A Delta Air Lines passenger who flew from New York to Paris as a stowaway is remaining in France for now after disrupting the return flight to the US that had been booked for her.
The girl, recognized as Svetlana Dali, boarded flight 265 – which was full – with out a ticket earlier than it departed from John F Kennedy airport in Queens, in accordance with officers. The US’s transportation safety administration (TSA) mentioned that whereas Dali, 57, went by property safety channels, she by no means had a boarding move or passport checked.
“TSA can verify that a person with out a boarding move was bodily screened with none prohibited objects. The particular person bypassed two id verification and boarding standing stations and boarded the plane,” the federal company mentioned in a press release.
Fellow passengers mentioned Dali managed to evade suspicion for a very long time aboard the airplane by shifting from one toilet to a different, with out ever taking a seat – however flight attendants finally caught on.
A video captured by a passenger on the airplane shared on social media confirmed the pilot making an announcement concerning the stowaway. “They’ve directed us to maintain everybody on the airplane till we kind out the additional passenger that’s on that airplane,” the pilot mentioned on the announcement.
Upon arriving to Paris, French officers detained Dali, who didn’t have a visa for the nation. French officers instructed ABC information that she is a Russian nationwide who’s a authorized resident of the US.
Dali was placed on one other Delta flight again to the US from Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport. But she grew to become “unruly”, in accordance with a Delta consultant. French authorities eliminated her from the airplane, and she or he remained within the nation.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Delta mentioned they had been every investigating the episode.
The TSA added it was independently reviewing “the circumstances of this incident at our journey doc checker station at JFK”.
“Nothing is of larger significance than issues of security and safety,” Delta mentioned in a press release. “That’s why Delta is conducting an exhaustive investigation of what could have occurred and can work collaboratively with different aviation stakeholders and legislation enforcement to that finish.”
The port authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates JFK, didn’t reply to a request for remark.
