German authorities are investigating how a Norwegian man managed to board two fights in two days without tickets, traveling 800 miles to Sweden. The 39-year-old passenger cleared security at Munich Airport on Aug. 4 despite having no travel documents that authorized him to fly.
According to German publication Bild , the brazen traveler then got on a plane bound for Hamburg by tailgating passengers with boarding passes. Once on the aircraft, however, crew quickly became aware that he did not have a seat booked. He was apprehended by police and released after questioning.
However, the undeterred traveler repeated the same antics the very next day, again getting through security and tailgating other passengers who were boarding a Lufthansa flight to Stockholm This time, the man managed to secure an empty seat, and flew 800 miles to the Swedish capital without crews realizing he wasn’t ticketed. They only became suspicious after he requested to fly back to Munich immediately upon landing. The shocking security breaches have prompted the opening of investigations by both Munich Airport and the Bavarian State Police, which oversees crime in Munich.
A spokesperson for Munich Airport told Business Insider that it is investigating how the man was “able to bypass the automated boarding pass check in front of the security checkpoint.” The culprit is now facing charges relating to trespassing and fare evasion. However, he isn’t the first flier to take to the skies without a ticket.
Back in February, a US woman managed to fly from Nashville to Los Angeles on an American Airlines plane without a boarding pass. The same month, a man bypassed security at Gatwick Airport in the UK and boarded an aircraft traveling to Copenhagen, Denmark. He was busted before takeoff but was not charged over the incident.
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