How a stowaway slipped through security and made it on a plane to Hawaii, according to documents

The Christmas Eve stowaway who boarded a Delta Air Lines flight to Hawaii slipped past both a TSA ID check and a gate agent with no ticket, according to public records obtained by CNN. The stowaway was identified as Shemaiah Patrice Small, 33, of California, according to the documents. Small snuck past a TSA ID check the night before Christmas Eve and wandered the airport allegedly barefoot before she tried to hitch a ride on Delta Air Lines Flight 487 from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to Honolulu the next day. During boarding, she managed to slip past a gate agent by hiding behind another passenger but was discovered aboard the aircraft sitting in someone else’s seat. Delta employees noticed Small and asked her to deboard. Small fled the gate before law enforcement could arrive, according to airport officials, and when police later located her in the airport, she was arrested and charged with criminal trespassing in the first degree and making false statements to public servants. She was identified through a fingerprint database, after giving false names and information to law enforcement. The Transportation Security Administration and the Port of Seattle confirmed the incident to CNN. Stowaway situations don’t happen often, but each represents a lapse in aviation security. And the incidents can be deadly for the potential stowaway when they attempt to hide outside of the passenger cabin. Other times, like in Small’s case, they face serious charges. These types of incidents raise alarms about problems within the aviation security system, experts say.<br/>