A man suffering from mental health issues allegedly followed a family around Washington Dulles Airport before managing to sneak onto their Delta Air Lines flight without a ticket or boarding pass in an apparent security breach that the airline says it is now investigating.
The incident occurred on August 2 when Lauren Benton, along with her husband and two young children, were preparing to fly home to Atlanta from Washington Dulles.
Benton told USA Today that as soon as she and her family cleared the TSA security checkpoint, she became aware of a man following them to the gate. At one point, it’s alleged that the man even followed Benton and her daughter into the women’s restroom.
Once at the gate, the man continued to follow the family and even boarded their plane and took a seat in the same row as the Benton family. It was at this point that Lauren realized something was seriously wrong and discreetly got hold of a flight attendant to share her suspicions.
The flight attendant was able to quickly establish that the man didn’t have a ticket or boarding pass for the flight and had him removed and handed over the local law enforcement.
Due to the apparent security breach, everyone else on the plane also had to be evacuated back onto the airport concourse while a security sweep of the aircraft got underway.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) says it is now investigating the incident, but a spokesperson noted that the man would have undergone normal security screening as he did, in fact, have a boarding pass for a later flight.
That, however, does not explain how the man managed to get aboard a completely different flight despite safeguards at the boarding gate that are meant to prevent stowaway incidents.
A spokesperson for Delta said the airline was already “reviewing the matter”. The full statement from the carrier explained: “Delta has processes in place for gate agents and flight crews to verify that individuals onboard aircraft prior to departure are customers that are booked on that particular flight.”
“Delta is reviewing the matter in question internally and has been in touch with airport authorities in conjunction with this review”.
In March, Wicliff Yves Fleurizard, 26, managed to sneak aboard a Delta Air Lines plane in Salt Lake City, which was bound for Austin, despite not holding a ticket or boarding pass for the flight.
Fleurizard is alleged to have used his mobile phone to take photos of other passengers boarding passes which then allowed him to scan the barcode at the boarding gate without any suspicions being raised.
Once onboard the plane, Fleurizard hid in a lavatory waiting for the boarding process to finish at which point he went to find an empty seat. Unfortunately for Fleurizard, his ploy was quickly uncovered when he realized that the flight was fully booked and there wasn’t a single spare seat onboard.
Fleurizard was indicted with being a stowaway on an aircraft and access device fraud. If found guilty, he faces a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment for access device fraud, while the stowaway charge carries a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment.
