A newly released video shows a woman who sneaked onto a flight from New York to Paris last week to be removed from a flight home to the United States after she screamed.
In the video, a woman can be heard shouting, “Please help me!” “My heart is broken by America.” The woman was identified only by French border police as a Russian passenger.
Gary Treichler, who was on Flight 265 from Paris to New York with his family on Saturday, said the woman’s voice started getting louder and louder.
“Something triggered her to start being uncooperative,” he told NBC’s “TODAY.”
After about 20 minutes, the woman began to calm down, Treichler said. Four armed French police officers and an interpreter were on board to assist.
“She was then escorted off the plane,” he said. “Our plane was probably two and a half to three hours late for takeoff.”
The woman was taken into custody in France, officials told NBC News on Sunday.
A spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration said the woman boarded a Delta flight on Nov. 26 without a boarding pass, bypassing two “identity verification and boarding status checks” and being barred from entering France. It is said that it was rejected. The flight was headed from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Charles de Gaulle Airport.
TSA said she had completed a full security screening, did not have any prohibited items and did not pose a security threat. She was removed from the plane by law enforcement when it landed in Paris.
A French border police spokesperson said she was refused entry because she did not have valid travel documents or visas. She had a valid U.S. residence permit.
The TSA announced Monday that it will file civil lawsuits against passengers if there is evidence of violations of its regulations. TSA plans to meet the woman at John F. Kennedy International Airport when she returns to the United States.
