Security officials now believe they know how a 57-year-old Russian woman was able to sneak her way onto a Paris-bound Delta Air Lines at New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport on November 26.
A spokesperson for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) told CNN that the woman initially bypassed an airport terminal employee monitoring the line for the Known Crewmember checkpoint at JFK's Terminal 4 main checkpoint.
From there, the woman joined the line for standard TSA screening, bypassing stations where her ID and boarding pass would have been checked.
Once at the gate, the woman is alleged to have placed herself in the middle of what looked like a family traveling together, CNN reports, citing a senior law enforcement official briefed on the investigation.
Officials believe the busy Thanksgiving travel period may have played a role as TSA screened a record number of passengers.
Delta has only said it "is conducting an exhaustive investigation of what may have occurred" while TSA is preparing to bring a civil case against the woman.
"The TSA will open civil cases against passengers when there’s evidence that procedures may have been violated,” spokesperson Alexa Lopez told CNN. The agency can only refer criminal charges to the Justice Department.
The woman is scheduled to fly back to New York City aboard Delta escorted by two French security officials on Wednesday.
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