First Class Fraud, Venmo Lies: Inside MMA-Linked JetBlue Flight Attendant’s $250 Ticket Scam

First Class Fraud, Venmo Lies: Inside MMA-Linked JetBlue Flight Attendant’s $250 Ticket Scam

from Gary Leff on December 25, 2024

We’ve heard stories before of airline employees creating vouchers to sell and pocketing the money. This is theft and at some point they will get caught. A Southwest employee was caught with $36,000 worth of stolen travel vouchers hidden in an airport locker. Another was caught selling $15,000 worth of trips per day. A United employee stole $559,346 Meal vouchers.

A JetBlue flight attendant reportedly stole thousands of dollars from victims through sales Airline passes. She was caught and the passports were canceled. One of her victims even made the story part of his comedy routine.

That would just be Somehow It would be a theft from the airline if these were their passports and they should be respected. It seems that’s part of the story, or at least how they started selling passes that weren’t authorized to be sold. And in this case, JetBlue granted some seats they intended to fill only to other people, and ultimately (since the passes were canceled) fewer seats than planned.

The marketing pitch was bigger, however, and she wasn’t just selling trips on JetBlue: “$250 round-trip flights with two-week advance purchase for travel on partner airlines,” also internationally, claiming these were won as prizes and are transferable. But that’s not the whole story either.

• She also reportedly sold trips at a lower cost than (another person’s) credit card.
• These discounted trips attracted people, and then she took more of their money
• Which she kept or at least didn’t give back or offer the promised trip.

Somehow this involves first class travel and arguments over Venmo, where the flight attendant allegedly photoshopped screenshots to make it appear as if a trip had been delivered (in order to win the dispute).

She was apparently married to a well-known MMA fighter and marketed the passes as discounted trips with him as part of the pitch.

When things went wrong, she tried to refund some passengers. One of her customers claims she sold new trips to repay previous customers. She reportedly says she’s having a hard time finding the money to pay people back since she no longer has a job (JetBlue).

According to JetBlue,

We take such matters very seriously and after a thorough investigation, we have discovered that this individual misrepresented that he or she could sell JetBlue flights in an unauthorized and improper manner. I can report that the person no longer works for JetBlue.

We deeply regret that anyone was affected by this individual’s behavior. We have strongly encouraged anyone who may have been a victim of this individual to contact their financial institution and law enforcement as they may be able to assist in recovering the funds. We have assisted law enforcement in every way possible and will continue to do so to complete their investigation. As a reminder, customers should only book travel through authorized channels or verified travel agents.

There are apparently at least five civil cases pending against the flight attendant.

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