Every so often we hear a story of someone who gets in trouble for using lounges too often. There’s an old trick some people use where they’ll book a refundable ticket in order to get access to a lounge, and then later cancel the ticket. For example, in June I shared the story of a German reporter who did this at the Emirates lounge in Frankfurt two days in a row (the show was cringeworthy).
Well, The Straits Times has the crazy story of a guy who was jailed for two weeks after he spent 18 days in transit at Changi Airport using various Priority Pass lounges. Per the story:
On Friday (Sept 16), Raejali, a former business development manager with Royale Consultant Management in Singapore, was jailed for two weeks after he pleaded guilty to three out of 31 charges of forgery.
A district court heard that Raejali had a ticket for an AirAsia flight, scheduled to depart for Kuala Lumpur at 7.05am on Aug 21.
The night before, he checked in at close to midnight and went to the Plaza Premium Lounge in Terminal 1 – using his boarding pass and his Priority Pass, issued by Citibank.
But Raejali woke up late and missed his flight. He decided to continue using the facilities at the lounges in the departure transit areas of the airport’s three terminals.
The problem he ran into is that you need a valid boarding pass in order to use a Priority Pass lounge (he had a Priority Pass membership through a Citi credit card), so he ended up forging boarding passes he downloaded from the internet, and then using imaging editing software to alter them.
SATS Premier Lounge Singapore Airport
He ended up forging 31 boarding passes that he used at just about all the Priority Pass lounges at the airport (and there are a lot of them). Everything seemed to work fine (well, as good as spending 18 days in an airport could be), until a lounge staffer caught on to him and called the airport police:
Last Tuesday, a staff at the Dnata Lounge at Terminal 1 called police when she suspected Raejali’s misdeeds. He had entered that very lounge as recently as three days earlier, on Sept 3. He had also gone there on Sept 1 and on Aug 29 and Aug 24.
Singapore Changi Airport
He pleaded guilty to three of the 31 forgery charges, which is resulting in jail time.
This is quite a story. I’m not sure what exactly his motive was in this case. I can’t imagine spending 18 days in an airport, so I’m not sure if he was doing it for the free food & drinks, because he had nothing else to do, or because he was getting some big thrill out of it.
(Tip of the hat to Florian)
>> DinTaiFungPhun says:
>> Good for him. It’s just a funny story. I’d spend a year in changi if I could; food, booze, good plane spotting.
Oh the unintentional irony. You realize Changi is also the name of the Singapore prison, right? I'm sure the guy will be sending some time in Changi without food, booze or plane.
LOL I really love the comments section.
Nice story Lucky although I must say you really have a lot of self centered, nasty, jerks posting comments on this blog. They really need to get a life and go somewhere else. Tired of all the whining and complaining. If you don't like the blog or blogger leave the forum.!
Perhaps that explains the shortage of Sing-based whiny entitled 'travel bloggers' who hide their friends in the closet to avoid paying the legally-required supplement?
"What’s particularly sad about the critical comments is that several of them all come from the same person, even using that same words."
One could also say the same about the positive comments...
What's particularly sad about the critical comments is that several of them all come from the same person, even using that same words. I'm always happy to bash bloggers for poor research or passing on unsubstantiated rumors, but this is just a fun fluff piece. Read it, or don't read it, but don't people have more of a life than to log in repeatedly under aliases to say the same thing? Or do they just...
What's particularly sad about the critical comments is that several of them all come from the same person, even using that same words. I'm always happy to bash bloggers for poor research or passing on unsubstantiated rumors, but this is just a fun fluff piece. Read it, or don't read it, but don't people have more of a life than to log in repeatedly under aliases to say the same thing? Or do they just have such bloated egos that they need their own echo chamber.
@YHM - nope, not white privilege, just overzealous enforcement in Singapore- don't do the crime there unless you are willing to serve the time...
Raejali: priority pass fraud = jail sentence
Ben: united fraud = banned from airline but no further measures taken
White privilege.
Well that is one airbnb alternative I guess. lol.
Damn, some of you commenters are sad. I've seen my share of click bait articles. This ain't it. If it was he would be selling premium lounge pass or something from singapore. . And oh my gawd, if its not useful to me it must be clickbait because I am the center of the universe.
I, for one, enjoyed the article.
It floors me that you people come to Lucky's blogs and then bash him in the comments about how inappropriate (insert various and assorted things here) are. If you don't like it then 1. Don't follow him or, better yet, 2. Try to do better. Oh yea, hard to do from the Monday Morning Quarterback ass imprinted couch that you are melded with. *mutter mutter #dumbasstrolls mutter mutter*
Don't be childish and bash him for his title. He is a blogger and this is HIS website not yours.
So basically he should have done the refundable ticket thing and just kept changing the date and he would have been fine.
Lucky "can’t imagine spending 18 days in an airport"? LOL
This is going downhill. Click bait articles, articles "written" by a 19-year old brat with no travel experience... at least there are other places to get actual info.
WTF do I possibly have to do with this story?
—Justin Ross Lee
But you only need ID OR boarding pass to access PP lounge so I can't quite understand why he forged boarding passes.
Smart man. Now he'll get even more free lounge access in jail. Showers , meals , etc.
Crappy title...
This is a horrible title. You should do better than that. You just drag yourself down to the bottom of disgrace.
I forgive you this time. Don't do it again to deceive your readers.
Good for him. It's just a funny story. I'd spend a year in changi if I could; food, booze, good plane spotting.
@Soltatio
#callingpeopletrollsasacounterargumentisso2011
To be fair, the title does read "After", not "As a Result of". I don't see any dishonesty here.
Well this is really the most childish comment section yet. Grow up people. If you don't like the post, ignore it. It is not click bait when you read every post he writes anyway. And both the Matt closet story and this was interesting and most people would have read it even with nondescript headlines. #trollingisso2012
@Lukas Great comment. I was wondering if I was on VFTW
1.Click Bait.
2. I don't understand why? But if JRL ( Justin Ross Lee) did this it would be filled under the awesome section of this blog but if any other guy does it he's bashed for it?
You go and scam them Joanne... I mean, Lucky.
You guys should just refuse to visit the blogs that use click bait regularly. That is why I never visit Frequent Miler. That guy is the worst and is all about the clicks.
@YHM: oh snap! that was a good one.
@YHM
Oh, snap. In triple and z formation.
Click bait?
Is having fun or reading an entertaining story allowed, or does that take time away from your precious point calculations?
Good thing he didn't commit any fraud involving United e-vouchers, right Lucky?
Did Gary Leff hack Lucky's site and posted this clickbait headline?
"But that wouldn’t work as click bait I guess."
Well, of course not!
Somewhere, JRL (or whatever his initials are) is reading this and thinking "Amateur".
Lucky, I imagine you doing this. You don't need to do it anymore but you are pretty aggressive and not mindful of ethics to get whatever you need. Case in point latest incident of "Matt in the closet".
Though forgery is illegal. And that is just plain wrong. I dont think anybody would do that. Not because people are all great upstanding citizens (they are not) but because the downside is too high. I agree with posters above. This is complete click bait.
This sounds like mental illness. Sad.
So what your headline should actually read is "man goes to jail for forgery"
But that wouldn't work as click bait I guess.
Post title is quite misleading