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NEWS > EVERYONE ELSE > OFFICIALS: MASKED MAN SNEAKING INTO CANADA DID NOT RECEIVE AEROPLAN MILES
OFFICIALS: MASKED MAN SNEAKING INTO CANADA DID NOT RECEIVE AEROPLAN MILES
November 7 2010
Vancouver, Canada – Only a handful of years ago travelling across great distances took a great deal of time and effort. Even as recently as the 1950’s boats would ferry travellers from the Old World to the New World in search of a better life, forcing 
people to spend weeks in cramped quarters, suffering through bad food and seasickness. The world has changed though and now intercontinental travel is relatively easy, taking only hours rather than weeks, making the world a much more interconnected and familiar place.
That ease of transit does of course increase desire with many people seeing opportunity in foreign lands and seeking them by hook or by crook. Often the primary destination for such travellers is North America which, whether realistic or not, is seen as a land of opportunity and unlimited wealth. That prompts people from all over the world to seek refuge in the countries of the continent, particularly the United States and Canada, in an effort to change the hand that has been dealt to them. That was no doubt the desire for a man who boarded a flight in Hong Kong as an elderly white man and disembarked in Vancouver as a young Asian man. The bizarre story, an immigration and security nightmare to be sure, has made international headlines with no explanations in sight. However Canadian officials have confirmed that the passenger not collect air miles and thus will not be trying this again anytime soon, at least not without paying.
“Upon being alerted by flight crew, Air Canada security advised Canadian Border Services Agency officials to meet Flight AC018 on Oct. 29 in Vancouver to investigate a passenger who altered his appearance while onboard,” said spokesperson John Reber. “During the flight, the subject attended the washroom and emerged an Asian male that appeared to be in his early 20s. Security forces acted swiftly and the man has been taken into custody. I cannot confirm or deny any specific details of this incident except to ensure people that he did not collect Aeroplan miles and thus this incident will not affect that network.”
Aeroplan is one of the most popular airline loyalty programs in Canada. The accused reportedly boarded the plane initially with an Aeroplan card.
“This is a very unique situation in airline security. The man apparently had this mask made up and wore it for most of the flight in an effort to gain access to the country. While this first appears to be an asylum issue, it very well could have been something more sinister,” said Scrape TV Airline analyst Jeffry Johnson. “Obviously the first thing that comes to people’s minds s terrorism but those groups are fairly sophisticated and can afford to create fake passports. The bigger issue is how this affects loyalty programs, not just in Canada but all across the world. There may very well be an organized effort to defraud these systems and gain extra miles.”
It’s believed the mask was purchased by associates in Canada using the Aeroplan program.
“This could just be the tipping point, the first real taste of a robust kind of corruption 
that could undo the whole notion of rewards, in airlines or wherever. This has really been a weak point that few people have addressed in the past but now that it has come to the forefront I’m sure we will see more incidents like this,” continued Johnson. “While this particular individual was caught and his reward miles stripped, there may dozens or hundreds or even thousands of people getting away with scams of this sort. Likely, they are the ones smart enough to wear their disguise until they land. I guess they picked the wrong guy for this particular mission.”
If the man is deported back to Hong Kong, it’s likely he will be travelling on his own Aeroplan account and will therefore accrue points.
Emil Uliya, International Correspondent
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