For more than a year, she operated stealthily as business class passengers slumbered; an apparently comforting flight attendant who poured tea for travellers with one hand and swiped their bank cards with the other.
But the game is finally up for an Air France flight attendant known as Lucie R, who allegedly took to rifling through passengers' pockets in mid-air to solve her money problems.
She was arrested on the runway of Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport on Friday, and faces a prison sentence if found guilty of a string of robberies on flights from France to Asia.
Police said the items that the 47-year-old stole ranged from credit cards and cash – in multiple currencies – to jewellery and designer watches.
The investigation was launched in January when five passengers aboard a Boeing 777 between Tokyo and Paris complained of having had around €4,000 (£3,380) of foreign currency stolen during flights.
After being questioned by police over the weekend, Lucie R admitted carrying out 26 of the "mile-high" thefts, although she is suspected of being involved in several others. Since January, passengers travelling on 142 flights between France and Asia have reported losing possessions.
The employee, who worked chiefly in business class, told police she had started robbing passengers in March last year, in an attempt to solve her personal money problems.
"An examination of her bank accounts showed an incredible gap between her lifestyle and her declared income," an investigator told Le Figaro newspaper.
Investigators charged Lucie R with 26 counts of theft after establishing which flights she had been working on. While exploring her finances, they discovered she had recently put jewellery, including precious stones and a Cartier wedding ring, in a safety deposit box at her bank in the northern city of Rouen.
Police searched her home and found blank cheques, travellers' cheques and bank card numbers that she had taken while their owners were asleep or away from their seats.
Dozens of passengers who had items stolen said they will ask their insurers for reimbursement.
Air France said it is responsible only for checked-in baggage and not items taken on board flights.