A stowaway flew from New York to Paris without a ticket earlier this week, but was discovered towards the end of the flight.
The woman flew on a Delta Airlines flight from New York’s JFK International Airport to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport without a boarding pass on Tuesday, and was taken into custody upon arrival in France.
The woman went through an advanced imaging technology body scanner at JFK Airport and managed to dodge the document and ID checks during the security process, a Transportation Security Administration source told CBS News, the BBC’s US news partner.
It is unclear how she was discovered.
The woman bypassed two identity verification and boarding status stations before boarding the plane, a spokesperson for the TSA told CNN.
She was not carrying any prohibited items with her, the spokesperson said.
“Nothing is of greater importance than matters of safety and security,” Delta said in a statement to CBS. “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.”
A social media video posted by a passenger shows the moment a captain announced to the plane that they were waiting for officials to remove the woman.
“Folks, this is the captain, we are just waiting for the police to come on board,” the captain said in the video. “They may be here now and they directed us to keep everyone on the airplane until we sort out the extra passenger that’s on the plane.”
The individual has not been identified, although CBS News reported it was a woman.
Rob Jackson, a passenger on the flight, told the New York Times it had been a normal journey until the descent process began and the fight attendants’ intercoms repeatedly started going off.
“I fly a lot, and it was unusual for that to be happening just as we were landing,” Mr Jackson said.
He said once the plane landed, the captain directed passengers to stay seated until the situation was settled.
Mr Jackson said six or seven police officers then boarded the plane and he overheard a flight attendant say a woman had been going from one lavatory to the other during the flight.