Delta apologizes – again – after another stowaway boards a flight without ticket

Delta Air Lines is investigating how an unticketed passenger boarded a flight from Seattle to Honolulu on Christmas Eve — it’s the airline’s second stowaway incident in less than a month.

The passenger, whose identity has not been released, was discovered as Delta Air Lines flight 487 taxied from the gate. They had bypassed both a TSA security checkpoint and the boarding gate ticket check.

Details of the security breach remain unclear, raising broader concerns about aviation safety.

“As there are no matters more important than safety and security, Delta people followed procedures to have an unticketed passenger removed from the flight and then apprehended,” a Delta Air Lines spokesperson told NPR.

“We apologize to our customers for the delay in their travels and thank them for their patience and cooperation.”

Port of Seattle Police reported that the individual passed through a TSA checkpoint on Dec. 23 without a boarding pass but was “properly screened.”

After being discovered on the plane the next day, the aircraft returned to the terminal. The individual fled, hiding in a restroom before being arrested for trespassing. They are being held at South Correctional Entity Jail in Washington state.

The plane departed after a two hour delay.

A TSA spokesperson confirmed the agency is conducting its own review of the breach.

TSA travel document checkers typically use Credential Authentication Technology, a document scanner, to verify flight status through ID cards but may also request boarding passes as an added measure.

This incident follows a similar case weeks earlier when a Russian national, Svetlana Dali, 57, boarded a Delta flight from New York to Paris without a boarding pass or passport during the busy Thanksgiving travel period.

An investigation revealed Dali blended in with a flight crew to bypass a security checkpoint at JFK Airport and later evaded Delta staff checking boarding passes on the fully booked flight. She hid in a lavatory during the flight and was arrested by French police upon arrival.

Dali was arrested again in the U.S. days later after cutting off her ankle monitor and attempting to enter Canada.