A man with mental health issues reportedly followed a family at Washington Dulles Airport before sneaking onto a Delta Air Lines flight without a ticket or boarding pass, an apparent security breach that the airline is now investigating.
The incident occurred on August 2 as Lauren Benton was preparing to fly home from Washington Dulles to Atlanta with her husband and two young children.
Benton told USA Today that as soon as she and her family passed through the TSA security checkpoint, she noticed a man following them to the gate. The man allegedly even followed Benton and her daughter into the women’s restroom.
Once at the gate, the man continued to follow the family, even boarding the plane and sitting in the same row as the Benton family. It was at that moment that Lauren realized something was wrong and she discreetly contacted a flight attendant to share her suspicions.
The flight attendant quickly determined that the man did not have a ticket or boarding pass for the flight and had him removed from his seat and handed over to the local police authorities.
Due to the obvious security breach, all other passengers on the aircraft had to be evacuated back to the airport hall while a security check of the aircraft began.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said it is currently investigating the incident, but a spokesperson pointed out that the man was subjected to a normal security screening because he actually had a boarding pass for a later flight.
However, this does not explain how the man was able to board a completely different flight despite security measures at the gate designed to prevent accidents involving stowaways.
A Delta spokesperson said the airline is “already looking into the matter.” The airline’s full statement reads: “Delta has procedures in place for gate agents and flight crew to verify prior to departure that the individuals on board the aircraft are customers booked on that particular flight.”
“Delta is investigating the matter internally and is in contact with airport authorities in connection with this review.”
In March, 26-year-old Wicliff Yves Fleurizard managed to sneak aboard a Delta Air Lines plane in Salt Lake City bound for Austin, even though he had neither a ticket nor a boarding pass for the flight.
Fleurizard is said to have taken photos of other passengers’ boarding passes with his mobile phone and scanned the barcode at the gate without arousing suspicion.
Once on board the plane, Fleurizard hid in a toilet and waited until boarding was complete, then looked for an available seat. Unfortunately for Fleurizard, his ruse was quickly exposed when he realized that the flight was fully booked and there was not a single free seat on board.
Fleurizard was charged with flying as a stowaway on board an aircraft and with access device fraud. If found guilty, he faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for the access device fraud charge, while the stowaway fraud charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
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