The FBI is investigating after authorities say an unticketed passenger was removed from a Delta Airlines flight at Salt Lake City International Airport Sunday morning.
According to a criminal complaint filed in the case, officers arrested Wycliff Fulllizard, 26, of George, Texas, who was taken off Flight 1683, which was headed to Austin.
According to the complaint, he had his boarding pass in hand when he passed through security, but he did not have the boarding pass for the flight he was boarding.
Furlizard told police he was in Utah on a snowboarding trip to Park City but had to return home to meet family who had flown in from Florida, police said. He said his friend gave him a free “buddy pass” for Southwest Airlines, which he used to get through security, but the flight he was trying to board was full, so he headed to the Delta gate.
According to the complaint, security camera footage showed him using his cell phone to take unauthorized photos of other people's boarding passes, and used one of the photos to board a Delta flight. It is believed that he then tried to stow away in the front seat. Next is the toilet in the back. However, when he exited that toilet, there were no seats available, and as the plane was taxiing, the flight attendants realized there was a problem and the plane returned to the gate.
Fleurizal “admitted he had made a mistake and was just trying to get home,” the complaint said.
Salt Lake City Police Department told CBS News that officers from the airline responded to the A concourse gate at around 10:30 a.m. local time following an “in-flight accident involving Mr. Fulllizard while the aircraft was preparing to depart.” He said he was called.
Delta Air Lines said in a statement that the airline is “cooperating with law enforcement and relevant federal agencies regarding the investigation of an incident in which an unticketed individual was escorted from an aircraft in Salt Lake City prior to scheduled departure. We will defer questions to law enforcement.” . ”
The Transportation Security Administration said in a statement that the suspect “was screened without incident at the security checkpoint using a photo ID that matched the name on his boarding pass.”
“The passenger had a boarding pass. We do not confirm flight details for individual travelers,” a TSA spokesperson said.
However, Delta Air Lines told CBS News that it “did not have a ticket for flight DL1683 operating SLC-AUS on March 17.”
Police say the suspect is being held in federal custody at the Salt Lake County Metro Jail. Records show he is still behind bars.
Flight 1683 departed approximately 30 minutes late.
The FBI declined further comment.
Last month, a woman boarded an American Airlines flight from Nashville to Los Angeles without a boarding pass. TSA confirmed that the woman was able to bypass the ID check and boarding pass, but passed the magnetometer and baggage checks.
The woman was taken into FBI custody at LAX on February 7th.
–Additional reporting by Brian Dakss
