Stowaway Found Guilty of Hiding in Plane Bathroom on Flight from N.Y.C. to Paris Faces Up to 6 Months in Prison
Svetlana Dali, 57, was found guilty of a federal stowaway charge by jurors in a Brooklyn court on Thursday, May 22
Dali could face up to six months in prison after being convicted
On Nov. 26, 2024, she slipped past security and airline gate agents at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City and boarded a Delta Airlines flight to Charles de Gaulle Airport in France without a ticketA woman who stowed away in the bathrooms of a Delta Airlines flight from New York City to Paris in November 2024 has been convicted of a federal stowaway charge.
Jurors determined in a Brooklyn court on Thursday, May 22 that Svetlana Dali, 57, was guilty of slipping past security and airline gate agents at John F. Kennedy International Airport in N.Y.C. and boarding a Delta flight to Charles de Gaulle Airport in France on Nov. 26 without a ticket, according to NBC News, ABC News and Associated Press.
Dali — who has been in custody for more than five months — could face up to six months in prison, according to sentencing guidelines, per the outlets. The judge presiding over the trial has not yet set a sentencing date.
Dali's attorney, Michael Schneider, did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.
The 57-year-old's trial lasted about two days with jury selection and opening statements having been made on Tuesday, May 20. Dali, who is a Russian citizen with U.S. residency testified a day later that she had gone to "where the people were boarding the flights," and then she "just walked into the airplane," according to ABC News.
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She said airline staff did not ask her for a boarding pass and admitted that she did not have one, per the outlet. Surveillance video shown during the trial showed Dali blending in with a group of airline passengers and walking past Delta Airlines staffers checking tickets, per AP. She then said, per NBC News and ABC News, that she stayed in the bathroom "almost the duration of the flight, almost from the beginning to the end" because she felt sick.
Prosecutors cited charging documents in court, saying Dali initially failed to get through a TSA security checkpoint around 8:24 p.m. on the day of the flight because she did not have a boarding pass, but successfully made it through a few minutes later via "a special lane for airline employees masked by a large Air Europa flight crew."
After being screened, Dali boarded the flight around 10:03 p.m. while Delta agents were "busy helping ticketed passengers board," according to court documents. The plane departed around 10:37 p.m., but before landing in Paris, she was discovered by the flight crew, who "notified French law enforcement" after she couldn't provide a boarding pass.
Authorities in France then met her at the gate at Charles de Gaulle Airport on Nov. 27, where she was "detained before she entered customs." According to the complaint, Dali flew back to New York on Dec. 4 and was "escorted" to an interview room before admitting to "flying as a stowaway."
Prosecutors said, per NBC News, that Dali was initially released from custody with an electric monitoring system, but she was detained again after allegedly cutting it off and attempting to enter Canada.
They also noted that she had tried to bypass security measures at two other airports prior to this incident, including at Bradley International Airport near Hartford, Conn., but was unsuccessful at getting on a plane and eventually left the airport, the outlet reported.
TSA Administrator David Pekoske told NBC News in December that Dali was "screened," and that bypassing security checkpoints was "not that easy" and "rarely happens." He added that she was trying to evade checkpoints during an "incredibly busy day" of Thanksgiving travel.
A TSA spokesperson told ABC News that in light of the incident, 'additional security measures are now in place." The spokesperson added, "TSA's security measures are always evolving to ensure this type of incident does not happen again.'
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