Woman who stowed away on flight to Paris sentenced to time served, year of supervised release

Svetlana Dali, the woman who was found guilty of stowing away on a Delta flight from New York to Paris last year, has been sentenced to time served with one year of supervised release. Dali claimed that she sneaked onto the plane because she believed the U.S. military had poisoned her.

During her sentencing, Dali stated through a Russian interpreter that her actions were solely to save her own life. She blamed her attempts to stow away on “circumstances beyond my control,” alleging that she had been exposed to poisonous chemicals by the U.S. military.

As a Russian citizen and U.S. permanent resident, Dali had been living in Philadelphia before the incident. She was sentenced to time served as federal prosecutors deemed her seven months in jail sufficient, with a sentencing range of zero to six months. The prosecutors emphasized the seriousness of stowaway travel and the need for deterrence to prevent copycat behavior.

Despite acknowledging Dali’s difficult life, Judge Ann Donnelly imposed the sentence of time served and included a year of supervised release. The judge emphasized the importance of deterrence to prevent others from attempting similar actions that could endanger air travel and undermine airport security systems.

Dali was convicted of a federal stowaway charge by a Brooklyn jury in May. She had sneaked onto Delta Flight 264 from New York to Paris on November 26, 2024, without a ticket, bypassing multiple security checkpoints. Dali hid in a plane bathroom for several hours to avoid detection, eventually being caught by a flight attendant.

After being flown back to the United States on December 4, 2024, Dali admitted to intentionally evading security officials and Delta employees to travel without purchasing a ticket. She had previously attempted to fly as a stowaway on two other occasions, once at Bradley International Airport in Connecticut and another at Miami International Airport.

Despite the sentence, Dali remains in custody due to an active case against her in Connecticut for the incident at Bradley International Airport. The judge included a year of supervised release not as a punitive measure but to ensure Dali receives treatment for mental illness.

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