stowaway caught on Delta flight after boarding without ticket

A Delta Air Lines flight to Hawaii from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport was delayed more than two hours on Christmas Eve when a stowaway was spotted by flight attendants just before takeoff, prompting the pilot to make a U-turn on the runway and return to the runway. gate.

The passenger, whose name has not been released, made it through TSA screening and onto the plane without presenting a boarding pass at the gate. They were found while the plane was in flight.

“Since there is nothing more important than safety and security, Delta people followed procedures to have an unticketed passenger removed from the flight and then apprehended,” a Delta spokesperson tells PEOPLE. “We apologize to our customers for the delay in their travel and thank you for your patience and cooperation.”

Federal officials from the Transportation Security Administration tell PEOPLE that the Christmas Eve incident is still under investigation, but “can confirm that an individual underwent standard screening and was not in possession of any prohibited items.”

It was the evening of Dec. 23, airport media manager Perry Cooper said in a statement to PEOPLE. The next day, the person was “accessed the loading dock without a scanned ticket at the gate.”

“The individual bypassed the identity verification and boarding status stations and boarded a flight at Seattle/Tacoma International (SEA) without a boarding pass,” TSA said.

Law enforcement from the Port of Seattle later apprehended the stowaway, using video surveillance to locate the subject in a terminal restroom after departure.

“Subject was arrested for criminal trespass,” the Port of Seattle notes.

A civil case has been opened against the passenger, standard practice when TSA regulations may have been violated.

“TSA takes all incidents that occur at any of our checkpoints nationwide seriously,” a spokesperson tells PEOPLE. “TSA will independently review the circumstances surrounding this incident at our travel document control station in Seattle/Tacoma International.”

Additional security checks, including customer re-evaluations, were conducted by the TSA in the wake of the discovery, according to the organization. A K9 swept the plane and all areas of the terminal accessed by the subject, the Port of Seattle said.

Delta flight 487, operating on an Airbus A321neo aircraft, was able to take off after a delay of 2 hours and 15 minutes. It landed in Honolulu at 3pm local time.

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Last month during the Thanksgiving holiday, another stowaway, later identified as Svetlana Dali, was discovered on a Delta flight from New York to Paris.

Dali — a Russian citizen woman who was arrested by the FBI after stowing away on the Delta International flight — was arrested again on December 15, ABC News writesthis time for allegedly cutting off her ankle bracelet and trying to sneak into Canada on a Greyhound bus.