Another unticketed traveler attempted to hide away aboard a Delta Air Lines flight during the peak holiday season.
Christmas Eve saw the stowaway, who has not been named, take an aircraft from Seattle to Honolulu. The unticketed passenger was found as the aircraft was taxiing for takeoff, according to Atlanta-based Delta.
Law enforcement later detained the unticketed passenger after the plane returned to the gate in accordance with protocol, the airline noted. All other passengers were also taken from the plane and taken back to a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint for rescreening out of caution, according to the Port of Seattle, which runs Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
After departing the Seattle airport, Delta flight 487 proceeded to Honolulu; however, the journey was delayed by two hours and fifteen minutes, according to Delta.
An airline spokesperson told The Associated Press Friday that Delta employees followed protocols to remove an unticketed passenger from the flight and then apprehend them because safety and security are the most important things. The spokesperson also thanked customers for their cooperation and patience.
The stowaway traveled through a TSA security checkpoint the night before the trip without a boarding permit, but was appropriately inspected, according to an incident description from the Port of Seattle. According to the port, the person also entered the loading bridge for the Tuesday flight without a scanned ticket at the gate.
Just after 1 p.m., the Port of Seattle Police were sent out. Tuesday, the port stated, following a tip of a worrisome situation. After the plane returned to the terminal, the unnamed passenger left the aircraft, according to the port, but authorities used video surveillance to find the person in a nearby restroom. The person was eventually taken into custody by the authorities on charges of criminal trespass. The reason the individual wasn’t caught at the gate wasn’t immediately apparent.
The passenger passed through normal screening and had no prohibited items, a TSA official confirmed in a statement. The agency insisted that it will carry out an impartial examination and that it takes seriously any accidents that happen at any of our checkpoints around the country.
The incident on Tuesday occurs less than a month after another stowaway boarded a Delta airplane during the Thanksgiving week last month. According to authorities, Svetlana Dali, a Russian woman who has permanent status in the United States, stowed away on a Delta flight on November 26 and flew to Paris after avoiding security at John F. Kennedy International Airport. After the plane landed, she was taken into custody and returned to the United States.
— The Associated Press, Wyatte Grantham-Philips
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