A woman who has made a bit of a hobby of sneaking onto flights without tickets has been caught again, this time on a transatlantic flight…
In this post:
Stowaway takes United flight from Newark to Milan
A 58-year-old Russian citizen with residency in the United States was arrested in Italy on Thursday morning, after sneaking onto a long haul flight. Specifically on Wednesday, February 25, 2026, the woman snuck onto United Airlines flight UA19, a Boeing 777-200ER operating from Newark (EWR) to Milan (MXP).
She managed to get through the TSA checkpoint and onto the flight to Europe. At some point around the middle of the flight, the crew realized she was onboard without a ticket (it’s not clear how they caught on). At that point the stowaway reportedly pretended she couldn’t hear questions from the crew, and ignored them.
Upon arrival in Italy she was arrested, and it remains to be seen what happens next. Of course you’d think she’d be returned to the United States, but that wasn’t so easy last time…
This same stowaway flew Delta from New York to Paris
The person involved in this situation also made headlines after she was a stowaway on a November 2024 Delta Air Lines flight from New York (JFK) to Paris (CDG). Much like in this situation, she managed to sneak through security and onboard the plane.
On that flight, there actually weren’t any empty seats onboard the plane, so she spent the entire flight moving between lavatories and different areas of the aircraft, and wasn’t actually detected until well into the flight. She was also arrested upon arrival in France.
The plan was to send her back to the United States, but she tried to request asylum in France. When that was denied and she was ultimately forced to take a flight back to the United States, she caused a disturbance onboard, so had to be deplaned. When she did eventually make it back to the United, she was charged over the incident.
Bottom line
A stowaway managed to clear the TSA checkpoint at Newark Airport and then board a United Boeing 777 flight to Milan. It wasn’t until well into the flight that the crew realized something was off, though at that point there was no point in diverting. When the plane landed in Italy, the woman was arrested.
This isn’t the first time that she has done something like this, as she was involved in a similar incident in November 2024, also centered around a transatlantic flight. It’s pretty wild how much “success” she has…
What do you make of this United stowaway incident?
I wonder what the denominator is? How many times has she pulled this off successfuly?
DA and Judge gives probation and naturally they do it again. Probably skipped whatever court counseling was required and no one noticed.
That video of her boarding shows how easy it is to do - all it takes is the staff not paying 100% attention. Seems like having to scan a boarding pass is more secure than the facial recognition.
I think she should get some kind of a cash reward from the DoT each time she does it - it’s basically like an audit of airport security and boarding procedures…
I mean, how can it happen in the greatest country in the world…? Not once but repeatedly!
Ben, is there an editor-in-chief over at Boarding Area that demands you, Gary, Matt, etc. to publish silly stories like these? I mean, sure, it's not full-VFTW-style 'National Enquirer of the sky' fist-fights on Spirit/Frontier commentary, but...
As a frequent traveler this is huge. This demonstrates failures in security on multiple levels. It is also irritating that we, the travelling public go through the bother of make believe security and we, travelers pay for this circus as add-ons to all tickets including award flights.
How has she not been deported back to Mother Russia?
Hah, take that Tim.
She chose United over Delta.
Probably the bad experience on Delta last time. I bet it's the 767.
Definitely the 767, that's why she's on 777 this time.
ily
Paris was her first choice.
The fact that United didn't learn from DL's experience is what is, well, yikes!