DALLAS POKORNIK, a Toronto, Canada man has been charged with wire fraud after allegedly posing as a commercial airline pilot to fraudulently obtain hundreds of free flights over a four-year period, according to U.S. prosecutors.
Dallas Pokornik, 33, a former flight attendant, is accused of creating a fake airline employee identification badge that allowed him to receive free flights on U.S. airlines. Prosecutors allege that in at least one instance, Pokornik was even allowed to sit inside an aircraft cockpit.
According to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Pokornik was arrested in Panama and later extradited to the United States, where he now faces two counts of wire fraud.
Prosecutors said Pokornik previously worked as a flight attendant for a Canadian airline from 2017 to 2019 but was not employed by any airline at the time of the alleged scheme.
Court documents allege that after leaving his airline job, Pokornik used a counterfeit employee badge to defraud three U.S.-based airlines by securing flights reserved for pilots and flight attendants. The airlines were not named in the indictment but were identified as being headquartered in Honolulu, Chicago, and Fort Worth, Texas.
At one point during the alleged scheme, Pokornik requested access to a cockpit “jump seat,” which is typically reserved for off-duty pilots, despite not being a licensed pilot or holding an airman’s certificate, prosecutors said.
“Over the course of four years, [he] falsely claimed he was an airline pilot and presented a fictitious employee identification card to obtain hundreds of flights at no cost,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Nammar wrote in court filings.
Prosecutors said Pokornik repeatedly used the fake badge to obtain travel benefits exclusively available to airline personnel.
If convicted, Pokornik faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000, according to the Department of Justice.
