HONOLULU - A former flight attendant accused of impersonating an airline pilot and employee allegedly tricked three US airlines into offering him hundreds of free tickets over four years, a case drawing comparisons to the film Catch Me If You Can.
The method behind the scam, and why airlines didn’t detect it sooner, has perplexed industry experts.
Dallas Pokornik, 33, of Toronto, was arrested in Panama following wire fraud charges filed in federal court in Hawaii last October. He pleaded not guilty this week after being extradited to the United States. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
Court documents state Pokornik was a flight attendant for a Toronto-based airline from 2017 to 2019 and subsequently used fraudulent identification linked to that airline to obtain tickets reserved for pilots and flight attendants on three other airlines.
The documents offer no description as to why airlines failed to recognize the credentials as invalid, especially given the industry’s focus on security.
The indictment does not name the airlines involved, but indicates thay are based in Honolulu, chicago, and Fort Worth, Texas. A Hawaiian Airlines spokesperson declined to comment on the litigation. Representatives for United Airlines and American Airlines did not immediately respond to inquiries from The Associated Press.
Porter Airlines, a Canadian airline based in Toronto, stated it “could not verify any information related to this story.” Air Canada, based in Montreal with a major Toronto hub, saeid it had no record of Pokornik’s employment.
John Cox, a retired pilot who runs an aviation security company in St. petersburg, Florida, expressed surprise at the allegations, noting the cross-checking procedures airlines typically use to verify crew member employment.
Airlines generally rely on third-party databases of active airline employees to confirm an individual’s employment status. “The only thing I can think of is that it didn’t appear that he had stopped being an employee of the airline,” Cox said. “Therefore, when the checks were carried out at the gate, he appeared as a valid employee.”
Passenger airlines typically offer these reservation seats free or at notable discounts.
