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A man who got his overweight cat into the passenger cabin of a plane
- arcticbull 7y agoThis 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.
- noja 7y agoI can't understand why his miles were confiscated.
- koolba 7y agoAs punishment to deter future fat feline fanatics.
- distances 7y agoSeems appropriate if you're openly flaunting very clear rules from the airline.
- jacquesm 7y agoI'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 7y agoExactly, it's like taking away someone's pension if they get fired.
- arcticbull 7y agoIt'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).
- pvaldes 7y agoThe cat needs flying less and walking more
- lilyball 7y agoWhy is a 17lb cat ok in the passenger area but not a 22lb cat?
- wilt 7y agoBecause of societies high cat beauty standards.
- rob74 7y agoIt's not really about beauty, a cat so overweight (judging by its size on the photos, I would say the "normal" weight would be 6 kg / 12 lbs max) is likely to have serious health problems
- ginko 7y agoPresumably because 8kg is the weight limit for hand luggage.
- floatingatoll 7y agoPresumably 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 7y ago> 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.
- drtillberg 7y agoSounds like a 'bug'.
- INTPenis 7y agoI 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 7y agoI have a Maine Coon that weights 8kg and he's not even a particularly large example of the breed.
- thawaway1837 7y agoThe 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 7y agoNope, 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
- mikorym 7y agoI wonder if this is why corrupt politicians are called "fat cats". I thought it was just for the rhyme.
- pvaldes 7y agoNeutered savannah cats could reach this weight, probably
- SideburnsOfDoom 7y ago> Early-generation Savannahs can weigh 8–20 pounds (3.6–9.1 kg) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savannah_cat#Physical_features_and_breeding_techniques https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savannah_cat#Physical_features... > The Maine Coon is the largest breed of domestic cat. On average, males weigh from 13 to 18 lb (5.9 to 8.2 kg) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maine_Coon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maine_Coon
- acqq 7y agoThe 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
- imtringued 7y agoI don't know why people film themselves breaking the law/TOS and then ulpoad that to social media.
- coldtea 7y agoBecause he could not care less? He flies first class, I'm sure he wont miss the frequent flyer miles.
- gdy 7y agoTo 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 7y agoTo be fair, the laws around flights are ridiculously bad and deserve much dissent since nearly 20 years for now. Not applicable here though.
- csomar 7y agoThey have to get these likes/views. It's an incredible world we are living in.
- lostmsu 7y agoMy 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.
- brohee 7y agoHe 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)
- pvaldes 7y agoI 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 7y agoIn 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.
- csomar 7y agoThe 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.
- rosege 7y agoThe 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 7y agoWhen 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.