Markus Mainka / Shutterstock.com
A female passenger has managed to evade security checks at Nashville Airport and fly on an American Airlines flight headed to Los Angeles. As first reported by the Los Angeles Times, the US Transportation Security Administration is investigating how a ticketless woman at Nashville International Airport (BNA) boarded a flight headed for Los Angeles (LAX) without going through a TSA checkpoint at the airport.
On February 7, 2024, the female traveler skipped past one of the security stanchions at Nashville International Airport and bypassed the first TSA checkpoint. This is where passengers are asked to show identification and a boarding pass before they are blended back into the security line, according to a TSA spokesperson.
TSA has emphasized that the passenger was physically screened, along with their carry-on items, without incident before boarding the flight.
The passenger was reportedly questioned by the FBI in Los Angeles, but no charges were made. The TSA now says that it “is now upping their security measures” at the airport by blocking off any lanes that are not in use.
“TSA is reviewing the circumstances of this matter but can confirm that the traveler in question was physically screened, along with their carry-on items, without incident at the Nashville International Airport security checkpoint on February 7 before boarding the flight,” the agency said.
The FBI said it responded to a report “of an individual who got on an American Airlines flight without a ticket and flew from Nashville to Los Angeles,” said Lourdes Arocho, public information officer for the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “A woman in question was detained for questioning and our investigation is still ongoing,” she added.
AeroTime understands that one has been charged in connection with the incident to date.
This is the second time in just four months that a traveler without a boarding pass has managed to board a commercial flight heading to Los Angeles. In November 2023, a man carrying both Russian and Israeli passports boarded a plane at Denver Airport (DEN) in Colorado with no ticket, visa or passport. On that occasion, the passenger was sentenced to 93 days imprisonment and ordered to pay a $2,174 fine.
Meanwhile, UK authorities are still investigating how a male passenger traveled from London-Heathrow Airport (LHR) to New York just before Christmas 2023 without a ticket.
A man from Slough, England managed to successfully board a British Airways flight from the airport and fly to John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) in New York without any travel documents. The incident occurred on December 26, 2023, during the busy holiday season.
The man, 46, allegedly tailgated unsuspecting passengers through several security checks at LHR airport’s Terminal 5. He was able to find a seat on the fully booked flight, as some passengers had missed it due to the chaotic nature of the travel period.
However, the tailgating tactics no longer worked when he arrived at JFK Airport, where he failed to present travel documents to airport authorities. Sturt was then detained and subsequently charged with fraud and offenses under the Aviation Security Act. He was sent back to London and was due to appear in court in January 2024, but failed to do so.
