Man Posed As Pilot And Flight Attendant For Three Years For Free Flights

There never seems to be an end of Catch Me If You Can copycats. 33-year-old Canadian, Dallas Pokornik, is accused of pretending to be a pilot and flight attendant in order to score free flights from 2017 through 2019.

According to the U.S. Attorneys office in Hawaii, Pokornik used fake IDs to make his story seem more convincing, and was able to rack up hundreds of flights over a three-year period with three different airlines. He even had the guts to ask one of the pilots to jump seat with them.

So how was he able to con three airlines with just one pass? Airlines typically have agreements with each other, offering standby tickets to pilots, flight attendants and other critical staff members from other airlines, in order to help them quickly reposition where needed.

Even though these airlines sometimes compete in the same space, they offer this luxury for the greater good within the industry rather than trying to go in on their own or use less reliable forms of transport.

Pokornik was arrested in Panama and extradited to the United States where he was indicted for wire fraud, and potentially faces up to 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, plus a term of supervised release.

This isn’t the first time (and I’m sure it won’t be the last) where someone successfully tricked airlines out of free flights. In June 2025, a Florida-based airline employee ended up facing up to 30 years in jail after being accused of taking over 120 free flights using false credentials. In that instance, he was able to run his scheme over a seven-year period.

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