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Delta Air Lines flight DL264 from New York John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) took off with an extra passenger who managed to stow away after getting through security and boarding the aircraft without a ticket. Flight attendants noticed the woman shifting between lavatories, notified the captain, and landed in Paris where passengers were asked to remain seated while police boarded the aircraft.
The incident was first reported by @JonNYC on BlueSky. Upon arrival, the captain made an announcement and the stowaway was removed from the aircraft. I’m impressed with how honest he was in his message. He announced:
Folks, this is the captain, we are just waiting for the police to come on board. They may be here now and they directed us to keep everyone on the airplane until we sort out the extra passenger that’s on the plane.”
The stowaway was identified as a 57-year-old woman who is a Russian national, but holds a Green Card in the United States. She was attempting to get to France to claim asylum. While she made this request upon landing, it was swiftly declined. It was also determined that she had made a similar request years earlier.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) acknowledged the breach with the following statement:
TSA can confirm that an individual without a boarding pass completed the airport security screening without any prohibited items. The individual bypassed two identity verification and boarding status stations and was able to board the aircraft.”
While she was screened and cleared for anything potentially dangerous, no one verified her boarding pass.
Oh my god this nutty bitch had to be removed from the return flight they put her on.
After three days in custody, she was slated to return to the United States yesterday on Delta flight DL265. Apparently, she wasn’t having it and caused enough of a scene that the flight ended up departing two hours late while she was again taking into custody by French law enforcement.
Anthony’s Take: There is clearly more to this story as it’s not often that someone with a Green Card in the United States tries to flee and seek asylum within the EU. She would have been better off buying a ticket and then trying to disappear. It’s also troubling that she could get past the TSA and gate agents to get on the aircraft in the first place. This is a very odd situation, indeed.
(Featured Image Credit: Delta Air Lines.)
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1 comment
Lots of people have had the instinct to flee to freer countries after this past election but if that was her goal then she’s doing it wrong. I suspect that there’s some sort of mental illness involved.