ATLANTA — A man from Texas has been arrested after records show that he tried to stow away on a Delta flight.
The incident happened on March 17 according to federal court documents obtained by Channel 2 Action News.
Investigators said Wicliff Yves Fleurizard, of George, Texas, was caught on surveillance video taking photos of multiple people’s phones and boarding passes – “including a minor female.”
“The footage also shows Fleurizard using his phone as a boarding pass when he enters the plane,” and had used the photo of the young girl’s boarding pass to get onboard.
Once on the plane, authorities say Fleurizard tried opening the emergency equipment storage door. At that point, a flight attendant confronted him and showed him to a bathroom at the front of the plane.
Investigators said Fleurizard spent a “significant amount of time” in that bathroom. Once boarding was completed, the court documents say Fleurizard then made his way to the back of the plane where he went into a bathroom there.
Once he stepped out of that bathroom, a flight attendant noticed that all the seats were full on the plane and approached Fleurizard.
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Fleurizard tried telling the flight attendant that he was supposed to be sitting in seat 21F. The flight attendant then questioned the person who was sitting in that seat and determined that Fleurizard was not supposed to be on board.
By this point, the flight was already taxing out to take off, but then had to turn back and police were called to arrest Fleurizard.
After being questioned by police, Fleurizard admitted he “had been in Utah on a snowboarding trip to Park City but needed to get home to see his family who had flown in from Florida. Fleurizard had been given a Southwest ticket … by a friend and Fleurizard attempted to fly home on March 16, 2024 at 15:00 hours; however, there were no available seats on the flight so he was re-booked for a flight on March 17, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. He was not able to board that flight either as the flight was overbooked. Fleurizard then left the boarding area for the Southwest flight and Southwest pushed Fleurizard’s reservation to a flight in the afternoon that was supposed to leave at 15:00 hours. Fleurizard admitted he had made a mistake and was only trying to get home,” the court documents said.
Channel 2 Action News contacted Delta about the incident. In a statement, the airline said:
“Delta is cooperating with law enforcement and relevant federal agencies regarding an investigation into a non-ticketed individual being escorted off DL1863 on March 17 aircraft in Salt Lake City prior to a scheduled departure. We defer any additional questions to law enforcement.”
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