Without condoning his behavior, I must admit I am somewhat amused and even impressed by the lengths a young man went to in order to sneak onto a Delta flight. I’m also not surprised he eventually got caught, though, and I hope he’s ready to accept the consequences for his short-sighted behavior.
Southwest Airlines Pass Rider Sneaks Onto Delta Air Lines Flight In Desperate Attempt To Return To Texas
26-year-old Wicliff Fleurizard desperately wanted to return to Texas. He was in Salt Lake City (SLC) and attempting to use a Southwest Airlines buddy pass (i.e. a reduced-priced standby ticket given to him by a Southwest employee).
But his flight to Austin (AUS) was full…he was unable to score a space-available seat on it. Rather than attempt to fly to Dallas (DAL) or Houston (HOU), Fleurizard attempted to fly to Austin…on Delta…without a ticket.
Here’s where I can at least appreciate the Frank Abagnale-style spunk:
- He proceeded to the gate area for the Delta-operated flight to Austin
- Flight 1683 on Sunday, March 17, 2024
- Clandestinely, he managed to grab a picture of the boarding pass of another passenger
- Airport surveillance video later confirmed this
- He used that boarding pass to board the flight, since airlines generally do not match ID with the name on the boarding pass for US domestic flights
- Frontier Airlines, in my experience, is one of the only exceptions on domestic flights!
- Onboard, knowing that the real passenger would show up, he hid in the rear lavatory
- Because unlike on Southwest, Delta does not have open-seating
- His plan was to wait until the flight dully boarded, then grab the first open seat he could find
Sounds logical enough, I suppose…and it worked, up until the last point.
When he emerged from the lavatory, he could not find a seat because every seat was taken onboard. Flight attendants quickly knew something was up, alerted the captain, and the flight was directed back to the gate.
Fleurizard was met by law enforcement officials and detained. He purportedly admitted, “I made a mistake and was only trying to get home.”
His legal fate is not clear, but he remains in jail three days after the incident.
CONCLUSION
Yes, this boy was clever, but that does not make it right. And he still failed…and there was a strong chance he would have failed even if there had been open seats. If you want a seat on a flight…buy one. It’s that simple.
image: Delta
This will likely mean the Southwest employee who gave this guy a buddy pass will probably lose their travel privileges (at best) or be terminated. Employees are responsible for the actions of their pass riders. While I sympathize with the employee, the golden rule is never give out a buddy pass to someone who is unfamiliar or not used to to standby travel. It angers me (as a fellow non-rev) to see this happen. It jeopardizes our travel benefits each time something like this happens. Standby means you may not get a seat. If you have to be somewhere, buy a ticket!
I think it would really be unfair to punish a WN employee for this behavior.
It doesn’t seem all that unfair to me for the employee to be punished.
Everyone knows that the employee can be punished for the bad behavior of a buddy pass recipient. The employee just can’t give the pass to someone who is this inconsiderate and stupid.
As the details emerge, it appears that a Southwest employee gave a buddy pass to an individual with outstanding arrest warrant in his home state, who then used that buddy pass as part of committing multiple crimes in another state. If you don’t punish that, what do you punish?
My airline is very explicit about pass travel abuse including abuse by anyone who is on my benefits. They make you sign an agreement each year about pass travel rules. In short, if a friend or family member screws up, I can be punished for it. My old airline used to post a list of offenses with the corresponding punishment. I assume WN is similar.
According to NBC, “Fleurizard has an active warrant out of Austin, Texas, court documents said. It’s unclear what the warrant is for, but Austin police flagged him as “one having ‘violent tendencies.'” This is a federal criminal, not a hero. I wonder if he will lose his job at Apple, or be put in charge of Apple’s travel department.
“Clandestinely, he managed to grab a picture of the boarding pass of another passenger”.
Creepy.
And it was reportedly the ticket of an unaccompanied minor, so even creepier.
Amtrak and Greyhound has open seating for his next mode of transportation on his ski trips and other travels.
Ada Quonsett’s great-grandson.
So I normally don’t call you out on typos and just chuckle at those who get worked up about them, but – c’mon, man! Love Field is DAL, not LUV. Though I’m sure WN would love to make that change.
And let’s not overlook UNDO instead of On To in the thread title. Sheesh.
So can you scan a picture of someone’s boarding pass and still get it approved? I mean, he had to have a very good quality picture of the bar code. Also, if he boarded using someone else’s boarding pass, how was the real passenger allowed on board since his boarding pass would have shown as boarded already?
Probably the second passenger was verified with ID and found to be correct and the agent chalked it up to some sort of error.
The pass he took a pic of apparently belonged to a minor who was traveling alone, and this may have contributed to the confusion.
Next time, try UA, where anyone with internet can see if a flight is full, or guess it may be full once non-rev clears. Or if you’re going to try DL, look at the gate monitors where load numbers are displayed.
This was so stupid for so many reasons. It’s not only a federal crime of trespassing and theft of services, but also identity theft. Also, even if a seat was open, FA’s may check seating charts to make sure people are in their assigned seats for takeoff.
The biggest mistake airlines ever made was giving “buddy” passes and allowing all sorts of levels of friends/ partners/ extended buddies, in-laws, plus, plus plus. Should have just left it like it was years ago, …. Benefits for spouse, children, college age student sons/daughters up to age 21/23, and parents ONLY.
So good, maybe SWA will prevent this mistake again by limiting passes to employees and immediate family only – because no matter how much you “educate” your employees, who are responsible to educate their pass riders, there will always be those that think they can outwit the system. Really I’m sick of buddy passes and in fact, do not offer them to anyone – you want to fly ?, buy a ticket. I earned my rides for 35 years of service (UAL) and I’m not losing my job for some idiot who doesn’t think rules apply to them.
Much kudos for the wonderful Ada Quonsett reference. It made me giggle.
Of course, only a true airline geek would have immediately understood it.
Sorry, this reply was meant for John A’s comment.
I can’t blame him for wanting to get out of SLC on St Patrick’s Day
I’m disturbed that a photo of someone else’s boarding pass is sufficient for boarding. Also, from what I’ve read, the photo was taken of an unaccompanied minor’s boarding pass.
The gate agents are partially responsible for the screw up. I feel they should be reprimanded as well.
If not a full flight, he might of gotten away with it.
Is LUV the new DAL?