Authorities are due to return a passenger who travelled from New York to Paris as a stowaway on a transatlantic flight, but so far attempts to get her back on American soil have failed after she caused disturbances before take-off.
Svetlana Dali, a 57-year-old Russian woman, managed to pass through security points, scanners and boarding status checks at New York’s JFK airport at the end of November 2024. While all the details of her method are not clear, a senior US law enforcement official told CNN that the stowaway embedded herself in the middle of a family group to get through at least one gate. She then got on Delta Flight 264 which took off with her on board – a security breakdown that one fellow pilot called “inconceivable.”
Once in the air, she evaded detection for much of the flight’s duration by moving between lavatories and staying inside for long periods at a time. But upon landing at Paris Charles de Gaulle, other passengers were delayed as the captain made an announcement that was captured in a phone clip released to press. He informed flyers the aircraft was “just waiting for the police to come on board. They may be here now and they directed us to keep everyone on the airplane until we sort out the extra passenger that’s on the plane.”
An investigation is underway into how a stowaway passenger snuck past a gate agent to board a Delta flight. @trevorlault reports. pic.twitter.com/4gusKDiNgY
— Good Morning America (@GMA) November 28, 2024
Failed asylum claim
Dali tried to claim asylum on arrival in France but was refused on the grounds she does not meet eligibility criteria. She has now hit the headlines again, after the emergence of a more recent video, in which a female passenger with a heavy Russian accent is heard repeatedly pleading for help during the boarding phase of a Delta flight back to New York.
CNN World is reporting that authorities have tried twice to remove her from France, once on Saturday 30 November and once on Tuesday 3 December. Six officials were set to accompany but had to deboard her when she caused such a disturbance on both services that Delta refused to fly with her on board.
The most recent footage was shared with CNN World by a fellow flyer on the aircraft, who told reporters she kept crying out, “I do not want to go back to the USA. Only a judge can make me go back to the USA.”
Another attempt to return her to the States was due to take place on Wednesday 4 December. No news is yet forthcoming about its success or failure. Dali is not yet facing any charges in France, but according to a CBS source, she could be indicted for criminal trespass and theft of services upon an eventual return to the US.
