A stowaway passenger has traveled across the Atlantic after evading multiple security checkpoints at New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK).
The passenger did not have a boarding pass, yet was somehow able to board a Delta Air Lines flight to Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG).
Reports suggest that the flight was completely full, and so the passenger hid in the lavatories throughout the flight, periodically moving from one to another in order to attempt to go unnoticed by the crew.
According to CNN, other passengers were not made aware of the incident until after the Boeing 767-400ER had landed at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG), when the captain made an announcement to advise that the police would be boarding the aircraft after its arrival at the gate.
In a video recorded by Rob Jackson, a passenger onboard the flight, the captain can be heard saying,
“Folks, this is the captain, we are just waiting for the police to come on board. They may be here now and they directed us to keep everyone on the airplane until we sort out the extra passenger that’s on the plane.”
Although the passenger in question would have passed through TSA security checks at New York John F. Kenendy International Airport, the incident raises some serious security concerns for the airport.
The question remains how they were able to bypass multiple checkpoints, including the boarding gate, without a boarding pass.
In a statement, Delta Air Lines highlighted the importance of airport security, saying,
“Nothing is of greater importance than matters of safety and security. That’s why Delta is conducting an exhaustive investigation of what may have occurred and will work collaboratively with other aviation stakeholders and law enforcement to that end.”
The incident took place on Delta Air Lines Flight DL264 on November 26th, 2024, which was one of the busiest travel days of the year, with almost 2.7 million passengers taking to the skies ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.
Flight DL264 is a regularly scheduled flight between New York (JFK) and Paris (CDG), departing at 22:40 and arriving in the French capital at 12:00 the following day.
It is one of two daily flights operated by Delta Air Lines between the two cities. The carrier's fellow SkyTeam member, Air France, also operates up to five daily services on the route.
Data from Flightradar24 shows that the aircraft operating Flight DL264 on the day in question was a 24-year-old Boeing 767-400ER, registered as N838MH.
The aircraft was delivered new to Delta Air Lines in January 2001, and is today one of the 45 767-400ERs that make up the carrier's fleet today.
This is the second time that an incident involving Delta Air Lines has hit the headlines this week.
On November 27th, 2024, one of the carrier's Airbus A330-300s traveling from Paris (CDG) to Atlanta (ATL) was forced to divert to Dublin (DUB) to offload a disruptive passenger.
