An airline employee may be facing up to 30 years in jail for being too greedy (more like for wire fraud and entering a secured area under false pretenses).
Tiron Alexander, 35, an employee working a for a major U.S. airline booked more than 120 free flights under the guise of being a flight attendant. So why pretend?
Airline staff are usually entitled to a range of benefits including heavily discounted flights, but pilots and flight attendants can fly for free with their airline (or a partner carrier) in order to “commute” from one location to another.
It seems Alexander was a bit too greedy, and used his insider knowledge to book non-revenue crew flights using credentials belong to 30 flight attendants.
According to the release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Florida, he claimed to work for seven different airlines, booking flights via an internal ticketing engine reserved for pilots and flight attendants.
To book these no-cost tickets, the person would have to select the airline they work for, their role (pilot or flight attendant), and provide details such as their respective badge number and date of hire.
Alexander carried out his scheme over seven years, spanning from 2018 through 2024. He booked a total of more than 120 flights, with 34 through Spirit Airlines, and the balance split between three other partner carriers. However, because he used his own name and date of birth, Spirit eventually noticed the discrepancies and realized something was awry.
Following an investigation by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Alexander was eventually arrested, and on June 5, 2025, a federal jury convicted him of wire fraud and entering into a secure area of an airport by false pretenses.
Wire fraud carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years, while entering into a secure area of an airport by false pretenses can lead to imprisonment of up to 10 years.
Looks like Alexander took some inspiration from the infamous Frank Abagnale Jr.
