A Chinese man has picked up a number of internet fans after he managed to con almost a years worth of free meals using a clever scam he devised at Xi’an airport in Shaanxi, China.
The con involved the man purchasing one first class ticket for a flight with Eastern China Airlines. Once inside Xi’an airport he would pass security and head straight for the First Class Lounge, once in the lounge he would feast on the airline's first class offering before leaving to take his flight.
All seems fine, however, this sneaky customer never actually caught the flights. Instead he headed straight to the airline desk and rescheduled the flight for the following day.
When traveling on airlines these days it's not easy to find yourself a deal. With add ons for everything but fresh air and some budget operators even debating the idea of charging customers to use the toilet in the air, air travel is a mixed minefield of extra costs, hidden charges and clever bump ups you were never expecting.
It's probably all of the above that's caused the internet to rally behind the story and perhaps what led the man in question to repeat his dining scam again and again. He didn't stop the scam until the airline became suspicious of the actions, however, by this point he eaten more than 300 meals.
The icing on the cake came when the man became aware that he'd been rumbled. Instead of pleading guilty or offering to pay up for the food, he simply cancelled the ticket and picked up a free refund.
