The popular song lyric “what you won’t do for love” comes to mind when thinking of the lengths one cross country team went to in order to secure some Chick-fil-A.
The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute cross country team had a hankering for Atlanta’s hometown chicken while on a bye week from competition. Their only challenge was distance. The closest standalone Chick-fil-A to the team, based in Troy, New York, was a chain 1.5 hours away. However, one more confined location, that sits within the Albany International Airport, was 15 minutes away.
Rather than consider a nearly four-hour drive roundtrip to quell their fried chicken desires, the team’s captain, RPI senior Vincent Putrino, came up with another plan, which would require a little digging on discount airline sites, he told several news stations in upstate New York.
His plan: purchase the most affordable one-way ticket available to get access inside the airport and snag some lunch from the airport Chick-fil-A. The most affordable ticket ended up being a $98 one-way to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. For the 18-member team, the ticket cost $5.50 each.
Putrino executed his master plan with ease last week. He went through the airport’s meticulous TSA security check, found his way to the gate hosting CFA and purchased a meal for each of his track comrades. He, of course, never intended on taking the flight.
The order consisted of 15 large fries, 15 Chick-fil-A sandwiches, 156 nuggets, a bag of cookies and lemonade. The lunch totaled $227.28.
If you’re keeping up, that’s one 15-minute car ride, hustling through the airport and a combined nearly $330 tab for travel and food all for Chick-fil-A.
