Former Canadian flight attendant posed as pilot to get free flights, prosecutors say
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The airline Dallas Pokornik worked for and the ones he is accused of fooling have not been named.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: UNSPLASH
Isabella Kwai
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NEW YORK – If you have ever watched Catch Me If You Can (2002), it is a familiar premise: A conman poses as an airline pilot to travel for free.
Federal prosecutors accused a Canadian man on Jan 20 of doing just that, charging him with wire fraud for a scheme in which they say he pretended to be a pilot and a flight attendant to get hundreds of trips for free.
The man, Dallas Pokornik, used a false identification badge to defraud three airlines for travel benefits, according to an indictment filed in federal court in Hawaii.
Pokornik, 33, had previously worked for a Toronto-based airline as a flight attendant between 2017 and 2019, court documents said, but not as a pilot.
The airline he worked for and the ones he is accused of fooling have not been named.
The indictment accused Pokornik of falsely presenting himself as a pilot or flight attendant to get free airline tickets via the three airlines, one based in Honolulu, one in Chicago, and one in Fort Worth, Texas.
He presented a false badge that suggested he was a current employee of the Canada-based airline and therefore eligible for free tickets, the indictment said. Many commercial airlines offer discounted or free travel to pilots and staff if there is space.
Pokornik was arrested in Panama on Jan 15, and then extradited to the US, according to court documents and prosecutors.
At his arraignment on Jan 20, he pleaded not guilty to the charges, according to court documents, and a judge ordered that he be detained.
A public defender listed as a lawyer for Pokornik did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Prosecutors said Pokornik sometimes requested the “jump seat” in the cockpit, a seat typically reserved for off-duty pilots, trainees or inspectors, despite not being a pilot or having an aircrew’s certificate.
It was not immediately clear how many flights he had taken or how many of his requests for the jump seat were granted.
His indictment said he was accused of two counts of wire fraud involving tickets issued in Hawaii in 2024.
Prosecutors said that, if convicted, Pokornik could face a prison sentence of up to 20 years, a fine of up to US$250,000 (S$321,000), and a term of supervised release.
Prosecutors said in a news statement that Pokornik claimed free flights over the course of four years.
The indictment covers a period from January 2024 through Oct 28, 2024. The US attorney’s office said in an e-mail that it was “aware of Pokornik’s conduct taking place over the course of four years”, from January 2020 through October 2024.
A representative for the US attorney’s office for the district of Hawaii did not immediately respond to a request for comment. NYTIMES
