On probation for stowaway attempts, woman flew from San Jose to LA sans ticket, officials say
Airport security screening may be effective at preventing terrorism.
But it didn’t stop a 62-year-old woman already on probation for repeated stowaway efforts at a nearby airport from boarding a flight to Los Angeles from San Jose, Calif., without a ticket, officials say.
Discovered Monday night when Southwest flight attendants did a head count after landing in LA, Marilyn Jean Hartman was arrested and was being held Wednesday in lieu of $500 bail, KTLA reports.
The head count was to see how many of those remaining on board were headed to Phoenix, the San Jose Mercury-News says. When the count revealed an extra person, passengers were asked for their boarding passes. Hartman didn’t have one and was arrested.
On probation for three failed efforts to board a flight from San Francisco to Hawaii without a ticket, Hartman was under a court order not to be anywhere at that airport unless she was a legitimate passenger, KTVU reported in April.
U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Dublin, who is a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, told CNN that Hartman went past a Transportation Security Administration document-checker. Relying on information from San Jose airport security officials, Swalwell said Harman got past the TSA worker while he was focusing on boarding passes for a family, the KTLA article says.
Relying on unidentified sources, the Mercury News reports that Hartman tried three times to get past security workers at the San Jose airport without a ticket before she succeeded in boarding the LA flight.
Calling Hartman “a known plane hopper,” Swalwell said Tuesday that both airport security and the airline failed. “She is someone that airport officials should be looking for,” he said. “I don’t think we need to spend more money to be a little bit smarter about how we go through security. It needs to be one person at a time, one boarding pass at a time.”
Both the airline and airport security officials are continuing to investigate how Hartman got aboard. However, “The passenger was screened by TSA for any prohibited items. It’s really important to point that out,” airport spokeswoman Rosemary Barnes told KTLA. “Public safety was not compromised in any way.”.
See also:
NBC Bay Area: “Stowaway Arrested at LAX After Boarding Flight from San Jose”
SF Weekly: “Marilyn Hartman: DA Says Woman Busted for Sneaking Onto Hawaii-Bound Flights Is “Lonely” “
