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Surveillance video shows New York-to-Paris flight stowaway slipping past gate agents

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Surveillance video shows New York-to-Paris flight stowaway slipping past gate agents
News

News

Surveillance video shows New York-to-Paris flight stowaway slipping past gate agents

2025-04-24 02:52 Last Updated At:03:01

NEW YORK (AP) — The woman who was able to sneak onto a New York-to-Paris flight without a boarding pass late last year was able to get on the plane by glomming onto a group of ticketed passengers as they passed gate agents, new surveillance video shows.

The video, provided by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to The Associated Press on Wednesday after a records request, shows Svetlana Dali slipping by two gate agents who were checking boarding passes and strolling onto an airbridge along with a group of other passengers.

Dali has pleaded not guilty to a stowaway charge over the incident last November. Her trial is set to begin next month but prosecutors and her lawyer have said they are trying to work toward a plea deal. Her attorney did not return a voicemail seeking comment on Wednesday.

According to court documents, Dali had initially been turned away from an security checkpoint at JFK International Airport by a Transportation Security Administration official after she was unable to show a boarding pass.

Dali, a 57-year-old Russian citizen with U.S. residency, then sneaked into a special security lane for airline employees, masked by a large Air Europa flight crew, and made it into a screening area where agents were inspecting bags and patting down travelers. A second video provided to AP by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey shows Dali going through screening and getting patted down.

From there, Dali walked onto a Delta Air Lines flight bound for Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. The surveillance video shows Dali at the gate — with a gray hood covering her head, carrying what appears to be a bag draped over her left arm and an oversized backpack slung over her shoulders — joining a group of boarding passengers and slipping past two Delta staffers who were checking tickets.

The staffers did not appear to notice Dali as she passed and joined a group of ticketed passengers who were allowed to board the plane.

Delta crew members realized Dali was an unauthorized passenger while the plane was in the air and notified French authorities, who detained her before she entered customs, according to court documents.

She was eventually flown back to New York and admitted to authorities that she got on the plane without a ticket and that she intentionally evaded security and Delta employees so she could avoid buying a ticket, court records said.

Dali was initially released after her arrest with electric monitoring but then was arrested again in Buffalo, New York, after she cut off the monitor and tried to enter Canada.

She is being held in a federal lockup in Brooklyn, records show.

FILE - A vehicle stops at Terminal 1 at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Feb. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

FILE - A vehicle stops at Terminal 1 at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Feb. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

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Spain will limit access to Madrid's airport to try to prevent homeless camping

2025-05-16 15:29 Last Updated At:15:31

MADRID (AP) — Spain's airport authority will start to limit access to Madrid's airport during some parts of the day as a preventive measure to stop more homeless people from sleeping in its terminals.

Only travelers with boarding passes, airport employees and those accompanying someone with a ticket will be allowed to enter the airport during hours with few departing and arriving flights, Spain's airport authority AENA said late Wednesday night.

AENA said the limits would be implemented sometime in the the next few days, but did not specify exactly when or during what hours of the day.

For months, the Spanish capital's airport has seen homeless encampments in some of its terminals with individuals in sleeping bags occupying space near walls and bathrooms. Local media described the number of homeless people to be in the hundreds.

This week, AENA said it had asked Madrid city officials for help in addressing the problem months ago, but so far has received insufficient help.

“Airports are not places designed for living in, but rather are infrastructure solely for transit, which in no case offers adequate conditions for overnight stays,” AENA said in a statement Wednesday.

A political blame game between authorities at different levels of government has left the issue largely unaddressed before the peak summer travel season.

Spain received a record 94 million international tourists in 2024.

People sleep on the floor of Terminal 4 at Adolfo Suarez-Madrid Barajas Airport in Madrid, Spain, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

People sleep on the floor of Terminal 4 at Adolfo Suarez-Madrid Barajas Airport in Madrid, Spain, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

People sleep on the floor of Terminal 4 at Adolfo Suarez-Madrid Barajas Airport in Madrid, Spain, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

People sleep on the floor of Terminal 4 at Adolfo Suarez-Madrid Barajas Airport in Madrid, Spain, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

People sleep on the floor of Terminal 4 at Adolfo Suarez-Madrid Barajas Airport in Madrid, Spain, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

People sleep on the floor of Terminal 4 at Adolfo Suarez-Madrid Barajas Airport in Madrid, Spain, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

People sleep on the floor of Terminal 4 at Adolfo Suarez-Madrid Barajas Airport in Madrid, Spain, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

People sleep on the floor of Terminal 4 at Adolfo Suarez-Madrid Barajas Airport in Madrid, Spain, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

FILE - Iberia jets are seen in a parking zone as police walk through the airport during a Iberia airline workers strike at Barajas international airport in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, March 5, 2013. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki, File)

FILE - Iberia jets are seen in a parking zone as police walk through the airport during a Iberia airline workers strike at Barajas international airport in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, March 5, 2013. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki, File)

A person sleeps on the floor of Terminal 4 at Adolfo Suárez-Madrid Barajas Airport in Madrid, Spain, Monday, May 12, 2025. (Diego Radames/Europa Press via AP)

A person sleeps on the floor of Terminal 4 at Adolfo Suárez-Madrid Barajas Airport in Madrid, Spain, Monday, May 12, 2025. (Diego Radames/Europa Press via AP)

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