seems like a reasonable answer
to your question.

~~~
floatingatoll
A 560lb Atlas Stone does not fit into the carryon sizing bin. Based on an
eyeball estimate, I believe that the best you could get into the cabin would
be 200lbs.

It looks like Atlas Stones are generally mold-poured concrete, so you'd have
to pour concrete into a rectangular shape.

What is the maximum mass (in pounds) of concrete that can be poured into a
carryon luggage rectangle compliant with BA policy?

EDIT: 51 pounds, because that's the BA published limit on carryons. So,
16"x12"x3.451" using 133 lbs/ft^2 pre-mixed concrete, best case scenario. Make
sure to take the handle's weight into account.

[https://www.britishairways.com/en-us/information/baggage-
ess...](https://www.britishairways.com/en-us/information/baggage-
essentials/hand-baggage-allowances)

[https://www.calculator.net/concrete-
calculator.html?slableng...](https://www.calculator.net/concrete-
calculator.html?slablength=16&slablengthunit=inch&slabwidth=12&slabwidthunit=inch&slabthick=3.451&slabthickunit=inch&slabquantity=1&slabcal=Calculate)

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INTPenis
I cannot believe a cat weighs 9.9kg. I actually fly with my jack russel
terrier dog in the cabin and she's only 4.5kg.

~~~
rndmio
I have a Maine Coon that weights 8kg and he's not even a particularly large
example of the breed.

~~~
thawaway1837
The cat in the article looks very much like the Maine Coon mix I am currently
cat sitting. This is not an unusual or unhealthy size for this breed.

~~~
rurban
Nope, it's an ordinary European Shorthair house cat, the most common domestic
cat race in Europe, esp in the north.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Shorthair](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Shorthair)

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imtringued
I don't know why people film themselves breaking the law/TOS and then ulpoad
that to social media.

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gdy
To say 'f __* you ' to the law/TOS and the people behind it, or to brag how
smart they are, or to entertain their friends.

Any of these can be worth the penalty.

~~~
raxxorrax
To be fair, the laws around flights are ridiculously bad and deserve much
dissent since nearly 20 years for now.

Not applicable here though.

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csomar
The issue at hand is that the 7-8Kg weight limit is complete bull __ __. My
carry-on luggage weighs 3.5Kg empty, so I 'm at 50% the allowed limit even if
I don't carry anything.

Here are a few tricks I tried.

1- Have your laptop on a slim sleeve. If the airline is doing weight checks,
remove the laptop and hold it. That's a 2-3Kg gain.

2- Have a few cheap items (like a cheap umbrella) in your carry-on. If the
airline tells you are over limit, then start removing these cheap items and
throwing them. This shows the guy/girl that you are doing an effort. Tried
this a couple times and they let me get on with it.

3- Talk to the guy/girl. Explain you have expensive items and that you can't
put these electronics in your check-in luggage (batteries!).

4- Don't go over 12Kg. Try to be in the 9-11Kg range.

~~~
Ntrails
Have you considered owning a suitcase that doesn't weigh 3.5kg?

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pvaldes
I met a man, lets name it "Mr. Smith", that always flew with his working
partner in the next seat, a passenger named Chelo Smith.

Chelo is a common woman name in some parts of the world but "Chelo Smith" was
a Stradivarius cello.

~~~
rosege
In similar vain there was an insurance company that went broke here in
Australia close to 20 years ago. During the liquidators examination it came
out that the CEO liked to book an extra seat in first class under the name
Casey (and his surname), which was for his brief case.

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rosege
The only time I ever saw a cat on a plane was on a flight from Prague. The
lady in my row put the cat on the seat between us in a carrier. I thought she
booked the seat for it but just before departure someone claimed the seat so
she had to keep it on her lap.

~~~
bradknowles
When my then-to-be wife and I flew to Belgium to start living and working
there, we took our two cats on the plane.

After almost eight years there, when we flew back to the US, we paid for my
sister-in-law and her husband to fly over and help us, and part of the job was
to then fly back with one of our three cats. My wife and I had the other two
cats with us.

Seemed to be pretty normal business on Delta, at least at the time.

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acqq
The journalists asked the Putin's press secretary for "Kremlin's opinion" on
the case (apparent proof):

[https://ria.ru/20191113/1560891889.html](https://ria.ru/20191113/1560891889.html)

