Woman who flew from New York to Paris without a ticket is charged in federal court

The woman who officials say boarded a flight without a ticket in New York during the Thanksgiving holiday and was detained upon landing in Paris has been charged with being a stowaway.

Svetlana Dali appeared in federal court in Brooklyn for arraignment on Thursday afternoon. She arrived limping and appearing to be in pain and later sat between her attorney, Michael Schneider of the Brooklyn federal defenders, and a Russian translator.

Her attorney said her actions were similar to jumping a turnstile or a theft of services, adding that she went through metal detectors at airport security.

If she is convicted, Dali could face up to five years in prison, a fine or both.

She didn’t enter a plea Thursday as the charge was brought by complaint from the FBI, which means defendants don’t plead one way or the other in initial appearances — only once they are officially indicted by grand juries.

Dali is set to return to court Friday after the defense and the government agreed on a temporary order of detention for time to form a bail package and verify her address. 

Schneider said that Dali is a permanent U.S. resident and that officials are trying to locate a Pennsylvania address for her. 

Her defender also said Dali believes her life is at danger if she continues to be detained at Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

New York to Paris with no ticket

Dali boarded Delta Flight 264 from John F. Kennedy International Airport en route to Charles de Gaulle Airport on Nov. 26, according to an FBI criminal complaint.

She bypassed two security and ticketing checkpoints before she boarded the plane without a ticket, a spokesperson for the Transportation Security Administration said in a statement last week. She did complete a full security screening before she boarded, the spokesperson said, meaning she didn’t have any prohibited items in tow and didn’t pose a security threat.

The FBI complaint said Dali arrived at JFK at 8:13 p.m.

At 8:24 p.m., she tried to get into the security line but was turned away by a TSA agent when she failed to show her boarding pass, the complaint said. Five minutes later, she successfully got in the security line by she entered through a special lane for airline employees "masked by a large Air Europa flight crew," it said.

Dali boarded the Delta flight at 10:03 p.m., the FBI complaint said.

"Delta agents, who were busy helping ticketed passengers board, did not stop her or ask her to present a boarding pass," the complaint said.

The flight took off for Paris at 10:37 p.m., but before it landed, Delta employees realized she wasn't supposed to be there, the FBI complaint said. They asked Dali for her boarding pass, which she couldn't show, and then notified French law enforcement about the situation.

French authorities detained Dali when the plane landed in Paris, the FBI complaint said, and she was ultimately denied entry to the country because she didn't have a valid travel document or visa, a spokesperson for France’s border police said.

She was then removed from her return flight to the U.S. on Sunday after she caused a disturbance.

Dali returned to the U.S. on a Delta flight Wednesday and was taken into custody in New York, a senior law enforcement source said.

According to the FBI complaint, agents interviewed Dali at JFK, where she admitted having taken the flight without a boarding pass. She also told agents that she knew her conduct was illegal, the complaint said.

"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," the complaint said.

Bypassing airport security 'rarely happens'

TSA Administrator David Pekoske said that while Dali "did bypass a number of levels" of security at JFK, "I would emphasize that she was screened."

Still, bypassing security checkpoints is "not that easy," and it "rarely happens," Pekoske said.

He said that judging by security video, it was "crystal clear" she was trying to evade security checkpoints on Nov. 26, at the height of the Thanksgiving travel rush — an "incredibly busy day."