Man boarded Delta flight without ticket, US says

A Texas man was arrested in Salt Lake City on Sunday after boarding a Delta Air Lines flight without a ticket by using a photo he took of another passenger’s boarding pass while they weren’t looking, according to reports. according to court documents.

The man, Wicliff Yves Fleurizard, 26, faces one felony count of stowawaying on ships or aircraft, according to a complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Utah. He was being held at the Salt Lake County Metro Jail, according to Salt Lake City police.

After boarding a Delta flight bound for Austin, Texas, on Sunday, Mr. Fleurizard went to the restroom at the front of the plane and remained there until the flight was fully boarded and the doors were locked, according to federal complaint.

Mr. Fleurizard then went to the back of the plane and went to a restroom, according to court records. As he emerged, a flight attendant noticed there were no available seats just as the plane was about to taxi to the runway, court records show.

The flight attendant asked Mr. Fleurizard where his seat was, and he said it was 21F, which was already occupied, the complaint said. After flight attendants could not find Mr. Fleurizard on their manifest, they realized he was not authorized to be on the flight, and the plane returned to the gate, the complaint said.

Mr. Fleurizard told police he was snowboarding in Park City, Utah, and had to go home to see his family, according to the complaint. He said he received a Southwest Airlines “buddy pass” from a friend, the complaint said.

Mr. Fleurizard told police he had tried to take a 3 p.m. flight to the Southwest on Saturday, but the flight was full, according to court documents. He then tried to fly home southwest at 6 a.m. Sunday, he said, but that flight was also full, according to court documents.

The Transportation Security Administration said Wednesday that Mr. Fleurizard was screened through security at Salt Lake City International Airport without incident on Sunday, using a photo ID and a boarding pass.

Surveillance footage on Sunday showed Mr. Fleurizard taking pictures of several passengers’ phones in a Delta Air Lines boarding area when they were not looking, the complaint said. The footage showed Mr. Fleurizard using his phone to board the Delta flight.

Mr. Fleurizard “admitted he made a mistake and was just trying to get home,” the complaint said.

The FBI said Wednesday it is investigating the episode but declined to provide further details.

As of Wednesday afternoon, no attorney for Mr. Fleurizard had been listed in the court filings.

Delta Air Lines said in a statement Sunday that it was “cooperating with law enforcement and relevant federal agencies regarding an investigation into an unticketed individual.”

In recent months, there have been a number of similar cases where passengers have been able to board flights in the United States and abroad without a ticket.

In February, a woman boarded a flight in Nashville and flew to Los Angeles without a ticket. In November, a man got through security at Copenhagen Airport in Denmark and flew into Los Angeles International Airport with only Russian and Israeli ID cards in his bag.