The lady who allegedly boarded a flight without a ticket in New York during the Thanksgiving holiday and was apprehended upon arrival in Paris has been charged with being a stowaway.
Svetlana Dali appeared in federal court in Brooklyn for an arraignment on Thursday afternoon. She arrived limping and in agony, and subsequently sat with her attorney, Michael Schneider of the Brooklyn Federal Defenders, and a Russian translator.
Her counsel stated that her actions were equivalent to jumping a turnstile or stealing services, and that she passed through metal detectors at airport security.
If convicted, Dali faces up to five years in prison, a fine, or both.
She did not enter a plea Thursday because the case was presented by complaint from the FBI, which means defendants do not enter pleas until they are officially indicted by grand juries.
Dali is scheduled to return to court on Friday after the defence and government reached an agreement on an interim order of custody to allow time to create a bail package and establish her residence.
Schneider stated that Dali is a permanent US resident, and that officials are attempting to locate a Pennsylvania address for her.
Dali’s attorney also stated that she fears her life is in danger if she remains detained at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn.
New York to Paris with no ticket
According to an FBI criminal complaint, Dali boarded Delta Flight 264 from John F. Kennedy International Airport bound for Charles de Gaulle Airport on November 26.
Last Monday, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration stated that the passenger boarded the plane without a ticket after bypassing two security and ticketing checkpoints. She went through a comprehensive security screening before boarding, according to the spokeswoman, which means she did not have any prohibited items and did not constitute a security danger.
The FBI complaint stated that Dali arrived at JFK at 8:13 p.m.
She attempted to enter the security queue at 8:24 p.m., but was turned away by a TSA official after failing to display her boarding pass, according to the complaint. She successfully entered the security queue five minutes later, using a separate lane for airline employees “masked by a large Air Europa flight crew,” according to the report.
The FBI complaint stated that Dali boarded the Delta flight at 10:03 p.m.
“Delta agents, who were busy helping ticketed passengers board, did not stop her or ask her to present a boarding pass,” according to the lawsuit.
The flight left for Paris at 10:37 p.m., but before landing, Delta staff realised she wasn’t meant to be there, according to the FBI complaint. They asked Dali for her flight pass, which she couldn’t produce, and then informed French authorities about the incident.
Dali was arrested by French authorities when the plane landed in Paris, according to the FBI complaint, and she was eventually denied entrance into the nation due to a lack of a valid travel passport or visa, according to a representative for France’s border police.
She was taken from her return flight to the US on Sunday for causing a disturbance.
Dali returned to the United States on a Delta flight Wednesday and was apprehended in New York, according to a senior law enforcement source.
According to the FBI complaint, officers interviewed Dali at JFK Airport, where she acknowledged to flying without a boarding permit. She allegedly admitted to authorities that she was aware that her actions were illegal, according to the complaint.
“Among other things, she stated that she did not have a plane ticket and that she intentionally evaded TSA officials and Delta employees so that she could travel without buying one, including by looking for opportunities to circumvent them when she knew they would ask for her boarding pass,” according to the lawsuit.
Bypassing airport security ‘rarely happens’
According to TSA Administrator David Pekoske, Dali “did bypass a number of levels” of security at JFK, but “I would emphasise that she was screened.”
However, evading security checkpoints is “not that easy,” and it “rarely happens,” according to Pekoske.
He said that based on security film, it was “crystal clear” she was attempting to dodge security checkpoints on Nov. 26, during the peak of the Thanksgiving travel rush – a “incredibly busy day.”