A Texas man was arrested in Salt Lake City on Sunday after he boarded a Delta Air Lines flight without a ticket using a photo he had taken of another passenger’s boarding pass while they were not looking, as stated in court documents.
The man, Wicliff Yves Fleurizard, 26, is facing a felony count of stowaways on vessels or aircraft, according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Utah on Monday. He is currently detained at the Salt Lake County Metro Jail, according to the Salt Lake City Police Department.
After boarding a Delta flight bound for Austin, Texas, Mr. Fleurizard went to the lavatory at the front of the plane and stayed there until the flight had completely boarded and the doors were secured, according to the federal complaint.
He then moved toward the back of the plane, entered a lavatory, and when he came out, a flight attendant noticed there were no open seats as the plane was about to taxi to the runway, court records show.
The flight attendant questioned Mr. Fleurizard about his seat, to which he claimed it was 21F, but that seat was already taken, according to the complaint. When flight attendants couldn’t find him on the manifest, they realized he was unauthorized to be on the flight, prompting the plane to return to the gate.
Mr. Fleurizard explained to the police that he had been on a snowboarding trip in Park City, Utah, and needed to return home to see his family. He mentioned receiving a Southwest Airlines “buddy pass” from a friend, according to the complaint.
He recounted his unsuccessful attempts to board Southwest flights on Saturday and Sunday due to them being full, as per court documents. The Transportation Security Administration confirmed that Mr. Fleurizard had passed security screening at the Salt Lake City International Airport on Sunday without any issues using a photo ID and boarding pass.
Surveillance footage from Sunday showed Mr. Fleurizard taking photos of passengers’ phones in a Delta Air Lines boarding area without their knowledge before using his phone to board the flight, according to the complaint.
Mr. Fleurizard admitted his mistake, stating he was only trying to get home, as per the complaint.
The F.B.I. confirmed they were investigating the incident but did not provide further details.
As of Wednesday afternoon, no lawyer for Mr. Fleurizard was listed in court records.
Delta Air Lines stated they are cooperating with law enforcement and federal agencies regarding the investigation into the unauthorized individual on the flight.
Similar instances of passengers boarding flights without tickets have occurred in the U.S. and overseas in recent months, including a woman flying from Nashville to Los Angeles in February without a ticket and a man traveling from Copenhagen to Los Angeles International Airport with only Russian and Israeli identification cards in November.
