WHAT wouldn't you do to get into a fancy airport lounge? Travellers spend big bucks racking up the airline miles to earn access to these exclusive preserves, which often come with free food, drink and wireless internet. But now a German court has ruled that one man went a bit too far in his quest to use Lufthansa's airport lounges—and he's going to have to pay up. The scheme was beautifully simple. The man bought a refundable Lufthansa ticket, ate and drank in the carrier's lounge, and then rescheduled his flight for a future date. He allegedly did this 36 times before Lufthansa sued. Last week, a German court fined the man €1,980 ($2,705). Upgrd Blogger Matthew Klint, who read the ruling, explains [my emphasis]:

The court uses very elementary principles of contract law to argue that the man breached his Treuepflicht or general duty of loyalty, deliberately preventing the airline from performing its contractually-owed service. The court highlights that Lufthansa already incurred costs in advance of performance (i.e. the cost to feed him in the lounge prior to the flight) and that by deliberately seeking to take from Lufthansa while not giving anything back, the man was guilty of breach of contract. Lufthansa claimed each lounge visit was worth €55 and the court agreed, fining the man for his 36 visits to the lounge. Though the ticket was fully refundable and there was no clause in the contact of carriage prohibiting what the man did, the court used unenumerated contact theory to dismiss that argument and reprimand his actions. Interestingly, the man got away with it 35 times, changing the reservation on his first ticket over and over before finally cancelling it. It was only when he bought a second ticket and began the process again that Lufthansa said enough was enough.

Although Gulliver is generally a strict rule-abider, I have to admire this man's gumption (and he is not the first to try this scam, as we reported earlier this year). Perhaps, after he had chowed down at Lufthansa's expense the first dozen times, he simply concluded that the airline didn't care. Perhaps he knew he was taking a risk but was so entranced by the wonders of the lounge that he couldn't stop himself. Bloomberg offers the detail that the airline's Munich facility "offers Bavaria’s Loewenbraeu beer on tap, together with local delicacies including leberkas meatloaf and sausages with sweet mustard."

BloombergBusinessweek notes that this story illuminates one reason why the big three American airlines generally don't include lounge access for first- or business-class passengers on domestic flights. For them, the lounges aren't simply fringe benefits to offer to premium-class ticket buyers—they are opportunities to make money off those customers. And successful businesses generally don't take too kindly to customers who threaten their profits.