Unruly Airline Passengers Rarely Face U.S. Criminal Prosecution

The passenger on the Alaska Airlines flight repeatedly dialed 911 before it even left the gate in Seattle. He claimed the plane was being hijacked. Then he called the FBI to say there was a bomb.

Police stormed the plane and evacuated everyone before discovering it was a hoax. The false report delayed the Jan. 23 flight for hours, forced the rescreening of baggage and may have broken a federal law that could land the passenger in prison for five years.

But, so far, no charges have been filed.

That may be because misconduct on airliners -- which in the ...