Svetlana Dali — the woman found guilty of stowing away on a Delta flight from New York to Paris last year — was sentenced on Thursday to time served with one year of supervised release after she told the judge she sneaked onto the plane because the U.S. military had poisoned her.
“My actions were directed toward only one purpose: to save my life,” Dali said through a Russian interpreter before the sentence was handed down.
Dali, a Russian citizen and U.S. permanent resident who recently lived in Philadelphia, blamed her attempts to stow away on an outbound flight on “circumstances beyond my control,” claiming in a labyrinthine statement that lasted more than a half hour that the U.S. military subjected her to poisonous chemicals.
Booking photo for Svetlana Dali.
Niagara County Sheriff’s Office
“I was forced to escape from the United States because I was poisoned,” Dali said. “I can draw a conclusion that I was poisoned by those military chemicals in the United States.”
Dali has already been in jail the past seven months, which federal prosecutors said was sufficient as her sentencing guidelines range was zero to six months in prison.
“Stowaway travel is a serious offense that endangers both the offender and other air passengers. Deterrence is particularly important in stowaway cases, as publicized incidents encourage copycat behavior that threatens the safety of air travel and undermines the integrity of airport security systems,” prosecutors said in a sentencing memorandum that noted agreement with the defense.
Judge Ann Donnelly conceded Dali has had a “difficult life” but imposed a sentence of time served, noting the need for deterrence.
“When someone gets onto a plane without a seat, without a ticket, it’s a danger,” Donnelly said. “It’s possible that other people would try to do the same thing and that’s a situation our society cannot tolerate.”
Over the objection of the defense, Donnelly also included a year of supervised release. She insisted it was not meant to be punitive but to help Dali get treatment for mental illness.
“I hope you will work with all the people who are trying to help you,” Donnelly said.
A Brooklyn jury convicted Dali of a federal stowaway charge back in May.
Dali sneaked onto overnight Delta Flight 264 traveling from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City to Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport in France on Nov. 26, 2024, without having a ticket and deliberately bypassed multiple boarding pass and identification checkpoints.
In a video obtained by ABC News, Dali can be seen walking up to gate B38 at Terminal 4 while other passengers have their boarding passes and passports checked for the Paris flight. After gate attendants assisted a separate group of customers and ushered them toward the jet bridge, Dali followed immediately behind, the video shows.
Once aboard, she went straight into one of the plane’s bathrooms and hid there with her bags for several hours to avoid detection, prosecutors said. When a flight attendant noticed, Dali faked vomiting to excuse her lengthy time in the bathroom.
After a flight attendant asked for her name and boarding pass, Dali gave two fake names and failed to produce any boarding pass or identification, prosecutors said. Alarmed, the flight attendant told Dali to sit in a seat reserved for flight crew as the plane came in for landing.
In this Jan. 31, 2020, file photo, Delta airplanes sit on the tarmac at John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK)in New York.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images, FILE
Dali was flown back to the United States on Dec. 4, 2024. Authorities had attempted to fly her back sooner, but she was twice unable to be transported due to her disruptive behavior, prosecutors said.
During a two-hour law enforcement interview, Dali admitted to flying as a stowaway and intentionally evading airport security officials and Delta employees so that she could travel without buying a ticket.
After being released from custody in early December 2024, Dali allegedly cut off her ankle monitor and traveled to Buffalo, where she tried unsuccessfully to cross over the Peace Bridge into Canada on a bus on Dec. 16, 2024. She has been in custody ever since.
Prosecutors believe Dali attempted to fly as a stowaway on two earlier occasions.
Two days before sneaking onto the Delta flight in New York, Dali snuck into a secure area at Bradley International Airport in Connecticut. Once inside the terminal, she hid inside a bathroom for a lengthy period to avoid detection. She also appeared to try to access a Jet Blue flight by getting in the boarding line but was turned away by gate agents.
In February 2024, Customs and Border Protection agents discovered Dali hiding in a bathroom within a secure area of the Miami International Airport. She claimed she had arrived on an Air France flight and was waiting for her husband but CBP found no records of her on any Air France flight that day.
Dali, who pleaded not guilty, took the witness stand during her trial. She admitted she did not have a boarding pass when she walked onto the flight.
Instead, Dali said she walked through to “where the people were boarding the flights and then I just walked into the airplane.”
Despite the sentence of time served, Dali will not immediately be free from custody.
Connecticut State Police said there is an active case against her for the incident at Bradley International Airport.
