BEIJING: In a bizarre case, a Chinese man bought a first-class plane ticket and rebooked it 300 times to have free meals at the VIP lounge of an airport in the country.

The frequent diner purchased the first-class, fully refundable ticket aboard Eastern China Airline and then re-booked his ticket over and over again to have free meals.

He used the ticket to gain access to the Xi'an International Airport's VIP lounge, where high-rolling travellers dine for free, according to a report in the Chinese-language newspaper Kwong Wah Yit Poh in Malaysia.

The man flashed his ticket to lounge staff at the Shaanxi province airport before his trip, ate a meal just like any first class traveller and instead of getting on the flight he would change his flight's departure to another day.

The next day he would show up with his newly issued ticket for the revised date, eat and then again change his ticket date. He did this over and over again.

Eastern China Airlines officials only recently figured out the man's scheme after noticing his single ticket being re-booked 300 times over one year.

Airline officials admitted there was nothing they could do to stop the frequent diner, the New York Daily News reported.

A spokeswoman for the carrier called the man's free-meal scheme a "rare act."

Eastern China Airlines officials confronted him and the human meal ticket was stopped.

The freeloader ended up cashing in his fully refundable ticket and getting back all his money.