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.
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.
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.
It turned out that a friend gave Fleurizard a buddy pass to fly on Southwest Airlines, but two previous flights were full and he was re-booked on a flight later Sunday, according to the police officer.
No attorney was listed for the man.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.