A Florida man has been convicted of wire fraud and unauthorized access to secure airport areas after officials uncovered an eight-year scheme in which he had been pretending to be a flight attendant to travel for free across the United States.
For years, passengers boarding flights across the U.S. unknowingly shared the cabin with a man who wasn’t supposed to be there—not a fellow traveller, and not a crew member either.
Tiron Alexander, a 35-year-old man, was found guilty last week by a federal jury after investigators discovered that he had posed as a flight crew member for at least six years, exploiting airline employee travel networks to accumulate more than 120 free flights. The United States Department of Justice reported Alexander slipped onto at least 34 of the flights behind security, using forged credentials to avoid security and gain access to restricted areas.
🇺🇸FLORIDA MAN SCAMS AIRLINES FOR 6 YEARS STRAIGHT FOR 120 FREE FLIGHTS!?
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) June 11, 2025
Tiron Alexander, 35, just got busted for pretending to be a flight attendant… on 7 different airlines.
For 6 years.
He faked badges, made up hire dates, and used phony credentials – 30 sets of them- to… pic.twitter.com/o75pTS9vY1
“In total, Alexander flew on 34 flights with the airline carrier without paying for any of them by posing as a flight attendant who worked for other airlines,” the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida said in a release on Tuesday, 10 June.
According to the court testimony, the man was employed by an unidentified Dallas-based airline in 2015, but not as a pilot or flight attendant and between 2018 and 2024, he created a number of fake accounts in airline crew schedules and reservation programs to obtain free tickets. He fabricated employee badge numbers, dates of hire, and other internal credentials for at least seven carriers in a bid to use the non-revenue flight privileges typically reserved for airline staff.
“Over the 34 flights, Alexander claimed through the airline carrier’s website application process — a process that required an applicant to select whether they were a pilot or flight attendant and provide their employer, date of hire, and badge number information — that he worked for seven different airlines and had approximately 30 different badge numbers and dates of hire,” officials stated.
Authorities said the scam fell apart when inconsistency in employees’ data flagged an internal audit. The Transportation Security Administration’s Atlanta Field Office, in cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security and several airlines, initiated an investigation that eventually led to Alexander’s fraud scheme.
Prosecutors detailed how Alexander used approximately 30 sets of various badge numbers and fake identities to avoid detection. In a few instances, he was able to pass through security checkpoints using airport employee entrances, managing to board flights without being on legitimate staff lists.
He was arrested and brought to trial in the Southern District of Florida, where a jury found him guilty on 5 June. His sentencing will be conducted by U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Becerra and is scheduled for 25 August 2025. According to CNN, he now faces up to 20 years in prison on the conviction of wire fraud and up to 10 years for entering the secured airport area with false pretences.
Airlines involved in the scheme have not been named but the case revealed important vulnerabilities in crew verification systems used by airports and airlines. This case underscores the need for stricter identity validation and access controls within the aviation industry.
