A Cathay Dragon pilot has been ordered to repay over $29,000 and perform 20 hours of community service in punishment for scamming free flights from Air Canada.
Marc Anthony Tacchi is Canadian but lives in Hong Kong and flies for Hong Kong-based Cathay Dragon, a subsidiary of Cathay Pacific.
Per the Vancouver Sun:
In 2012 and 2013, Air Canada participated in a mystery shopper program with Sensors Quality Management Inc. (SQM) in which participating customers, known as “SQM insiders,” were offered partial or full refunds if they booked services through SQM and completed written reviews. The refunds were processed by SQM using redemption codes provided by Air Canada.
Primary takeaway: it’s too late for us to participate in this “mystery shopper” program.
But seriously, Tacchi had a friend on the inside who provided him these codes, which he used to erase over 36,000CAD (~29,00oUSD) in purchases from Air Canada. During this time, he never was a “SQM insider” nor did he leave any product reviews.
Between March 2013 and July 2013 he purchased four trips (a total of 13 flights) for his family of four. First class of course. But he was even greedier. He did the same thing for friends, charging them a $400 fee for each booking.
Addressing the case, Judge Patrick Chen wrote:
The amount involved in these frauds is not insubstantial. The sole motivation for these offences was greed. The accused used a fake name and fake address when filling out forms to perpetrate some of the frauds.
But Tacchi did receive a conditional discharge for proactively enrolling in counseling, expressing remorse over his actions, having no criminal history, faithfully supporting his two ex-wives, and…financially supporting a family in Nepal for more than three years.
Perhaps his 20 hours of community service could be done during his allotted rest time on trans pacific flights. Instead of resting he could serve food and drinks, collect trash, or tidy up the lavs. I’m sure the crew would welcome the help. Everybody wins.
Air Canada has first class back then? I feel like they only had business class..
He probably booked parters in first class. Air Canada has not had a first class for far longer than 2012.