Former Flight Attendant’s Free Flight Scheme: How a System Was Exploited
Dallas Pokornik, a former flight attendant, was arrested in Panama and extradited to Hawaii on wire fraud charges after allegedly posing as a commercial pilot and current flight attendant. From 2019 to 2023, he utilized fraudulent employee identification to secure free tickets on various U.S. airlines, even requesting access to the cockpit jump seat. The indictment did not specify the airlines, but the investigation revealed the airlines were based in Honolulu, Chicago, and Fort Worth. Pokornik’s actions, which led to his continued custody, mirror the plot of the film “Catch Me If You Can.”
John Q. Hosedrinker