NEW YORK – The woman accused sneaking onto a Delta Air Lines flight from New York City to Paris last week returned to New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on Wednesday.
The suspect, identified by two people familiar with the case as Svetlana Dali, boarded a Delta flight to return to New York from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. She was escorted by French law enforcement officers and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents. The plane was greeted by police upon landing.
Dali, 57, was arrested by the FBI after her Delta flight landed at JFK and is expected to appear in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn on Thursday, the agency said.
A person familiar with the case previously told CBS News that she faces state violations and theft of service charges. So far, there are no plans to charge her with a federal crime, the person said. The Transportation Security Administration says it has opened a civil case against her.
“This is the only reported instance of unauthorized entry as more than 18 million passengers were screened at TSA security checkpoints during the busiest Thanksgiving travel season ever,” the TSA said in a statement.
Dali, who lives in Philadelphia. initially managed to sneak past airport security and board a Delta flight to Paris on November 26 without a boarding pass. TSA officials said the woman used a group of passengers to bypass ID checks at JFK before entering the TSA checkpoint. She went through a body scanner and her bag was flagged during screening because she had two bottles of water, which she threw away.
She was discovered as a stowaway while the plane was still in the air and was taken into custody when she landed in Paris and was refused entry into France.
Delta blames it on ‘deviation from standard procedures’
“Delta would like to thank the French and US authorities for their assistance in this matter,” Delta Air Lines said in a statement. “Our assessment confirms that Delta’s security infrastructure, as part of our security management systems framework, is sound and that deviation from standard operating procedures is the root cause of this event. We are addressing this matter thoroughly and will continue to work closely with our regulators, law enforcement and other relevant stakeholders. Nothing is more important than safety and security.”
CBS News confirmed that caused a disruption on her return flight on Saturday when authorities initially tried to bring her to the United States. She was removed from that flight by French police, causing a delay of more than two hours.
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