A male stalker managed to not only follow a mother and her daughters into a female restroom at Washington Dulles Airport, but even followed them onboard their Delta Air Lines flight to Atlanta, even though he did not have a boarding pass for that flight. How does one manage to get onboard a flight he is not ticketed on?
Stalker Follows Family Into Women’s Restroom At Washington Dulles Airport, Onbaord Delta Flight (Without Ticket)
Lauren Benton was traveling with her husband and two children from Washington Dulles (IAD) to Atlanta (ATL) on Delta Air Lines. While waiting for their flight, they noticed a man was tailing them and had his eyes on them.
Benton took her two daughters (six and nine years old) into the women’s restroom…and the man followed them in.
Boarding time came and the family pre-boarded the flight and settled into their seats.
The man followed them…and sat down in the same row.
Mr. Benton then confronted the man. Flight attendants asked him to produce his boarding pass and when he could not, he was forcibly removed from the flight.
The stalker had a valid ID and boarding pass for a later flight, so the issue was not how he bypassed the security checkpoint, but how he got onboard the Delta flight.
Meanwhile, the aircraft was evacuated so that a security sweep could be conducted. Nothing was found, but that delayed the flight for almost two hours.
How Does This Happen?
I held off on writing about this story, hoping that we might find out a little more about the identity of the stalker and what may have driven him to act so bizarrely.
I am thankful that he was caught and removed from the flight and I think people like that should be castrated…though that’s another issue for another time.
Delta, meanwhile, has offered a rather curious statement on the matter:
“Delta has processes in place for gate agents and flight crews to verify that individuals onboard aircraft prior to departure are customers that are booked on that particular flight. Delta is reviewing the matter in question internally and has been in touch with airport authorities in conjunction with this review.”
Sure, processes may include boarding pass verification or even counting passengers and ensuring the number matches the number on the manifest, but this statement misses the point: how did he get on in the first place?
I recently wrote about a man sneaking onboard a Lufthansa flight in Munich. With automated boarding gates that allow a person to slip if walking closely behind the passenger in front, it is no surprise how he was able to get onboard.
But Delta has no such gates at Washington Dulles. Instead, all passengers walk up to the boarding door and scan their boarding passes in front of an agent. Thus, the mystery here is how he was able to get on in the first place. Someone was not paying attention…
For that reason, Delta owes this family a big apology.
Ah, gotta love premium airlines.
I was followed a couple of times , whilst a serviceman in uniform , but when I held my weapon in plain view , the following stopped . However , that was in a wartime country , not an airport in the States .
I am Surprised it happened at IAD . Were there no police or airline employees to alert ? The victims perhaps were too passive . All young people ought to learn how to dislocate a knee , in a quick second .
If he had a boarding pass for a later flight then we know how he got on it was simply that the gate agent was not paying close enough attention when they scanned his boarding pass. They most likely saw IAD-ATL and didn’t pay attention to the flight number and if the machine gave them either the double or triple beep to let them know something is wrong they most likely either overrode the machine and disregarded the alert altogether.
Should gate agents be paying closer attention when they are conducting boarding yes they should. But lets get real for one moment and ask how many gate agents no matter the airline physically check each person’s boarding pass on a domestic flight and how man of them allow passengers to board after hearing the gate reader make a beep because they are more worried about getting the flight out on-time than anything else?
How may times are you onboard an aircraft and the agent comes onboard to check and see if someone is onboard or not? Why does that happen, it happens because they weren’t paying close enough attention to see if the gate reader properly scanned the passengers boarding pass. People boarding airplanes without being properly scanned on happens a lot more than any US airline would like to admit but they keep consistently pushing on-time departure while doing nothing about improperly scanned boarding pass or agents that either aren’t paying attention or flights that are short staffed only one agent working when there should be two gate agents.
I would think (and hope) that if a boarding pass beeps red instead of green a gate agent would take a closer look.
Here we are assuming though – it has not been revealed if the man was flying to ATL or even flying on DL.
Wait a minute! The fact that he followed them into the plane is scary but how about him following them into the female bathroom ? Why didn’t the mother report him or told her husband about that?
Because I think people are too afriad today for fear of being called bigoted. If he claims “I identify as a woman” he might turn around and try to sue them…
Yep, he/she/they/them/whatever had the right to follow the woman and her two young daughters into the women’s restroom. And that right must be protected, according to many speakers at the ongoing event that began on Monday. So everyone, don’t be nervous – until it is your family who is followed into their restroom by someone like in the article.
These people are absolutely sick.
Except if he was dressed completely as a man then nobody would buy his argument. People need to stop using incidents like this to justify their transphobia.
Simple answer: turn around, leave the bathroom, find security. Nothing has changed for most people not listening to right-wing talking points all the time.
A male followed two females into a female restroom.
10 years ago that would have been instant handcuffs.
That is NOT a right wing talking point.
The restroom incident also bothers me. But if I felt unsafe with two small children in tow, I would have reported it immediately. The stalker was ” eyeing ” them prior to entering the bathroom. He could have been planning an abduction.
I don’t intend to to blame the family here, but if you feel something is unsafe act on your senses…if needed you can apologize later.
@Maryland … +1 . Exactly . The victims were perhaps too passive . Were there no police at IAD ?
No doubt. But they would need to be advised of an unsafe situation. Over the years, I have encouraged young women to follow their gut feelings. You might only have one chance to get away.
It’s really not that hard to get past a gate agent. Once upon a time I took part in airport security testing as a joint airport/airline/TSA evaluation. I made it onto several planes without a boarding pass. Families are your friend… wait for someone with a family and all the boarding passes on one phone (in the old days a stack of paper boarding passes) and they have the agent’s head down for enough time to walk right by. Especially as you’ve also got wheelchair assists and others coming up/down the jetway and through the door.
Why would you publish the name of the woman who was stalked? That’s dangerous and irresponsible!
She did multiple media interviews!
This is the 3rd or 4th article about someone without a boarding pass or invalid pass in the last few months for both the US and Europe.
I’m getting the impression that the airlines are developing a bad habit that could go very, very wrong should one of these intruders commit a violent act. Then Congress will get involved, the airlines will cry like children, and the boarding process will become more burdensome and bureaucratic.
That “beep” is the last line of defense. The burden is on the airlines to respect it!!!!