Dallas Pokornik, a 33-year-old Canadian, exploited the trust of airlines and now faces the possibility of spending two decades behind bars
A fraud case has been unveiled in a Honolulu, Hawaii court: Dallas Pokornik, a former flight attendant from Canada, is accused of impersonating a pilot and using fake credentials to board flights across the United States and Canada—without paying and without a pilot’s license.
According to the indictment, Pokornik flew from 2017 to 2019 with several American airlines, including routes to Honolulu, Chicago, and Fort Worth, using a fake employee badge and requesting to sit in the cockpit jump seat, a spot reserved for off-duty pilots.
Prosecutors claim the defendant was never a certified pilot and never worked for any of the airlines he flew with. He was arrested in Panama and extradited to the United States, where he pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The case also exposes a loophole that allows airline crews to fly when off duty, potentially serving as a “soft cushion” for those bypassing security systems. Investigators found the fake badge in Panama and are examining how it was produced and whether it was used to bypass security checks.
Even more concerning, Pokornik is not alone: a similar case currently under investigation reveals that a man named Tyrone Alexander from South Florida impersonated a flight attendant and a pilot, boarding more than 120 flights without payment from 2018 to 2024.
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