Benjamin Button Busted on an Air Canada Flight

For those who have not seen or read F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, I realize my title may be confusing. Button was a fictitious character who was born elderly and grew younger in appearance as the years went by. That made for a great story, but as the old adage goes, sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction.

For it seems a real-life “Benjamin Button” was recently apprehended by Canadian officials after entering the lavatory on Air Canada 777 as an elderly Caucasian man and exiting as a young Asian man. It is still not clear what motivated the actions of the quick-change artist, but he has sought refugee status in Canada.

From what little we know, the young man was using the boarding pass of a 55 year-old American citizen in Hong Kong and boarded AC018 from Hong Kong to Vancouver with only an Aeroplan card and boarding pass–no passport.

Although his disguise was great, he neglected one thing: his hands just looked way to young, prompting FAs attendants to alert security officials in Canada even before the “transformation” later in the flight.

This story fascinates me. Reading some of the comments on various Canadian news sites, it seems many think the kid is a Chinese spy. But would a Chinese spy ditch his disguise mid-flight? I love the intrigue!