Ticketless passenger found in Texas flight’s lavatory, arrested

The 26-year-old Wicliff Fleurizard, a native of George, Texas, was taken off Flight 1683 on Sunday (Mar 17) by Salt Lake City Police officers when it was discovered that he was not a passenger.

He boarded the plane from Salt Lake City International Airport and stayed in the front lavatory for an extended period of time, according to a report by USA Today.

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As the plane was ready for the departure, Wicliff exited the lavatory located in front of the plane and entered another one located at the rear of the plane.

One of the flight attendants noticed that there were no remaining seats available when Wicliff went to the lavatory.

The flight attendant approached Wicliff to verify which seat he had on the plane.

It was then verified that Wicliff was not a passenger on the aircraft after giving the flight attendant his name and seat number.

As per the records, flight attendants attempted to look up Wicliff’s name to check if he was on that particular Delta Air Lines aircraft or any others, but they were unable to find him. As a result, the jet was forced to do a U-turn and return to the boarding bridge, where Salt Lake City police officers were notified.

As the plane reached back to the airport, the police officers arrived, they questioned the Delta Air Lines staff and discovered that a passenger, who was travelling alone, was having trouble boarding the flight.

Security showed Wicliff taking pictures of many travellers’ boarding passes without their awareness, according to court records.

When the minor went to scan their boarding pass, a message alerted the Delta agent that this particular passenger was already on board.

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When questioned by police, Wicliff said that he had booked a flight on another airline and was attempting to get home to meet his family.

Wicliff further claimed he ran into the some problem when he attempted to schedule a second flight the same day.

The court documents showed that while Fleurizard admitted his wrong doing, he claimed to be on a skiing trip in Utah and was on his way home.

SLCPD arrested Wicliff and brought him to the Salt Lake County Metro Jail.