Cathay pilot guilty of scamming Air Canada for thousands in free flights
A Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific pilot has been convicted of scamming Air Canada out of thousands of dollars of free flights and was ordered to pay restitution.
According to court documents recently unsealed, Marc Anthony Tacchi must undertake 20 hours of community service and repay Air Canada CAD$36,551.27.
Tacchi is a 42-year-old Canadian citizen and permanent resident of Hong Kong who flies for the Cathay Dragon subsidiary.
Tacchi used a Canada-based friend who was a member of a mystery shopper scheme for Air Canada to fraudulently gain a free-flight redemption code for flights.
The friend was also previously convicted of related charges.
Between March 2013 and July 2013, Tacchi used the code to book free flights for himself and his family, and also helped some friends book flights.
He also charged one friend $400 for the ‘service.’
In doing so, he also managed to accrue frequent flyer miles worth more than $500.
"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," Judge Patrick Chen wrote.
However Judge Chen showed leniency due to Tacchi’s guilty plea and ‘damage to his reputation.’
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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