{"id":81140,"date":"2026-01-22T04:41:54","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T07:41:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ubirataonline.com.br\/a-former-flight-attendant-is-accused-of-fooling-airlines-into-giving-him-free-flights-but-how\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T04:41:54","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T07:41:54","slug":"a-former-flight-attendant-is-accused-of-fooling-airlines-into-giving-him-free-flights-but-how","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ubirataonline.com.br\/en\/a-former-flight-attendant-is-accused-of-fooling-airlines-into-giving-him-free-flights-but-how\/","title":{"rendered":"A former flight attendant is accused of fooling airlines into giving him free flights. But how?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n

\n
\n Honolulu<\/span>
\n AP<\/span>
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0
\n <\/cite>\n<\/p>\n

\n A former flight attendant accused of posing as a pilot and working airline employee fooled three US carriers into giving him hundreds of free tickets over a span of four years, federal authorities say. But precisely how he is alleged to have done it \u2014 and why the airlines wouldn\u2019t have caught on sooner \u2014 has industry insiders scratching their heads.\n <\/p>\n

\n Dallas Pokornik, 33, of Toronto, was arrested in Panama after being indicted on wire fraud charges in federal court in Hawaii last October. He pleaded not guilty Tuesday following his extradition to the United States. His federal public defender declined to discuss the case.\n <\/p>\n

\n According to court documents, Pokornik was a flight attendant for a Toronto-based airline from 2017 to 2019, then used fraudulent employee identification from that carrier to obtain tickets reserved for pilots and flight attendants on three other airlines. Court documents contained no explanation of why, in an industry focused on flight and airport safety, the airlines would not have recognized the credentials as invalid.\n <\/p>\n

\n The indictment did not identify any of the airlines involved but said the US carriers are based in Honolulu, Chicago and Fort Worth, Texas. A spokesperson for Hawaiian Airlines said Wednesday the company does not comment on litigation. Representatives for United Airlines and American Airlines did not immediately respond to emails from The Associated Press.\n <\/p>\n

\n One Canadian carrier based in Toronto, Porter Airlines, said in an emailed statement it was \u201cunable to verify any information related to this story.\u201d Air Canada, which is based in Montreal but has a major hub in Toronto, said it had no record of Pokornik working there.\n <\/p>\n

\n John Cox, a retired pilot who runs an aviation safety firm in St. Petersburg, Florida, called the allegations surprising, considering the cross-checking that airlines are able to do to verify the employment of a crew member seeking to fly on another airline.\n <\/p>\n

\n Airlines generally rely on databases of active airline employees maintained on third-party websites to check whether someone is actually an employee.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe only thing I can think is that they did not show him as no longer employed by the airline,\u201d Cox said in a phone interview Wednesday. \u201cConsequently when the checks were made at the gate, he showed up as a valid employee.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Passenger airlines typically offer such free or steeply discounted seats, when available, to their own crew members or those of other carriers \u2014 a courtesy that makes the whole industry function better, by getting crew members where they need to go. The seats, which can include \u201cjump seats\u201d with shoulder harnesses in the cockpit or in the cabin, can also be offered up for leisure travel.\n <\/p>\n

\n Crew members who need to travel to another city for work go through airport security by scanning a \u201cknown crew member\u201d card linked to a database that has their photo, said Bruce Rodger, an airline pilot who owns an aviation consulting firm. They also present an employee badge and government-issued identification.\n <\/p>\n

\n Using the known crew member process for leisure travel isn\u2019t allowed, he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n For leisure travel, crew members can purchase discounted standby tickets or request a jump seat. With a standby ticket, a crew member reaches the gates via normal airport security screening. It\u2019s possible to have a standby ticket but request a jump seat, which allows the employee to fly for free.\n <\/p>\n

\n A jump seat for an off-duty pilot in the cockpit must be approved by the plane\u2019s captain. The pilot riding in the jump seat must show the captain a pilot\u2019s license and medical clearance, Rodger said. Those documents aren\u2019t required for flight attendants riding in a jump seat in the main cabin, he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n In 2023, an off-duty airline pilot riding in the cockpit of a Horizon Air flight said \u201cI\u2019m not OK\u201d just before trying to cut the engines<\/a> midflight. That pilot, Joseph Emerson, later told police he had been struggling with depression. A federal judge sentenced that man to time served<\/a> last November.\n <\/p>\n

\n US prosecutors said Tuesday that Pokornik requested to sit in the cockpit\u2019s jump seat \u2014 typically reserved for off-duty pilots. It was not clear from court documents whether he ever actually rode in a plane\u2019s cockpit, and the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office in Honolulu declined to say.\n <\/p>\n

\n Years ago, the airline industry tightened up the standards for the flight benefits employees receive after the famous case of Frank Abagnale, whose exaggerated 1980 memoir, \u201cCatch Me If You Can,\u201d described posing as a pilot to fly for free, among other cons. His story gained additional fame when Steven Spielberg made it into a movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio in 2002.\n <\/p>\n

\n Additional restrictions on who can get aboard a plane and inside a cockpit were imposed by the airlines and FAA after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Source link <\/a>
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