In the thick of holiday travel, another unticketed passenger attempted to stow away on a Delta Air Lines flight.
The stowaway, who has not been identified by name, boarded a flight from Seattle to Honolulu on Christmas Eve. Atlanta-based Delta said that the unticketed passenger was discovered while the plane was taxing for departure.
Per protocol, the aircraft returned to the gate to remove the unticketed passenger — and law enforcement later apprehended them, the airline added. According to the Port of Seattle, which operates Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, all other passengers were also deplaned and returned to a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint for rescreening “out an abundance of caution.”
Delta flight 487 later left the Seattle airport and continued on to Honolulu — but the trip was delayed by 2 hours and 15 minutes as a result, according to Delta.
“As there are no matters more important than safety and security, Delta people followed procedures to have an unticketed passenger removed from the flight and then apprehended," an airline spokesperson said in a statement sent to The Associated Press Friday, while thanking customers for their paitence and cooperation.
According to an incident description from the Port of Seattle, the stowaway went through a TSA security checkpoint the evening before the flight, “without a boarding pass but was properly screened.” The individual also gained access to the Tuesday flight's loading bridge without a scanned ticket at the gate, the port said.
The Port of Seattle Police were dispatched shortly after 1 p.m. Tuesday, after a report of "a suspicious circumstance,” the port said. The individual had ran out of the aircraft by the time police arrived, airport media relations manager Perry Cooper told the AP — but authorites were able to locate the individual in a terminal restroom with the help of video surveillance. The unticketed passenger was later arrested for criminal trespass.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the TSA confirmed that the individual went through standard screening and didn't have any prohibited items. The agency maintained that it “takes any incidents that occur at any of our checkpoints nationwide seriously” and would continue an independent review.
Tuesday's incident comes less than a month after another stowaway boarded a Delta flight last month, during the week of Thanksgiving. Authorities said Svetlana Dali, a Russian woman with permanent U.S. residency, evaded security at John F. Kennedy International Airport and managed to fly to Paris as a stowaway on a Nov. 26 Delta flight. She was arrested when the plane landed and later flown back to the U.S.
United and Delta Airlines jetliners taxi down a runway for take off at Denver International Airport, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Delta Airlines jetliner taxis down a runway as it arrives at Denver International Airport, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Just days away from his return to tennis at the Brisbane International, Nick Kyrgios hasn't minced his words in referring to doping-related charges against Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek, labelling breaches of the sport’s anti-doping program as “disgusting for our sport."
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) levelled charges against world No.1 Sinner and former world No.1 Iga Swiatek. Sinner tested positive twice for an anabolic steroid in March, but avoided a ban because the ITIA determined he was not to blame.
Swiatek also accepted a one-month suspension in November after testing positive for the banned substance trimetazidine.
“Two world No.1s both getting done for doping is disgusting for our sport. It’s a horrible look,” Kyrgios said at his Brisbane International press conference on Saturday. “Tennis integrity right now, and everyone knows it but no one wants to speak about it, it’s awful.”
Kyrgios, 29, has not played tournament tennis since June 2023 due to wrist and knee injuries. He was asked about his motivations for speaking out on the Sinner and Swiatek situations.
“Someone like me … I would never even in my entire life ever try and dope in this sport,” he said. “Especially going through an injury like I went through, obviously there are things out there that could speed up healing, help me get back to prime level, help my recovery.
“There’s so many things out there that are prohibited in our sport that I could have been doing to get me back quicker … (but) that’s just not who I am. I’m always against that."
Sinner had successfully argued that his physiotherapist had accidentally contaminated him during treatment with clostebol which had transferred from a cut on his own hand.
Kyrgios raised questions over what happened next.
“I (pay) my team hundreds and thousands of dollars to be the professionals they are, to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Kyrgios said. “So they knew it happened. Why did they wait five to six months to do anything about it? He kept his team for five months … that doesn’t make sense."
Kyrgios will take on 21-year-old Giovanni Perricard of France in the first round in Brisbane.
It will be the first tour-level appearance by Kyrgios since the Stuttgart Open in June 2023. Kyrgios has been mostly sidelined with career-threatening wrist and knee injuries since the 2022 U.S. Open quarterfinals.
Kyrgios is also entered in the Australian Open beginning Jan. 12. It would be his first Grand Slam singles tournament in more than two years.
Kyrgios, who won the Brisbane International in 2018, will partner Novak Djokovic in doubles in Brisbane. Djokovic beat Kyrgios in the 2022 Wimbledon singles final.
Djokovic is the No. 1-seeded player at the Brisbane International and will play Australia’s Rinky Hijikata in the opening round following the singles draw held Saturday.
Kyrgios and Djokovic are in the top half of the singles draw and are not slated to play each other until the semifinals should they both win through.
AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
FILE - Nick Kyrgios of Eagles returns the ball to Grigor Dimitrov of Falcons during a match of Day 3 of the World Tennis League at Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Dec. 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, File)
