Posted on 03/22/2024 8:56:41 AM PDT by Red Badger
The man photographed another passenger's boarding pass and used it to board the aircraft.
A Texas man has been arrested after taking a picture of another passenger's boarding pass and boarding a Delta flight out of Salt Lake City. The stowaway - 26-year-old Wicliff Yves Fleurizard - had been booked on a Southwest flight but was rebooked as the flight was full. Rather than waiting, he wandered into the Delta side of the departure terminal and took photographs of several boarding passes, which he would then use to board the aircraft.
According to court documents filed in Utah on Monday, Fleurizard faces one count of stowing away on a vessel or aircraft, a felony charge with a potential punishment of five years in prison. He told authorities that he entered Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) on Saturday, March 16, with a Southwest Airlines 'Companion Pass' aiming to catch a Southwest flight to Austin (AUS). However, his intended flight was fully booked so he was rebooked for a March 17 departure, but this second flight also ended up being full, so he was rebooked yet again.
Security footage then shows Fleurizard heading to the Delta area of the airport, where he was seen taking photographs of several boarding passes held by passengers waiting for a Delta Air Lines flight to Austin. He would then use one of those passes - owned by a young girl traveling alone - to get by ground staff and board the aircraft. A Delta gate agent would later tell authorities that a young female traveler had trouble scanning her boarding pass, with the system stating she had already been scanned in.
The plane was fully booked
After getting onto the plane - an Airbus A320 - Fleurizard initially hid in the front lavatory, spending a "significant amount of time" there while passengers boarded. He then emerged from the front lavatory when boarding was completed and headed to the back lavatory. When he exited this lavatory, he attempted to find an empty seat - however, a flight attendant noticed there were no available seats as the flight was fully booked.
At this point, the plane had already left the gate and was beginning its taxi to the runway. After asking for his seat number, Fleurizard claimed he was in 21F, but this seat was already occupied by the rightful seat holder. The stowaway then told flight attendants his real name, with a subsequent search revealing he had no reservation on any Delta flight.
The aircraft then returned to the gate, where authorities arrested Fleurizard. He is currently being detained in Salt Lake County and is also reported as having an active warrant in Austin, Texas. While the nature of the warrant was not confirmed, Austin police have described him as having "violent tendencies."
While rare, there are cases of passengers attempting (and sometimes succeeding) to travel without a ticket. Two other high-profile incidents have occurred already this year - one involved a man flying with BA from London to New York without a ticket or travel documents who was caught upon arrival in the US, while a domestic stowaway on an American Airlines flight from Nashville to Los Angeles was caught mid-flight and arrested in LA.
AVIATION PING!..................
Why didn’t he just use a Xerox machine?....................
That is a fake AI generated name.
“C”mon. Man! It’s always worked before.
What are you. some kind of “Karen”?”
Last few times I flew I never had a paper boarding pass. My boarding pass was either an email or an airline specific app, showing a barcode on my phone.
He played the odds and lost this time.
This flight was fully booked so he had no empty seats to occupy....................
Wicliff Yves Fleurizard .....Sounds Haitian.............
What an idiot. All he had to do was claim to be a Newcomer...and they would’ve flown him for free.
Lol.
A. Active suppression of curiosity.
“Why didn’t he just use a Xerox machine?....................”
Don’t quit your day job!
How did he get past the TSA screening without a boarding pass?
Good question....................
How did he get past the TSA screening without a boarding pass?
The article says he was originally booked on Southwest, that’s how he got thru TSA screening.
And the clear implication is that had there been an empty seat for him to sit in upon exiting said lavatories, he would have gotten away with it. Unless the young girls double scanned boarding pass had prompted a full seach of the fully occupied plane and a demand to see and verify photo id’s of all aboard; doubtful.
He has apparently done this before..................
My first reaction when I read the name.
Was the gate agent arrested? If so, why not?
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