The most prolific airline stowaway in the world has been arrested yet again this week, after she attempted to visit Chicago O’Hare Airport.
Background on Marilyn Hartman
I first started writing about Marilyn Hartman in 2014. She has become known as the “serial stowaway,” given that she has been found trespassing at airports dozens of times over the years, and prior to this week she had been arrested a total of 21 times for this.
Perhaps most surprising is how successful she has been with her attempts to get onto planes, as she has typically been able to bypass security without a ticket, and has even managed to board flights without a ticket. In one case she even managed to take a British Airways flight from Chicago to London without a ticket — she was sent back when she arrived in London, given that she didn’t have a passport.
We hadn’t heard much about Hartman in the past couple of years, which is because she had been in custody for well over a year following the above British Airways incident, as she claims she got a “real tough judge” on the case.
Hartman has been diagnosed as being bipolar, though it’s something that she rejects. Many years back there was an element to her story that almost seemed cute, and some wondered if she just had a case of wanderlust. But unfortunately the story is ultimately just sad — it’s clear she has some sort of issues, and isn’t getting much support from loves ones or the system.
Here’s a fascinating phone interview with Hartman from late 2019, which I think paints a different picture of her behavior than one might expect:
Marilyn Hartman caught again at O’Hare
Hartman’s latest incident happened on Tuesday, when she was arrested for attempting to access Chicago O’Hare Airport. She’s currently staying in a facility while on electronic monitoring, and isn’t allowed to travel to any airports. As she neared Chicago O’Hare Terminal 1 the alarm on her monitoring device was activated, and at that point she was arrested for the 22nd time.
The 69 year old’s arrest came two weeks after a judge rejected a plea deal that would have given her probation for a previous stowaway attempt. Hartman is now being held on trespassing charges, as the Cook County Sheriff’s Office will seek a felony escape charge for her.
Bottom line
While we hadn’t heard much about Hartman for a while, she was arrested for the 22nd time this past week, when she tried to enter Chicago O’Hare Airport while on electronic monitoring. I hope Hartman gets the help she needs, whatever that might be…
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