• A young Canadian man impersonates a pilot and flight attendant over several years
• He used a fake ID to get free flights

U.S. authorities have accused a Canadian man, Dallas Pokornik, of posing as a pilot and flight attendant in an attempt to obtain hundreds of free flights over four years.

According to prosecutors, the 33-year-old Toronto resident created a fraudulent employee ID to receive free flights on U.S. airlines, and on one occasion even requested to sit in the cockpit.

Pokornik was arrested in Panama and extradited to the United States, where he now faces wire fraud charges.

Court documents show that Pokornik’s scheme closely resembles the 2002 film Catch Me If You Can, in which a teenager on the run from the FBI impersonates a pilot to travel the world.

Prosecutors said Pokornik previously worked as a flight attendant for a Canadian airline from 2017 to 2019, but he was not employed by any airline at the time of the alleged fraud.

According to the charges, Pokornik used the fake ID to obtain flights reserved for pilots and flight attendants on three U.S. airlines between January 2020 and October 2024.

On one occasion, Pokornik requested to sit in the “jump seat” in the cockpit, a seat reserved for off-duty pilots, even though he was neither a pilot nor held a pilot certificate, according to court documents.

It remains unclear whether Pokornik actually flew in the cockpit on any flight.

The indictment does not name the U.S. airlines, but identifies them as being headquartered in Honolulu, Chicago, and Fort Worth, Texas.

A U.S. Department of Justice spokesperson said the current indictment covers the period from January to October 2024, but it includes investigation of Pokornik’s alleged conduct over a full four-year period.