Toronto Man Posed as Pilot To Rack Up Hundreds of Free Flights, Prosecutors Say (theguardian.com)
- Reference: 0180642832
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/01/23/123218/toronto-man-posed-as-pilot-to-rack-up-hundreds-of-free-flights-prosecutors-say
- Source link: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/22/canada-pilot-airline-tickets
> Authorities in Hawaii announced this week that Dallas Pokornik, 33, had been charged with wire fraud after he allegedly fooled three major US carriers into giving him free tickets over a span of four years.
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> Airlines typically offer standby tickets to their own staff and those with rival airlines as a way of ensuring the broader industry can effectively move employees across continents. According to court documents, Pokornik was a flight attendant for a Toronto-based airline from 2017 to 2019, but then used an employee identification from that carrier to obtain tickets, "which he in fact knew to be fraudulent at the time it was so presented."
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> The only Toronto-based airline, Porter, told reporters it was "unable to verify any information related to this story." On one occasion, Pokornik is alleged to have requested a jumpseat in an aircraft's cockpit, which are normally reserved for off-duty pilots, even though he was not a pilot and did not have an airman's certificate. Federal rules prohibit the cockpit jumpseats from being used for leisure travel.
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/22/canada-pilot-airline-tickets
You can go a long way in this world (Score:3, Insightful)
On confidence and lack of shame
Facing 20 years? (Score:5, Insightful)
That not seem like an overly harsh sentence to you? Airlines think they're like super important or something? People who scam elderly of their life savings get away scot free (meaning we don't care enough to even investigate or stop those crimes) or with minimal sentences. We're letting rapists off after 2 or 3 years, while putting petty scam artists in jail for extended periods. We need to have harsher and more rehabilitative penalties for violence but not be excessive on petty things which is totally useless, there's a price society pays when it is excessively cruel.
Re: (Score:2)
That is the maximum sentence possible. He most likely will get a way lighter sentence.
Re: (Score:2)
And how much have the airports and airlines improved? Apparently its all theatre...
Re: (Score:2)
> That not seem like an overly harsh sentence to you?
You don't seem to realize how the police/corporate world sees offenses.
* harming a person financially: meh, if you solve the case (the cops sure won't) then they may get punished but it's hard to say.
* harming a person physically: bad, go to jail but it better be an strong case.
* potentially harming a well-funded corporation: maximum punishment, no mercy.
* making well-funded corporation look like a bunch of fools: eternal damnation isn't enough.
This is far from the first time that embarrassing a corporation
Conman (Score:3)
I think a lot of this slides by because most people assume one is not crazy enough to attempt this
Re:Conman (Score:4, Insightful)
No, this is how social engineering works. You show up, look like you are supposed to be there, act like you are supposed to be there, and ask for things you need. He learned how from working in the industry, easy to act the part when you already know it.
Heard this before somewhere... (Score:2)
I guess they [1]caught him because they could [wikipedia.org].
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch_Me_If_You_Can
Re: (Score:1)
WOW, it's almost as if you read the first sentence of the summary!
Re: (Score:1)
That's definitely above average. The median Slashdot commenter barely makes it through the title!