- An unticketed passenger was caught on board a Delta Air Lines plane, the airline said.
- The incident occurred on Christmas Eve at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
- It comes weeks after another person tried to fly from New York to Paris without a boarding pass.
A Delta Air Lines passenger was caught trying to fly to Hawaii without a boarding pass on Christmas Eve, the airline and airport officials said.
The person went through standard security screening before bypassing ID verification and boarding-status stations, the Transportation Security Administration said in a statement shared with BI.
Delta flight 487 was taxiing to the runway at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport when the person was discovered, the airline said.
It added that, per procedures, the Airbus A321neo then returned to the gate.
The suspect then departed the plane before police located them in an airport restroom using video surveillance, the Port of Seattle said in a statement shared with BI.
Investigators determined the unticketed passenger had passed through a security checkpoint the day before, it said.
It added that the person was arrested on charges of criminal trespass.
The flight to Honolulu departed more than two hours later than scheduled. The Port of Seattle said passengers were deplaned to be rescreened by the TSA, and the aircraft was swept by K9 dogs.
"As there are no matters more important than safety and security, Delta people followed procedures to have an unticketed passenger removed from the flight and then apprehended," a Delta spokesperson said in a statement. "We apologize to our customers for the delay in their travels and thank them for their patience and cooperation."
After a similar incident last month, 57-year-old Svetlana Dali was charged with being a stowaway on an aircraft after sneaking onto a Delta Air Lines service to Paris. If found guilty, she faces up to five years in prison.
The complaint against Dali, which BI has seen, says she boarded a Delta flight from New York to Paris without a boarding pass or a passport.
It added that she was able to pass through security by entering a special lane for airline staff. Dali is also said to have admitted in an interview with authorities that she intentionally evaded TSA and Delta staff to board the flight.
The incident is said to have occurred in late November, during another busy holiday period when Thanksgiving travel set records.
The TSA said it expected to screen nearly 40 million people at airports from December 19 to January 2, up 6.2% from 2023.
It said the busiest days would be December 20, 27, and 30.
