Stowaway caught on Delta Airlines flight from Seattle to Honolulu
A person was captured attempting to sneak onto a Delta Airlines flight from Seattle to Honolulu on Tuesday, the second incident involving a stowaway on a Christmas Eve flight to Hawaii
The unidentified stowaway made it on board Delta Flight 487 on Tuesday, but the crew was alerted to the person’s presence before takeoff, ABC News reported.
Delta personnel decided to deplane the entire aircraft back into the terminal at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and rescan all passengers, according to the outlet. The failed stowaway walked away and hid in a bathroom, cops said.
Using video from the airport, police tracked and arrested the person, local ABC affiliate KOMO reported. The flight was delayed nearly two hours by the ordeal.
The suspect managed to clear security on Monday without a valid boarding pass but was properly screened at a checkpoint, the Transportation Security Administration told KOMO.
“TSA takes any incidents that occur at any of our checkpoints nationwide seriously,” the agency said in a statement. “TSA will independently review the circumstances of this incident at our travel document checker station at Seattle/Tacoma International.”
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Also on Tuesday, a body was found in the wheel well of a United Airlines flight to Kahului Airport.
The body was found in one of the main landing gear compartments, which are only accessible from the outside of the plane. United Airlines officials said on Christmas Day that they were cooperating with law enforcement in the investigation. The Maui Police Department said it was investigating but has provided no further information.
It is not clear how or when the person accessed the wheel well, United said in a statement.
The body was discovered shortly after Flight 202 arrived Tuesday afternoon from Chicago.
The Seattle incident was the second time in a month that someone has tried to stow away on a Delta flight. The first person succeeded, flying from New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.
However, the stowaway, 57-year-old Svetlana Dali, couldn’t enter France because she couldn’t get through immigration. She was eventually sent back to the U.S. and charged with federal crimes, then was captured a couple weeks later trying to sneak into Canada.
The Daily News’ contribution to this story was distributed by Tribune Content Agency.
