Woman sneaks onto a New York to Paris flight
The woman who was able to sneak onto a New York-to-Paris flight without a boarding pass late last year got on the plane by blending into a group of passengers as they passed gate agents. Credit: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey via AP.
Newly released video shows how Russian national Svetlana Dali was allegedly able to sneak onto a New York to Paris flight without a boarding pass late last year.
The video, provided by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to the Associated Press on Wednesday after a records request, shows Dali wearing a brown sweater as she is screened by Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents.
Moments later, it shows her wearing a gray hoodie under a black jacket with a large backpack on while she slips by two gate agents checking boarding passes by blending in with a group of passengers strolling onto an airbridge.
The staffers did not appear to notice Dali as she passed and joined a group of ticketed passengers who were allowed to board the plane.
DELTA STOWAWAY APPREHENDED BY FBI AT JFK AIRPORT UPON LANDING IN NEW YORK
Svetlana Dali, 57, is seen in a brown sweater being screened by TSA agents at JFK Airport in November 2024. (Port Authority of New York and New Jersey via AP)
Dali had initially been turned away from a security checkpoint at JFK International Airport by a TSA official after she could not show a boarding pass, court documents obtained by the AP said.
She then allegedly snuck into a special security lane for airline employees, masked by a large Air Europa flight crew, and made it into a screening area where agents were inspecting bags and patting down travelers.
DELTA STOWAWAY APPREHENDED AGAIN AFTER ALLEGEDLY TRYING TO CROSS BORDER INTO CANADA
Svetlana Dali, center, seen with a large backpack, gray hoodie and black jacket, blending in with other passengers. (Port Authority of New York and New Jersey via AP)
Delta crew members realized Dali was an unauthorized passenger while the plane was in the air and notified French authorities, who detained her before she entered customs, court documents said.
She was eventually flown back to New York and admitted to authorities that she had gotten on the plane without a ticket and that she had intentionally evaded security and Delta employees so she could avoid buying a ticket, court records said.
A vehicle stops at Terminal 1 at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Feb. 17, 2023. (Seth Wenig, File)
Dali was initially released after her arrest with electric monitoring but then was arrested again in Buffalo, New York, after she cut off the monitor and tried to enter Canada.
She is being held in a federal lockup in Brooklyn, records obtained by the AP show.
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Dali, 57, is a legal resident of the United States. She has pleaded not guilty to a stowaway charge over the incident last November. Her trial is set to begin next month but prosecutors, and her lawyer have said they are trying to work toward a plea deal.
Fox News Digital’s Christina Shaw, Chris Pandolfo and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
