Delta Airlines Stowaway Svetlana Dali, Who Snuck Onto Paris Flight, Returns To NYC After 2 Attempts Failed When She Refused To Stop Screaming On Plane

A Russian woman who stowed away on a Paris-bound Delta Airlines flight out of John F. Kennedy International Airport last week has been flown back to New York City with a French escort.

The woman, 57-year-old Svetlana Dali, violated several layers of security at the Queens, New York, airport on Nov. 26 to board Delta Flight 264, which was bound for Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.

WHO IS DELTA STOWAWAY SVETLANA DALI?

Dali boarded the plane without a boarding pass. The flight had not been sold out, and she was found when a flight attendant became worried that she was making frequent and long visits to many lavatories aboard the Boeing 767-400ER.

Dali was taken into custody before landing by a flight attendant while she hid in the bathroom. She was seen aboard the plane wearing a pink knit hat and a mask in the first public images.

French law enforcement removed the stowaway, leading to an over two-hour delay before the flight’s eventual departure.

French authorities held her after arriving in Paris because she lacked proper documentation. She was essentially “in limbo” at the Charles de Gaulle Airport.

An effort to fly Dali back on Nov. 30 failed when officials said she had an outburst aboard the plane and had been removed from the flight.

On Tuesday, a second attempt to transport her back to New York City also failed when the airline refused to let her fly.

Dali is now set to get on a Wednesday afternoon flight in Paris – scheduled to land at JFK briefly after 4:00 p.m. – escorted by two security officials.

She is also expected to be handcuffed when she lands in New York City.

Meanwhile, sources stated that the stowaway will be hit with theft of service and other charges for the airport escapades.

Several investigations are in progress and will determine how she dodged security.

Authorities mentioned that Dali has U.S. legal residency but a Russian passport. However, her driver’s license shows she is a Philadelphia resident.

She is in the United States on a green card, according to a person familiar who could not quickly identify her native country. The French Ministry of the Interior identified her as a Russian national. 

In 2014, a 16-year-old boy stowed away in the wheel well of a Hawaiian Airlines Boeing 767 at the San Jose Airport headed to Maui, Hawaii, and somehow survived.

Later in the same year, Marilyn Hartman, a frequent airplane stowaway, was arrested at Sky Harbor Airport in Arizona for trespassing.

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