A stowaway who flew from New York to Paris creates turmoil on the return flight

A woman who snuck onto a Delta Air Lines flight from New York to Paris earlier this week, without a boarding pass, was removed from a return flight on Saturday after causing disruption before takeoff.

CBS News has confirmed that the stowaway created a disruption on Delta Flight 1 on Saturday. 265, which connects Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to John F. Kennedy International Airport.

She was removed by French law enforcement, causing a delay of more than two hours before the flight was due to depart. She will not be returned to the US on Saturday and will remain in French custody for now, CBS News has learned.

French authorities had escorted her to the plane but were not traveling with her. She became disruptive while on board and the police were called to remove her.

Although her name has not been released by authorities, two people familiar with the matter identified the woman to CBS News on Saturday as 57-year-old Svetlana Dali.

The woman has a driver’s license that shows she is a resident of Philadelphia. She is in the U.S. on a green card, according to a person in the know who did not immediately know her country of birth. The French Ministry of the Interior identified her as a Russian citizen.

The situation initially unfolded on Tuesday when the woman boarded Delta Flight 265 from JFK Airport to Paris without a boarding pass. The flight did not sell out, and she was discovered when a flight attendant became concerned that the woman was making frequent and lengthy visits to various restrooms aboard the Boeing 767-400ER, according to a source familiar with the incident.

French police boarded the plane after it landed and took her into custody.

At this time, US federal authorities do not plan to charge her with a federal crime, a person familiar with the matter told CBS News. She may, however, face state criminal charges in New York, possibly a state count of criminal trespass.

Passenger Rob Jackson, who filmed the French authorities boarding the plane after it landed in Paris, told CBS News he noticed flight attendants acting strangely as the flight descended.

“I heard them say we have a passenger who we believe hid in the toilet during takeoff,” Jackson said. “He doesn’t have a seat. He didn’t have a boarding pass. And he’s basically a stowaway.”

A Transportation Security Administration source told CBS News that the woman went through a body scanner with advanced imaging technology at a checkpoint at JFK Airport after she somehow appeared to evade the document and part of the check. of the identity document from the TSA process. Her bags were also scanned for prohibited items before going to the gate and sneaking onto the flight, the source said.

A TSA spokesman confirmed in a statement that the woman “without a boarding pass was physically screened with no prohibited items” and then “bypassed two ID and boarding status check stations and boarded the plane.”

After going through TSA security, it’s unclear how exactly the woman boarded the plane without showing a boarding pass or passport to Delta staff.

French law enforcement and the TSA are investigating separately. The woman could be subject to a civil penalty or fine for circumventing the document verification process.

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