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.
Apparently the stowaway got there first and then they had trouble with the girl’s ticket...............
How is this any different than giving an illegal a voucher good for any flight to any where in the US?
“The stowaway - 26-year-old Wicliff Yves Fleurizard...”
Haitian?
Probably more difficult to Xerox someone else’s ticket without them noticing than to photograph it.
Most likely..................
just like a squatter squatting...except on a plane.
I’m pretty sure Fleurizard is a Pokemon.
Was that wrong? Should I not have done that?
HUH? It scans or it don't.
That should be a clue......................
Yeah, you can photocopy tickets, but they are often printed on a coated or watermarked paper which isn't so easy to duplicate.
Years ago we had something like this with Clemson football tickets. Idiots would post pics their tickets online to try sell them. Only thing was they didn’t obscure the barcode. End results were predictable. Several people came with that barcode trying to get in the game. IIRC the first people to use that barcode got in.
Friends gave me tickets and it was through approved apps. Showing them on my phone at the stadium was easy. Paper tickets are still used but being phased out.
You must be a racist as the scribe claimed he was Texan. The correct answer to whether kittens who are either born in an apple box or manage to climb into one is that they are, indeed, apples. Off to the Gulag with you! < / sarcasm >
I also think about that when using ticket apps. Next time I do that I’ll see if there’s some legit backstop I can use.
Wicliff Yves “Tex” Fleurizard....................................
” ... Fleurizard ...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’.”
Nice.
He was given a “Companion Pass” by a Southwest employee.
That means he had to fly standby on Southwest. When he checked in to the airport at the Southwest ticket counter, he was given a ticket that said “standby.” That ticket got him through security.
When two Southwest flights were full, as a standby passenger, he wasn’t given a seat. He saw that Delta also had a flight going to Austin. At the Delta gate, he took a photo of someone’s QR code with his cell phone. When boarding, he simply held his phone to the scanner, and he was allowed to board.
Turned out, the flight was full. If there was an empty seat, he would have been on his way. How slick. Something tells me he’s done this before.
I’m assuming the Southwest employee will lose his benefits or be fired. Employees are responsible for their family members and friends to whom they give passes.
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