An unticketed passenger was kicked off of a Delta Airlines flight from Seattle to Hawaii.
The person, who has not been named, was able to board a Delta flight set to travel from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to Honolulu Tuesday without a boarding pass.
The unticketed passenger was discovered when the plane was taxiing after it left the gate and law enforcement apprehended the individual. The plane returned to the gate and the person was taken off the aircraft.
Delta flight 487 was delayed for more than two hours, a flight log on FlightAware shows.
“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 spokesperson said in a statement to The Independent. “We apologize to our customers for the delay in their travels and thank them for their patience and cooperation.”
An investigation is ongoing but early indications suggest the unticketed passenger boarded the flight at the gate without presenting a boarding pass, according to the airline.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) confirmed in a statement to The Independent that the individual in question underwent standard screening and didn’t possess any prohibited items.
“The individual bypassed the identity verification and boarding status stations and boarded an aircraft at Seattle/Tacoma International (SEA) without a boarding pass. TSA takes any incidents that occur at any of our checkpoints nationwide seriously,” the agency said.
“TSA will independently review the circumstances of this incident at our travel document checker station at Seattle/Tacoma International,” the statement continued.
The incident comes weeks after a Russian woman evaded security at New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and flew to Paris as a stowaway on a Delta flight on November 26, during peak Thanksgiving travel.
French law enforcement detained Svetlana Dali, 57, at the Paris gate; she was flown back to New York, where she now faces a federal charge of being a stowaway. She was released on bail with certain conditions.
