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Home » Lufthansa » Man Impersonates Lufthansa Pilot For Free First Class Upgrades
Law In TravelLufthansa

Man Impersonates Lufthansa Pilot For Free First Class Upgrades

Matthew Klint Posted onNovember 30, 2019November 14, 2023 3 Comments

a logo with wings and a plane

Catch me if you can? The man has been caught…and wait till you hear his defense.

Man Arrested For Impersonating Lufthansa Pilot

Rajan Mahbubani is a self-identified frequent flyer. The 48-year-old acquired a Lufthansa’s pilot uniform and fake ID then successfully used it to bypass airport security and secure in-flight upgrades.

But this week he was caught while pulling his routine with Air Asia at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL). Before boarding an Air Asia flight from Delhi to Kolkata (CCU), staff telephoned the Lufthansa desk to check on whether Mahbubani really worked for Lufthansa (it’s not clear what raised suspicion).

Sanjay Bhatia, DEL’s Deputy Commissioner of Police, told CNN:

Mahbubani said that he was a frequent flier and used to dress up as a pilot to gain easy access through security, get preferential treatment from security agencies and airlines and seat upgrades. He would use the passage normally used by airline crew.

After his arrest, Mahbubani told us he used to shoot YouTube and TikTok videos on aviation and had obtained the Lufthansa fake ID card in Thailand.

I wish I could find my missing ID cards there…

Apparently, police were already on the lookout for him. Mahbubani is fond of uniforms, also likes to wear fake military uniforms, and then boasts about it on social media.

Mahbubani now faces a hefty fine and up to a year in prison. He claims it was all a big joke.

CONCLUSION

You can see his fake ID here. It looks exactly like the real thing. That’s not a surprise so much as the fact that he got his away with it for so long. Then again, Catch Me If You Can was based upon a true story. Kind of sad he was never able to use his fake ID to actually score an upgrade on Lufthansa…

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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3 Comments

  1. Gerry Reply
    November 30, 2019 at 1:45 pm

    Social Media. The worst thing to happen to civilization since…well, since forever.

  2. Santastico Reply
    November 30, 2019 at 5:28 pm

    Hope he now gets an “upgrade” in jail. What an idiot!!!

  3. Shawn Reply
    November 30, 2019 at 11:10 pm

    My main thought here is that this guy is very lucky that he never found himself in an emergency situation where the crew needed the skills of an additional pilot.

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