A federal jury has convicted a Florida man of fraudulently booking 120 free flights by pretending to be flight attendant.
Between 2018 and 2024, 35-year-old Tiron Alexander exploited a special online program available only to airline staff to board 34 flights without forking over a dime, according to a Department of Justice news release.
He accomplished this by using the “the airline carrier’s website application process — a process that required an applicant to select whether they were a pilot or flight attendant and provide their employer, date of hire, and badge number information.”
Using this scheme, he pretended to be a flight attendant with one airline while flying with another airline. Over the course of 34 flights, he pretended to work for seven different airlines using 30 fake badge numbers and dates of hire.
Alexander also reportedly pretended to be a flight attendant on three additional airline carriers. In total, he booked over 120 free flights.
Federal Jury Finds Man Guilty of Posing as a Flight Attendant to Obtain Free Flights
🔗https://t.co/X4gleQbFzX@TSA-ATL pic.twitter.com/nXaGTChAMk— US Attorney SDFL (@USAO_SDFL) June 10, 2025
Alexander was specifically convicted of wire fraud and entering into a secure area of an airport via false pretenses.
According to NewsNation, “Some of the airlines named in court documents are Southwest Airlines, American Airlines and Delta Air Lines.”
Prior to committing this scheme, he was an actual flight attendant.
“Alexander was a global ticketing support representative for Delta Air Lines from 2010 to 2012 and a flight attendant for Atlantic Southeast Airlines from 2013 to 2014,” according to Fortune magazine. “In 2015, he briefly worked as a flight attendant for Republic Airways.”
In a statement to Fortune, a Transportation Security Administration spokesperson said the agency was “pleased to receive a guilty verdict on all five counts against Tiron Alexander.”
“While Alexander was able to board flights by fraudulently obtaining a boarding pass, he underwent all applicable TSA security procedures, including ID verification and physical screening, and did not pose a threat to other airline passengers,” the spokesperson added.
“TSA remains dedicated to the security of the flying public and will continue to support the prosecution of those who break air travel laws,” the official continued.
Alexander faces 30 years in federal prison when sentenced on Aug. 25.
Alexander is not the first person to pull off such a scheme.
Con man Frank Abagnale Jr. famously posed as a pilot for free flights so many times he was eventually depicted in the movie “Catch Me If You Can,” in which he was played by actor Leonardo DiCaprio.
“A man in India tried to gain his own pilot perks with a fake ID before being arrested in 2019,” according to The Washington Post. “And a Houston man who had previously worked for an airline pleaded guilty to making false identity cards to get free flights on Spirit in 2021.”
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