A former flight attendant pleaded guilty to wire fraud after posing as a commercial pilot to get hundreds of free flights.
Dallas Pokornik, 34, of Toronto, Canada, obtained tickets reserved for pilots and other travel benefits from three airlines between January 2020 and October 2024, according to a plea agreement filed in the District of Hawaii on Aug. 6. He also “used and presented a false and (fictitious) identification badge, which falsely claimed that the defendant was a current employee of” a fourth airline.
Pokornik worked as a flight attendant for the fourth airline from July 2017 until October 2019 but was never a pilot, according to the October 2025 indictment.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Hawaii said in an Aug. 7 news
release that Pokornik's employer was a commercial airline in Canada, but did not name the carrier or the three Pokornik obtained flights from. The latter three are based in the U.S.
Attorneys listed for Pokornik did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Travel security protocols help keep our citizens and visitors safe, and anyone who breaches those protocols should expect to be brought to justice,” Ken Sorenson, U.S. Attorney for the District of Hawaii, said in the release. “We thank our law enforcement partners at Homeland Security Investigations and abroad for helping us hold this fraudster accountable.”
Pokornik agreed to pay restitution to the airlines as part of the plea agreement and could serve up to 20 years in prison, according to the release. He also faces a fine of as much as $250,000 and a term of supervised release.
He is set to be sentenced on Dec. 8.
Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at ndiller@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Former flight attendant pleads guilty to fraud after posing as pilot
