Man arrested after boarding Delta flight using photo of another passenger’s ticket
(CNN) — A Texas man was arrested after boarding a Delta Air Lines flight in Salt Lake City on Sunday without a ticket by using a photo he took of another passenger’s boarding pass while they were not looking, according to court documents.
Wicliff Yves Fleurizard, 26, is facing one count of stowing away on a vessel or aircraft, according to a complaint filed in U.S. district court in Utah on Monday.
Before the flight was boarded at Salt Lake City International Airport, security footage shows Fleurizard snapping photos of multiple passengers’ phones and boarding passes while they weren’t looking and then using his own phone to board the flight to Austin, Texas, the complaint alleges.
Once on the plane, Fleurizard went to the lavatory at the front of the aircraft and spent “a significant amount of time” there while other passengers boarded, the complaint said.
“After boarding was complete and just before the aircraft doors were secured, Fleurizard exited the front lavatory and made his way to the back of the aircraft and entered the aft lavatory,” the complaint said.
When he exited the bathroom, a flight attendant noticed there were no available seats and approached Fleurizard to assist him, according to the complaint, which noted the plane had already pushed back from the gate and begun taxiing down the runway.
Fleurizard told the flight attendant that his seat was 21F, but the crew member verified that the person who purchased the ticket for that seat was already sitting in it, the complaint said.
Once flight attendants obtained Fleurizard’s actual name and determined he didn’t have a ticket or booking reservation, the plane returned to the gate and he was met by law enforcement, the complaint said.
Fleurizard told police he had been in Park City, Utah, for a snowboarding trip and “needed to get home to see his family,” the document reads. He said he was booked on a Southwest Airlines flight earlier Sunday, but the flight was overbooked and he was rescheduled on a later flight, according to the complaint.
“Fleurizard admitted he had made a mistake and was only trying to get home,” the complaint said.
He is being held at Salt Lake County Metro Jail on a federal detainer, police told CNN.
CNN has been unable to determine whether Fleurizard has an attorney.
Delta Air Lines spokesperson Morgan Durrant said the airline is cooperating with the investigation.
“Delta is cooperating with law enforcement and relevant federal agencies regarding an investigation into a non-ticketed individual being escorted off an aircraft in Salt Lake City prior to a scheduled departure. We defer any additional questions to law enforcement,” Durrant said in a statement.