When news first broke that a Texas man had successfully sneaked into a plane last week In Salt Lake City, with nothing but a photo of someone else’s ticket, many wondered how he did it. New airport surveillance footage obtained by ABC News gives us some clues.
Wicliff Yves Fleurizard, a 26-year-old man from Texas, was arrested on March 17 and charged with being a stowaway on a Delta Air Lines flight from Salt Lake City. Fleurizadeh apparently acted strangely after boarding the flight and hung out in the restroom until flight attendants confirmed he was not supposed to be on the flight. When the flight attendant asked him which seat he was sitting in, someone was already sitting on it, raising a red flag, causing the plane to return to the gate.
But how on earth did he get on the plane?As a new lens released abc news It turns out that he captured the QR codes of other passengers by photographing their tickets without them noticing, which he could then use to board the flight. Fleurizard worked with multiple people to take multiple photos of different boarding passes, eventually using one of the images to scan a QR code from his phone to gain access to the plane, as shown in the screenshot below.
The video released by ABC News only appeared to show Fleurizard taking photos of another passenger’s paper ticket, but prosecutors claim he also took photos of other passengers’ cellphones. According to the complaint, one of the passengers, a “minor female,” had an issue with her boarding pass when she tried to board the flight and the system indicated she had a problem. Already boarded.
Fleurizadeh reportedly apologized for his mistake and just wanted to get home as soon as possible after failing to book a flight with another airline. But now he faces felony smuggling charges.
Only one question remains: What does Fleurizard use to get through TSA security?according to New York Times, Fleurizard is able to pass through TSA lanes without issue, but passengers are usually required to show ID and boarding passes. The Texas man reportedly had a valid Florida ID, but it’s unclear how he got through security without a boarding pass — unless, of course, he had done the same thing before , took a photo of someone else’s boarding pass.