A stowaway evaded screening measures and was found on a flight from New York to Paris during the Thanksgiving travel rush, authorities said Wednesday.
The unidentified woman was aboard Delta Air Lines Flight 264 from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport on Tuesday.
A person familiar with the incident told NBC News that the plane was removed from the plane by law enforcement after it landed in Paris.
A Transportation Security Administration spokesperson said in a statement that the woman boarded the plane without a ticket and bypassed two “identity and boarding status checks” to board the plane.
A spokeswoman said she completed a full security screening before boarding, did not have any prohibited items and did not pose a security threat.
It is unclear how the woman bypassed the ticket office and boarded the plane, but authorities said she had to go through a security checkpoint to get to the departure gate.
The flight took off from JFK Airport at 10:37 p.m. ET and landed in Paris at 12:00 p.m. CST, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.
“Nothing is more important than the issue of safety and security,” Delta Air Lines said in a statement. “As a result, Delta is conducting a thorough investigation into what happened and will continue to work collaboratively with other aviation stakeholders and law enforcement agencies to do so.”
No other details about the woman were disclosed.
