American arrested for boarding a plane with someone else's ticket: How he did it

The FBI is investigating an incident in which a man allegedly took a picture of someone's boarding pass to illegally board a Delta Air Lines flight, according to a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah.

According to the complaint, officers removed the passenger, identified as Wicliff Yves Fleurizard of George, Texas, from Flight 1683, which was departing from Salt Lake City to Austin, Texas. Fleurizard was arrested on one count of hiding on a vessel or aircraft and faces a fine or no more than five years in prison or both, Yahoo reports.

The complaint states that surveillance footage from the boarding area shows Fleurizard taking photos of several passengers' phones "while they were not looking." A Delta Gate agent said that an underage passenger travelling alone had a problem when she tried to scan her ticket: the system showed that she was already on board.

As the plane was preparing for takeoff, Fleurizard spent a "significant amount of time in the restroom" at the front of the plane before moving to the rear lavatory.

According to the complaint, Fleurizard told police he was in Utah for a snowboarding trip and "needed to get home to see his family who flew in from Florida," adding that he tried to use a friend's Southwest Airlines card but all the flights were booked. He used a Southwest flight to get through security.

"Fleurizard acknowledged that he made a mistake and was only trying to get home," the complaint says.

Delta said it is a "cooperation with law enforcement and relevant federal agencies in the investigation."

As TravelWise reported, during one of the flights, a passenger approached the flight attendant with an unusual request. After an argument, the man asked to speak to his girlfriend over the loudspeaker to apologize.