Delta Air Lines refused to transport stowaway to the US but will fly her back Wednesday, Paris airport official says

Paris
CNN
 — 

Delta Air Lines will now fly the Russian woman who stowed away on a flight to Paris last week back to New York on Wednesday, a Paris airport official told CNN.

The woman was due to leave France on a flight at 2:30 p.m. local time (8:30 a.m. ET) Tuesday. She was on board the plane when Delta refused to fly her, according to the official.

When contacted by CNN for details, Delta declined to comment or say why the woman was not allowed to fly. “We are going to try to send her back again with a French escort,” the French official said.

She is now scheduled to fly back to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport escorted by two French security officials on a Delta flight Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. local time, according to the official.

The 57-year-old woman got past multiple security checkpoints at JFK and boarded a plane to Paris last week.

The woman was apparently able to bypass the checkpoints by blending in with groups traveling together, according to a senior law enforcement official briefed on the investigation.

According to the official, a review of JFK’s security camera video shows that at two separate checkpoints where identification was required, the woman blended in with a group of other travelers who were presenting multiple tickets and passports at once. The official says she first blended in with a flight crew before the security screening, and subsequently proceeded to the gate, where she placed herself in the middle of what appeared to be a family traveling together.

Investigators believe a contributing factor may have been the massive holiday weekend crowds at the airport. The Transportation Security Administration said it screened nearly 2.7 million passengers at US airports on that Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

Authorities in the US are continuing to investigate how the woman sneaked onto the flight without a ticket.

She was scheduled to be on a flight returning to the US on Saturday afternoon but French authorities removed her from the aircraft after she started screaming, according to an official.

A man who was on the plane told CNN the woman was sitting across the aisle from him and his family.

“She kept on saying ‘I do not want to go back to the USA. Only a judge can make me go back to the USA,’” Gary Treichler said.

The woman was expected to be accompanied by six US marshals on Tuesday’s flight back to New York, authorities said.

Inspectors from the TSA are preparing a civil case against the stowaway after reviewing airport security video from inside John F. Kennedy International Airport, agency spokesperson Alexa Lopez told CNN.

“The TSA will open civil cases against passengers when there’s evidence that procedures may have been violated,” Lopez said. The TSA cannot bring criminal charges, though it can refer them to the Justice Department. It’s unclear whether any criminal charges will be filed.

Delta has not said how the woman was able to board the plane once she made it past the TSA checkpoint.

The airline said it “is conducting an exhaustive investigation of what may have occurred,” but declined further comment.

TSA Administrator David Pekoske said Tuesday the agency occasionally has “a very, very small number” of people who skip the identity verification stage. Speaking at the Aviation Security Summit of the American Association of Airport Executives, Pekoske suggested electronic gates might be a solution to making sure everyone gets screened.

Correction: An earlier version of this story identified the wrong law enforcement agency whose officers accompanied the stowaway. The US Marshals denied any involvement, but it wasn’t immediately clear which agency a Paris official was referencing.