A stowaway bypassed screening measures before she was discovered on a flight from New York to Paris amid the Thanksgiving travel rush, authorities said Wednesday.
The unidentified woman was on Delta Flight 264 from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris on Tuesday.
A source with knowledge of the incident said law enforcement removed her from the aircraft after it landed in Paris.
The woman — who got on the flight without a ticket — bypassed two "identity verification and boarding status stations and boarded the aircraft," a spokesperson for the Transportation Security Administration said in a statement.
She completed a full security screening before she boarded, the spokesperson said, meaning she did not have any prohibited items in tow and did not pose a security threat.
It is not clear how the woman bypassed ticketing stations to board the aircraft. Authorities said that to be at a departure gate, a person must have cleared the security checkpoint.
The flight took off from JFK at 10:37 p.m. ET and landed in Paris at noon CET, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.
"Nothing is of greater importance than matters of safety and security," Delta said in a statement. "That's why Delta is conducting an exhaustive investigation of what may have occurred and will work collaboratively with other aviation stakeholders and law enforcement to that end."
No other details about the woman were given.
