A woman managed to sneak past security checkpoints and onto a flight from New York to Paris amid the Thanksgiving travel rush.
The stowaway snuck past Transportation Security Administration officials at John F Kennedy International Airport on Tuesday and into a bathroom on board a Delta Air Lines plane, according to the agency.
‘TSA can confirm that an individual without a boarding pass completed security screening (including on-person and bags) without any prohibited items,’ a TSA spokesperson told The New York Post.
‘The individual bypassed two identity verification and boarding status stations and boarded the aircraft.’
It wasn’t until nearly the end of the more than seven-hour flight that a flight attendant found the unidentified stowaway hiding in the restroom.
Another passenger shared a video on social media in which the captain could be heard announcing: ‘We’re just waiting for the police to come on board, they may be here now, and they’ve directed us to keep everyone on the airplane until we sort out the extra passenger that’s on the plane.’
The woman was taken into custody at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. Her identity was not immediately disclosed.
‘TSA takes any incidents that occur at any of our checkpoints nationwide seriously,’ stated the spokesperson. ‘TSA will independently review the circumstances of this incident at our travel document checker station at JFK.’
A TSA source told CBS News that the stowaway evaded the passport and ID checkpoint and went through the advanced imaging body scanner, and that her bags were screened.
The woman was denied entry into Paris and was set to be flown back to New York, most likely the day after Thanksgiving. She will be arrested by Port Authority officials and slapped with charges including theft of service, sources told The Post.
It happened nearly a year after a Russian man flew from Copenhagen to Los Angeles without a boarding pass or passport. But unlike the woman who spent the flight in the restroom, he was served meals on board and even tried to eat the cabin crew’s chocolate.
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