A passenger was found without a ticket on a Delta flight on Christmas Eve, airline officials said.
It arrives in a few weeks after a thief is caught On a different Delta flight. The passenger in this week's incident went through standard security checks but bypassed identity verification and boarding status stations and boarded a plane, an Airbus A321neo, at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, according to the Transportation Security Administration.
Port of Seattle Police said that although the flight was on Christmas Eve, investigators determined that the ticketless passenger had passed through the security checkpoint the day before, on Monday evening. “The passenger approached the loading bridge without a ticket that was scanned at the gate,” Port of Seattle Police said.
The ticketless passenger was found before Flight 487 took off for Honolulu, but while the plane was taxiing on the runway, according to the airline.
According to police officials, the suspected man got off the plane when the plane returned to the gate and with the help of video surveillance, police located him in the bathroom of the terminal. According to the Port of Seattle, the ticketless passenger was arrested for criminal trespass and booked into the South Correctional Entity prison in Des Moines, Washington.
The individual has not yet been publicly identified.
The flight was delayed for 2 hours and 15 minutes while TSA conducted additional security checks, including re-screening customers. Police said the plane was searched by K9 dogs, as well as areas of the terminal where ticketless passengers had arrived.
The TSA is still investigating how the potential stowaway managed to board the plane without presenting a boarding pass.
Last month's case, involved a Delta flight from New York City to Paris, Svetlana Dali According to a criminal complaint, she tried to get in line at a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint, but was turned away when she couldn't show her boarding pass. She reportedly “successfully bailed out a short time later after being escorted by a large Air Europa flight crew into a special lane for masked airline employees.”
According to the criminal complaint, “Delta agents, who were busy helping ticketed passengers board the aircraft, did not stop them or ask them to present boarding passes before boarding the aircraft.”
Dalí was detained in Paris and on December 4 he flew back to New York. He was taken into custody and charged with obtaining transportation by air without consent or permission. had cast was later arrested in Buffalo, on a bus to Canada, after reportedly cutting his ankle monitor.