Woman Sentenced for Stowing Away on Delta Flight
A 57-year-old woman, Svetlana Dali, was sentenced recently after being found guilty of hiding on a Delta Airlines flight from New York City to Paris. The incident occurred in November 2024, and Dali received a sentence of time served, meaning she won’t spend any additional time in prison. However, she will be under supervised release for a year.
Dali, a Russian citizen living in the U.S., had been in custody for seven months before her sentencing. Unfortunately for her, she is still facing new charges in Connecticut. Authorities claim that she attempted to sneak onto a flight at Bradley International Airport just last November.
During her trial, Dali admitted to slipping past security and airline staff at John F. Kennedy International Airport. She boarded the flight to Charles de Gaulle Airport without a ticket. Dali’s actions were explained in court, where she stated that she felt compelled to flee the country due to beliefs that she had been poisoned by the U.S. military.
“My actions were directed toward only one purpose: to save my life,” she expressed, speaking through a translator at her sentencing. Dali claimed that she was forced to escape because of a poisoning incident, which she elaborated on for over 30 minutes.
She recounted how she blended in with passengers boarding the plane and simply walked onto the aircraft without presenting a boarding pass—admitting she did not have one when questioned. After several security checkpoints, she made it onto the flight. However, she was discovered before landing, leading to her being detained by French authorities.
Dali was later sent back to New York. Things took another turn when she was arrested again after trying to leave the country for Canada by removing her ankle monitor.
