Ex-Flight Attendant Pleads Guilty in Pilot ID Scam

A former flight attendant has pleaded guilty in a pilot ID scam that let him fly for free on hundreds of trips, including many on U.S. carriers. Dallas Pokornik, a Toronto-born former airline worker, admitted he posed as a commercial pilot to collect travel perks reserved for pilots between January 2020 and October 2024.

According to his plea agreement, Pokornik used a fictitious ID card to gain access to airline tickets and other travel benefits meant for pilots. He also admitted to once asking to sit in a cockpit jump seat even though he did not hold a pilot’s license. Investigators say the scheme stretched across years and became large enough that he took at least 200 flights with U.S. airlines while posting about his trips online.

Pokornik worked as a flight attendant for a Toronto-based airline from July 2017 through October 2019. The scam came to light after a staff member for a U.S. carrier photographed the forged badge and sent the image to Pokornik’s former employer. Airline workers reportedly noticed the badge carried an expiration date in 2027, which raised doubts because it did not fit a legitimate document for the supposed credentials.

The case draws inevitable comparisons to Frank Abagnale, the con artist whose early impersonation of an airline pilot helped inspire the book and film Catch Me If You Can. Abagnale was portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio in the 2002 movie based on his autobiography. Pokornik’s conduct was similar in one key way: he allegedly used false pilot credentials to move through airline travel systems that were built on trust and verification.