CNN
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Authorities in the United States have reviewed airport security footage as they continue to investigate how a ticketless woman sneaked aboard a Delta Air Lines flight from New York to Paris last Tuesday – one of the busiest travel days of the year has.

Transportation Security Administration inspectors are preparing a civil case against the stowaway after reviewing airport security videos from John F. Kennedy International Airport, agency spokeswoman Alexa Lopez told CNN.

The stowaway initially slipped past the facial recognition scanners at the TSA checkpoint undetected, the TSA said. However, when checking luggage, the officers found two bottles of water.

“TSA will pursue civil proceedings against passengers if there is evidence that procedures may have been violated,” Lopez said. The TSA cannot file criminal charges, but it can refer them to the Department of Justice.

A Paris airport official identified the stowaway as a 57-year-old Russian citizen.

The passenger, whom French officials want to send back to the United States, remains in custody in France. She was scheduled to board a flight back to the United States on Saturday afternoon, but French authorities had to remove her from the plane after she began screaming, according to the Paris airport official.

“The pilot refused to take her because she was too unruly,” the official told CNN on Monday.

French border police took the passenger back to a waiting area at Charles de Gaulle airport for people awaiting deportation. She can be held in the zone known as ZAPI for up to 20 days.

French authorities want her to voluntarily return to the United States. However, if this fails, she will be forced to return with an escort in formal custody.

Since arriving in Paris, she has been examined by a doctor.

TSA inspectors plan to meet the stowaway at JFK Airport when she returns to the states, Lopez said.

The TSA says the incident shows that electronic gate technology – so-called e-gates, which could be integrated into the agency’s facial recognition systems at checkpoints – could prevent incidents like this, although it would require more federal investment.

It remains a mystery how the person managed to slip past the Delta Gate agents at JFK. A source familiar with the incident said the stowaway was able to avoid detection by the flight crew on the plane because the flight was not full, although passengers told CNN the woman was able to hide by moving between lavatories.

Delta has not said how she was able to make it onto the plane after passing through the TSA checkpoint.

The airline said it was “conducting a full investigation into what may have happened” but declined to comment further.

Incidents like these do happen, but not often, according to Keith Jeffries, a former Department of Homeland Security official who was federal security director when he left DHS in 2022.

Jeffries estimated he experienced similar situations about 30 times in about 20 years working for DHS and TSA.

Airlines are integrating more technology into their boarding process to prevent such mistakes, said Jeffries, now vice president of K2 Security Screening Group, an aviation security company. But things still happen, especially during peak travel times.

The public can also help protect the skies during the busy travel season, he said.

“As simple as it sounds, if you see something, say something,” Jeffries said. “One of the most important levels of the entire security process is the public itself.”

CNN’s Mark Morales and Holmes Lybrand contributed to this report.