Canadian man posed as a pilot and flight attendant to get hundreds of free flights, authorities say

According to court documents, Pokornik was a flight attendant for a Toronto-based airline from 2017 to 2019, then used fake employee identification from that carrier to obtain tickets reserved for pilots and flight attendants on three other airlines.

U.S. prosecutors said Tuesday that Pokornik even requested to sit in an extra seat in the cockpit — the “jump seat” — typically reserved for off-duty pilots. It was not clear from court documents whether he ever actually rode in a plane’s cockpit, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to say.

The indictment did not identify the airlines that let him fly for free except to say they are based in Honolulu, Chicago and Fort Worth, Texas. Representatives for Hawaiian Airlines, United Airlines and American Airlines — which are respectively based in those cities — didn’t immediately respond to emails from The Associated Press seeking comment.

The indictment also does not identify the Toronto-based airline. Air Canada, with headquarters in Montreal and a hub in Toronto, said in an email Wednesday it had no record of anyone named Pokornik having worked at the carrier.

The scheme lasted four years, the U.S. prosecutors in Hawaii said.

A U.S. magistrate judge on Tuesday ordered Pokornik to remain in custody. His federal defender declined to comment.

The allegations against Pokornik are reminiscent of “Catch Me If You Can,” the movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio that tells the story of Frank Abagnale posing as a pilot to defraud an airline and obtain free flights.

In 2023, an off-duty airline pilot riding in the cockpit of a Horizon Air flight said “I’m not OK” just before trying to cut the engines midflight. That pilot, Joseph Emerson, later told police he had been struggling with depression. A federal judge sentenced that man to time served last November.

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This story has been corrected to note that Air Canada is based in Montreal, not Toronto.