Svetlana Dali, the repeat transatlantic stowaway who made headlines for sneaking onto a New York-to-Paris flight last year, has been arrested again after allegedly boarding a United Airlines flight from Newark to Milan without a ticket. Crew members discovered her midflight, and Italian authorities detained her when the plane landed at Milan’s Malpensa Airport.
According to The Associated Press, law enforcement officials in Italy took Dali into custody at Malpensa. The outlet also reports that Dali’s federal defender declined to comment on whether she had been complying with the conditions of her supervised release.
As reported by CNN via KTVZ, sources say Dali slipped past airline staff at Gate C74 and boarded United Flight 19 without a valid boarding pass. FlightAware data cited in that coverage shows the Boeing 777 left Newark in the evening and arrived in Milan the following morning, where Italian police were waiting to detain her. United told the outlet it is “investigating this incident and working with the appropriate authorities.”
A familiar face
Dali, a Russian citizen with U.S. residency, first drew national attention after prosecutors said she bluffed her way onto a Delta flight from JFK to Paris in November 2024 and hid in a lavatory for hours. A Brooklyn jury convicted her in May 2025, and she was later sentenced to time served along with one year of supervised release, The Associated Press reports.
Pattern of attempts
Her Paris stunt was not the first time authorities say Dali tried to beat airport security. Prosecutors and prior reporting describe earlier episodes at multiple hubs: she allegedly slipped through checkpoints at Bradley International Airport near Hartford and was later found hiding in a secure-area bathroom at Miami International in 2024. That string of attempts triggered a broader review of how staff-and-crew checkpoints and gate procedures are monitored, according to The Guardian.
Legal and mental-health orders
Following her Delta case, Dali was sentenced to time served and placed on one year of supervised release that barred her from knowingly leaving the federal judicial district without permission and required a mental-health evaluation, per PEOPLE. Authorities say that if she is returned to the United States, violating those supervised-release terms could expose her to additional federal or state charges.
FBI spokesperson Emily Molinari told CNN via KTVZ that the Newark office is “aware of the alleged stowaway” and is coordinating with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the Transportation Security Administration as part of the investigation. Port Authority representatives have declined to comment and instead referred questions to TSA and United, reporting by the New York Daily News shows.
The latest episode renews scrutiny of crew-and-staff access points at major airports and raises fresh questions about how someone with a recent stowaway conviction, already on supervised release, was able to move through checkpoints again. Federal and airline officials say investigations are ongoing and have not yet announced whether new charges will be filed, ABC News reports.
