As of: March 26, 2024, 3:00 p.m
By: Franziska Kaindl
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A Texas man managed to board a Delta Air Lines flight without his own ticket.
Now, in the worst case scenario, he faces imprisonment.
The security precautions in the aviation industry are strict and without a personalized ticket there is actually no access to a plane.
Nevertheless, it still happens that a stowaway finds himself on board.
A few months ago, a woman even flew 1,400 kilometers in the wrong direction because the gate for her flight was changed at the last second and the employee on site didn't check her ticket carefully.
However, in a recent case that occurred in mid-March, a 26-year-old Texan deliberately sneaked on board a flight for which he did not actually have a ticket.
Man manages to get on board with ticket from another passenger
A man managed to get through boarding by taking a photo of another passenger's ticket.
(Symbolic image) © Jakub Porzycki/Imago
The man wanted to fly from Salt Lake City to Austin in Texas on a Delta Air Lines plane and took photos of other passengers' tickets, as some US media reported, citing court documents.
Evidence of this would be provided by surveillance camera recordings.
It shows how he used his cell phone to take photos of the travelers' smartphones and boarding passes "while they weren't looking," according to the document.
In the end, he apparently used a photo of a ticket that belonged to an underage girl to get on board.
As the online portal
Business Insider
reports, airport agents in the USA usually do not check ID cards on domestic flights.
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However, according to a report by USA Today,
the gate agent
noticed that the girl, who was traveling alone, had apparently already boarded.
Nevertheless, the crew probably would not have noticed that an additional passenger had sneaked on board if the plane had not been fully booked.
The Texan had problems finding a free seat on the plane.
As a result, he spent “a significant amount of time on the toilet” as the plane prepared to take off, according to
court documents, according to
USA Today .
A flight attendant asked the 26-year-old whether everything was OK.
He gave her his seat number, but she quickly realized that it wasn't reserved under his name.
The crew finally became suspicious: When they looked at the booking system, they found that the man was not on the passenger list.
For this reason, the plane returned to the gate before departure and the Texan was arrested.
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Sneaked on board a plane: 26-year-old has to answer
The stowaway told the police that he was in Utah for a snowboarding trip.
To return home, he wanted to use a friend's “Buddy Pass” for the US low-cost airline Southwest.
This is a free or extremely discounted flight ticket that airline employees can share with friends.
However, two flights of the airline he wanted to board were already full.
He "admitted he made a mistake and was simply trying to get home," the court document said.
However, his action could cost the 26-year-old dearly: he could face a fine or a maximum prison sentence of five years - or both.
In general, it is advisable to take good care of your own flight ticket when traveling.
As the current case shows, it can't just be photographed - the barcode on the paper also contains personal data that can be decrypted.
Therefore, before it ends up in the trash, it should be made unrecognizable.