A passenger without a ticket was kicked off a Delta flight this week after having sneaked onto a flight from Seattle to Hawaii, the airline said.
The unidentified person was apprehended after having been booted from the flight before takeoff, Delta said in a statement Thursday.
The incident occurred Tuesday on Flight 487, an Airbus A321neo headed to Honolulu from Seattle.
“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," Delta said. "We apologize to our customers for the delay in their travels and thank them for their patience and cooperation.”
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The unticketed passenger was discovered as the plane taxied out, and the flight returned to the gate. It was delayed more than two hours.
The Transportation Security Administration said in a statement Thursday that the passenger made it through the standard screening and did not 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," the TSA statement said. "TSA takes any incidents that occur at any of our checkpoints nationwide seriously. TSA will independently review the circumstances of this incident at our travel document checker station at Seattle/Tacoma International."
In a similar incident last month, a woman managed to board a flight without a ticket from New York to Paris during the Thanksgiving holiday rush.
The woman, Svetlana Dali, who was charged as a stowaway linked to alleged ticketless international flight, was also arrested this month in New York and accused of cutting off her ankle bracelet and trying to sneak into Canada.
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