66-Year-Old ‘Serial Stowaway’ Makes it to London Without Ticket or Passport

Just when we think the TSA is doing the best job they can to prevent security breaches in airports across the country, we come across a story like this. A 66-year-old woman managed to evade not one, but two TSA agents, sleep overnight in an airport, and then clandestinely board a plane to London. Marilyn Hartman is now facing a felony-theft charge for flying to London without a ticket and misdemeanor trespass.

So, how did an older woman like Hartman make it to London without getting caught? According to reports, she simply put her hair in front of her face when walking past agents checking documents (she had no passport or boarding pass). She was stopped once, though, when she attempted to board a plane bound for Connecticut. After being told to sit down by a gate agent, Hartman simply got up and took a shuttle bus, which also requires documentation to board, to the international terminal where she spent the night. In the morning, she snuck past more gate agents and made herself comfortable on the Heathrow-bound British Airways flight. In London, though, a customs agent raised a red flag when checking her documents—she was sent back to Chicago.

Apparently Hartman is what’s known as a “serial stowaway” and had been arrested in Chicago in 2014, 2015, and 2016 for attempting to sneak onto a plane. She was released already under the condition that she receive psychiatric help.