An unnamed woman somehow avoided two checks where she would need to have shown her boarding pass at John F. Kennedy airport in New York before catching a Delta Air Lines flight to Paris
A woman flew from the US to France without a ticket and avoided being caught by switching between toilets for the duration of the fully booked flight.
The unnamed stowaway somehow managed to get on Delta Air Lines flight 264 at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York despite not having a boarding pass.
She evaded two “identity verification and boarding status stations”, reportedly said a Transportation Security Administration spokesperson. And she completed a security screening at the airport before getting on the plane.
It was only when the plane was close to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport around 12pm on Wednesday that she was finally spotted – which was more than seven hours in the air.
And it is understood that she spent the whole period on the flight going back and forth between four toilets on the plane with passengers said at first to have thought she was unwell and then they began to believe something suspicious was taking place. It appears as though the plane was fully booked and so there were no extra seats available for her to sit in.
When questioned by cabin crew she did not have a boarding pass and wasn’t on the list of 375 passengers and she was escorted away by police when the aircraft landed in Paris, reported NBC. It was not until after the plane landed in Paris that passengers were told of the bizarre circumstances.
One traveller, Rob Jackson, told the New York Times that the pilot told them to remain in their seats. “I fly a lot, and it was unusual for that to be happening just as we were landing,” he said and added that the pilot announced: “We’re just waiting for the police to come on board.” They were told that the they had to stay were they were until an “extra” passenger” was “sorted out”.
Mr Jackson also wrote on Instagram: “We somehow flew all the way from New York to Paris with a stowaway. This woman somehow got on the plane and hid in a lavatory during takeoff and wasn’t detected until we were about to land.”
Delta Air Lines told The Mirror in a statement: “Nothing is of greater importance than matters of safety and security. That’s why Delta is conducting an exhaustive investigation of what may have occurred and will work collaboratively with other aviation stakeholders and law enforcement to that end.”
