A stowaway who allegedly evaded gate agents and snuck onboard a United Airlines flight from Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport to Los Angeles last month is actually a victim, his attorney has claimed, saying the man was sold a fake ticket and had no idea his boarding pass wasn’t genuine.
Although the incident occurred last month, the case of 25-year-old Abdulrahman Oriyomi’s attempt to hide in the lavatory of the United Airlines plane is only now going viral after he was arrested and charged with impairing or interrupting the operation of a critical infrastructure facility.
According to court documents, Oriyomi arrived at Houston Bush Airport on May 18 and presented what prosecutors claim was a fake boarding pass at the TSA security checkpoint for a United Airlines flight to Los Angeles.
When the boarding pass didn’t work, he was directed to another podium at the checkpoint, and an agent let him enter. Once in the so-called airside part of the airport, Oriyomi then headed to Gate E16, where he tried to board his first flight to Los Angeles.
Oriyomi scanned the pass twice, but it didn’t work, and after a minor altercation with a United Airlines gate agent, he left the gate area and started to wander the concourse.
Around an hour later, Oriyomi found himself at Gate D4, where another United Airlines flight was boarding for Los Angeles. After apparently observing the boarding flow for a few minutes, Oriyomi joined the line and appeared to show his boarding pass without scanning it.
Gate agents didn’t catch that Oriyomi hadn’t scanned the boarding pass, and he was allowed on the plane. Once on board, Oriyomi appeared unsure where to sit. He went inside a lavatory for a short time but when he exited he realized that every seat on board was occupied.
Oriyomi then went inside another lavatory as the plane started to taxi for departure. At that point, the flight attendants became suspicious and asked him what his name was. Oriyomi claimed that his name was Lopez and even asked to sit in one of the flight attendant jumpseats as all the passenger seats were occupied.
Flight attendants checked the passenger manifest, and when they discovered that there was no one by the name of Lopez on the flight, the plane was ordered back to the gate, where law enforcement was waiting.
The flight ended up departing around three hours late after the Houston Police Department called in a K9 explosive detection dog to sweep the aircraft before it was given the all clear.
Surprisingly, Oriyomi wasn’t immediately arrested but was cited for trespass and allowed to leave the airport. Following his release, an investigation was launched, and he was arrested last week, at which point the story went public.
In a bizarre turn of events, the TSA claims Oriyomi did, in fact, present a valid boarding pass, enabling him to enter the security checkpoint. It’s not known, however, whether that boarding pass was for another flight.
Oriyomi’s attorney told a Houston court on Monday that his client had been sold a fake ticket, and the whole incident was a misunderstanding. Oriyomi has been held in custody on a $15,000 bond following his arrest.
It is Oriyomi’s intention, his attorney said, to post the bond, although the court issued conditions for his release, including a requirement to wear an ankle monitor.
In August 2024, a man went on the rampage at the American Airlines check-in desk at Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport in Santiago de Chile, after he was told he had been sold a fake ticket.
The man had wanted to fly to Miami, but airport agents refused to issue him a boarding pass because they could not find his details on the reservation system.
After learning that he wasn’t going to be traveling to Miami after all, the man flew into a rage and allegedly pulled a hammer from his bag. As stunned bystanders looked on, the man then set about taking the hammer to the computers and large check-in screens.
