A person was arrested on Christmas Eve after being accused of sneaking onto a Delta flight from Seattle to Honolulu without a ticket.
According to the airline and the Port of Seattle Police Department, the person, who has not been publicly identified, was caught as Flight 487 was taxiing.
The pilots returned the Airbus A321neo aircraft to the gate, where the person somehow managed to get off the plane, officials said. By way of video surveillance, police found the individual in a terminal restroom, where they were then arrested for criminal trespass, the police department said.
“The aircraft was swept by K9 as well as all areas in the terminal accessed by the subject. Due to an abundance of caution, the aircraft was deplaned and all passengers were escorted by TSA to return to the security checkpoint for screening,” the police department added.
The entire ordeal caused the flight to be delayed by more than two hours.
“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. “We apologize to our customers for the delay in their travels and thank them for their patience and cooperation.”
Delta added that the Transportation Security Administration rescreened the unticketed individual after they were removed from the flight.
The person passed the security screening and was not carrying any prohibited items, TSA officials told HuffPost in a statement.
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“The individual bypassed the identity verification and boarding status stations and boarded an aircraft at Seattle/Tacoma International (SEA) without a boarding pass,” TSA officials 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.”
The incident is similar to an instance in November when someone snuck onto a flight to Paris from a New York airport. The individual was arrested in Paris.