A woman with a Russian passport and U.S. green card was able to board a Delta Airlines flight in New York City and fly to Paris, despite not having a boarding pass, CNN reported on Friday.
CNN correspondent Polo Sandoval reported on the story on The Lead with Jake Tapper, telling guest anchor Erica Hill that “it was probably at least a little easier” for this woman to “go unnoticed” in the chaos of the busy holiday travel on Tuesday, one of the busiest travel days of the year with “roughly 2.7 million passengers” flying that day.
The story was “as puzzling as it is alarming,” Sandoval continued, “given the security breach nature of what this woman allegedly did.”
According to the Transportation Security Administration, the woman who stowed away “didn’t have a boarding pass but completed a security screening and bypassed two identity verification and boarding status stations to board a Delta aircraft” at JFK International Airport, CNN reported. She reportedly hid in the plane’s bathrooms during the flight.
A New York real estate broker who was on the flight told CNN that when the plane got to the gate at the Paris airport, the crew announced over the PA system a request for all passengers to remain in their seats so Paris police could board and handle a “security issue,” said Sandoval.
The TSA has confirmed that this woman was between 55 and 60 years old, held both a Russian passport and U.S. green card, and several years ago failed to secure asylum in the U.S. She was not carrying any prohibited items when she was apprehended, according to the TSA.
Delta Airlines said that it is “taking this very seriously,” Sandoval said, and investigating the incident along with the TSA and officials at JFK airport.
“Nothing is of greater importance than matters of safety and security,” a Delta spokesperson told CNN in a statement. “That’s why Delta is conducting an exhaustive investigation of what may have occurred and will work collaboratively with other aviation stakeholders and law enforcement to that end.”
Watch the clip above via CNN.
