While many people were traveling between cities to celebrate Thanksgiving in the company of family and friends, an incident occurred on Tuesday that put the crew of a Delta Airlines plane traveling from New York to Paris on alert.
According to a CNN report, the plane's handlers discovered a stowaway on board Flight 264 of the aforementioned airline, which had taken off from New York's JFK International Airport bound for Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, France.
The person bypassed several airport security measures to gain access to the plane without a boarding pass, including security, two identity checkpoints and boarding status, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA), who also mentioned that the person was not carrying any prohibited items for boarding the plane.
The US airline did not make any further comment on this serious incident, but the investigation is still ongoing as it has not yet been established how the subject managed to evade security. During the flight, the plane's crew decided not to alert the passengers so as not to alarm them, according to a testimony from Rob Jackson who was travelling to Paris.
According to Jackson, who never got to see who the extra person was on the flight to Paris, the passengers knew something was wrong when they were told once the plane landed and they arrived at the gate that they had to stay seated in their respective seats because the French police would board the aircraft to deal with a "serious security problem."
“Guys, this is the captain, we’re waiting for the police to come on board. They may already be here and we’ve been ordered to keep everyone on the plane until we sort out the issue of the extra passenger on the plane,” were the captain’s words that Jackson recorded on his phone. According to Rob, the plane was completely full so he didn’t think there was room for the stowaway.
A Delta spokesperson said in a statement that the safety of passengers and the flight is one of its priorities, and that executives are therefore investigating the incident thoroughly to find out what caused the person to travel without documentation. To do so, they will work with aviation authorities and the police.
