A Texas man is accused of trying to sneak on board a flight by taking a photo of another passenger's boarding pass, and authorities say he was caught because the flight was full and he didn't have a place to sit.
Now the man faces a felony charge of being a stowaway on an aircraft.
Wicliff Yves Fleurizard of George, Texas, was arrested Sunday after boarding a Delta Air Lines plane in Salt Lake City for a flight to Austin, Texas, federal prosecutors in Utah said.
According to a police officer's affidavit filed in federal district court, Fleurizard boarded the plane and opened the door to a storage space for emergency equipment. A flight attendant helped him get to the lavatory in the front of the plane.
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After everyone else boarded, Fleurizard moved to a lavatory in the back of the plane. When he exited — at this point, the plane had started to taxi to the runway — he told a flight attendant that he was in seat 21F.
There was already somebody in seat 21F, a girl traveling alone, and the flight attendant confirmed that she was a ticketed passenger.
When the crew searched, Fleurizard's name didn't pop up in records for the Austin-bound flight "or any other Delta Flight for that matter," according to the affidavit.
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The plane returned to the gate, where officers were waiting.
According to the complaint, a review of surveillance footage from the boarding area showed Fleurizard taking pictures of several passengers' phones and boarding passes when they weren't looking, then using his phone as a boarding pass to get on the plane.
A Delta gate agent who was interviewed by authorities said the girl had an issue with her ticket when they tried to scan her boarding pass and the system showed she was already on board, NBC News reports.
It turned out that a friend gave Fleurizard a buddy pass to fly on Southwest Airlines on Saturday but there were no available seats. He was rebooked on a flight for Sunday morning, but that plane was also full and he was added to another flight later that same day, according to the police officer.
“Fleurizard admitted he had made a mistake and was only trying to get home,” the complaint said.
The Transportation Security Administration told NBC News that Fleurizard was screened at the airport on March 17 using a photo ID that matched the name on the boarding pass, which was for a Southwest flight.
He is being held in Salt Lake County on a federal detainer, according to online booking records.
No attorney was listed for the man.
