Stowaway on Delta flight to Paris from JFK Airport being flown back to U.S.

A stowaway accused of sneaking aboard a Delta formation from JFK Airport to Paris is expected to instrumentality to the U.S. Saturday aft failing to person asylum successful the City of Light, officials said Friday.

The unidentified woman, who is betwixt 55 and 60, is expected to instrumentality to JFK successful Queens connected Saturday evening, Port Authority sources said.

Once she is backmost successful the U.S., the woman faces some authorities and national charges. The charges are expected to see theft of services for taking a formation without paying, the root said.

On Tuesday night, during 1 of the heaviest question days of the year, the pistillate managed to get onto Delta Flight 264 heading to Charles de Gaulle Airport.

“The idiosyncratic bypassed 2 individuality verification and boarding presumption stations and boarded the aircraft,” a Transportation Security Administration spokesperson said.

The formation wasn’t full, truthful the unregistered rider avoided detection by spending the formation betwixt an bare spot and the plane’s rear lavatories, officials said.

But halfway done the trip, a formation attendant wondered wherefore the pistillate was spending truthful overmuch clip successful the bath and rapidly learned she had ne'er bought a ticket.

The pistillate was taken into custody erstwhile the level landed successful France Wednesday. The skipper announced that passengers had to stay successful their seats truthful constabulary could travel and instrumentality the illicit flier into custody, rider Rob Jackson told CNN.

“I overheard the formation attendants talking astir it with the pilots,” helium recalled. “They said this idiosyncratic was successful 1 lavatory and past would exit and locomotion to a antithetic lavatory and spell successful determination for a agelong time.”

Once nether apprehension successful Paris, the pistillate asked for asylum, which was denied Thursday. The woman, who has a Russian passport, had requested asylum successful France a fewer years earlier but was denied, Paris officials told CNN.

As the pistillate is brought backmost to the U.S., the “TSA volition independently reappraisal the circumstances of this incidental astatine our question papers checker presumption astatine JFK,” an bureau spokesperson said.

The pistillate was physically screened earlier the formation and boarded without immoderate prohibited items, the TSA said.

Passengers astatine JFK Airport typically walk done astatine slightest 2 boarding walk checks: 1 astatine the TSA screening checkpoint earlier entering the boarding country and different astatine the gate, which is performed by the airline.

In a statement, Delta said: “Nothing is of greater value than matters of information and security. That’s wherefore Delta is conducting an exhaustive probe of what whitethorn person occurred and volition enactment collaboratively with different aviation stakeholders and instrumentality enforcement to that end.”

With News Wire Services

Originally Published: November 29, 2024 astatine 4:20 PM EST