Former Flight Attendant Indicted After Allegedly Posing As Pilot To Score Free Flights, Faces 25 Years In Prison

A former Canadian flight attendant has been indicted by a Grand Jury in Hawaii after federal prosecutors presented evidence that he had defrauded three airlines in the United States by posing as a pilot and using fake identification to obtain free employee flights.

If found guilty, Dallas Pokornik faces the threat of being sent to prison for up to 25 years, as well as being slapped with a massive fine of up to $250,000.

Former flight attendant posed as pilot to obtain free flights

On Tuesday, federal prosecutors released information about the arrest and indictment of Canadian citizen Dallas Pokornik, 33, a former flight attendant who worked for a major airline based in Toronto until October 2019.

When he worked for the airline, Pokornik had access to deeply discounted tickets across multiple airlines that had reciprocal agreements with his employer.

Using his knowledge of how these so-called ‘non-revenue’ benefits work, Pokornik is accused of devising a scheme to pose as a pilot to obtain free flights from three major US carriers.

While prosecutors have kept the names of the airlines under wraps, they have revealed where these airlines were based:

• The first airline was based in Honolulu – the home base of Hawaiian Airlines.
• The second airline was based in Chicago – the headquarters of United Airlines.
• The third airline was based in Fort Worth – the headquarters of American Airlines.

Pokornik used false ID badges to pose as a pilot and as a current employee of his former airline in order to obtain free flights from the three carriers. This also included requesting a jumpseat in the cockpit, despite the fact that he wasn’t a pilot, didn’t have an airman’s certificate, and didn’t even work for an airline.

Following a lengthy investigation, Pokornik was tracked down to Panama, where he was arrested and extradited to the United States. His arrest followed a Grand Jury trial in which Pokornik was indicted on a charge of wire fraud.

Here’s how the fraud works

Although prosecutors have yet to release further information on how Pokornik allegedly perpetrated these crimes, we know from previous cases how airline employees have abused non-rev travel benefits.

• The airline provided pilots and flight crews with access to complimentary flight reservations, known as ‘non-revenue’ travel benefits.
• Aircrew could book these tickets through an internal travel booking site, which included access to other airlines with which there were reciprocal agreements.
• To book a flight through this internal site, aircrew have to provide the name of their employer, along with their date of hire and badge number information.
• Once booked, aircrew are provided with a standard ‘passenger number record’ or PNR just like any other passenger.

It’s not known exactly when Pokornik started to defraud the victims, but prosecutors say they have traced alleged crimes back to January 2024 through to October 2024.

Similar case ended in guilty verdict last year

Last June, an ex-airline employee who worked for a major US carrier based in Dallas, Texas, used his knowledge of the industry to defraud Spirit Airlines by pretending to be a pilot to book free flights that were only reserved for aircrew.

Tiron Alexander, 35, was found guilty of wire fraud, but his sentencing hearing was delayed from August 2025 to January 23, 2026.

Alexander perpetrated his fraud for around six years. To commit his crimes, Alexander obtained the badge numbers and dates of hire of 30 different airline employees from seven different airlines with reciprocal travel agreements with Spirit.

He then entered these details into the non-rev travel booking site to obtain free and heavily discounted flights that he didn’t have legal access to.

There is also evidence that Alexander posed as a flight attendant for an additional three different airlines and managed to book more than 120 free flights during his six-year ploy.