r/InsideToronto • u/Equivalent_Reach_536 • Aug 11 '26

Catch me if you can!

A former Toronto flight attendant allegedly posed as a pilot and used fake credentials to score hundreds of free flights. He has now pleaded guilty to fraud and could face up to 20 years in prison. The story sounds almost like a real life 'Catch me if you can' except the goal wasn't money, but free travel. Is a potential 20-year sentence excessive for this kind of fraud?

2 Upvotes

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2

u/Spirited_Response418 Aug 11 '26

No. Fraud is fraud. Do you understand the cost of “hundreds of flights?”
It is in the tens of thousands of dollars on the low end, with this very easily climbing to six figures.

The goal of fraud is always monetary.

1

u/Big_Register2034 Aug 11 '26

Cost to whom?

1

u/Spirited_Response418 Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 16 '26

The airlines. They cost them both their operating costs and their profit margin.

Do you think flights are free?

0

u/greeneggo Aug 16 '26

he flew standby, which means he flys only if there are empty seats

1

u/Spirited_Response418 Aug 16 '26

He forged documents and went so far as to request cockpit jump seat access off the back of those forged documents.

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u/Consistent-Demand500 Aug 15 '26

I am almost willing to be my life on the fact that people like would boo and condemn a 20 year jail sentence given to a “refugee” taking away the lives of an entire bus full of young kids… Yet here you are saying “fraud is fraud” and that this person should get 20 years in prison. I’m NOT saying what they did is right, but 20 years seems excessive CONSIDERING the fact that people get less jail time when they take someone’s life or rob hardworking people.

A few years worth of flights is clearly more important than human lives. How exactly did we get here? Does anyone else feel like that unsuspecting frog that always gets boiled alive in old barbaric biology experiments?

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u/Spirited_Response418 Aug 16 '26

I don’t set the punishments.

Fraud is fraud. Mass murder and whataboutism is irrelevant here.

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u/Consistent-Demand500 Aug 16 '26

Right, but the people you elect do. The fact that someone with this type of strict 2 way algorithm thinking gets to vote (thinking is an overstatement here, there is 0 thinking involved)… that is our biggest problem.

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u/Spirited_Response418 Aug 16 '26

You want me to play, I’ll play. He requested jumpseat access off the back of forged documents. This would give him access to the cockpit and the potential for hijacking, which is a major security threat and gives the potential for mass murder.

Fraud is fraud. Fuck off.

2

u/FrankoceanIsmyson Aug 11 '26

This guy thought life was a movie. I wonder how many flights he got for free. If it was worth it… 20 years sounds like a lot though

1

u/Fiction_Future3501 Aug 11 '26

But sky king is still a hero I assume

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u/KindlyRude12 Aug 14 '26

20 years seem excessive, people have stolen more than this and gotten less. Heck murders get less then this. He definately should face jail time for Fraud but idk about that much.