Drunk & disorderly conduct on an international flight...repercussions?

[Scrumtulescence]

I know somebody who just flew in from Thailand to O'Hare, and apparantly on the way they were serving alcohol, she had a few too many, and started acting "drunk and disorderly" for a while....making a scene, yelling, I think even threatened somebody, fighting off a guy who was trying to restrain her, etc. The co-pilot, I think, threatened to have her arrested. I think it was over international waters when it happened, and she eventually calmed down. She says it was the stress of the flight/months of traveling and the death of her grandma that made her snap, plus she sometimes doesn't handle alcohol very well.

It was called in to security (or whoever) after the plane landed, but she wasn't arrested or anything. She's really freaking out and worried that they'll still "come to her house" and arrest her, or fine her or something. Since they let her go at the airport, what are the odds of something like that happening? I know that it's illegal for an airline to serve alcohol to a passenger who's obviously intoxicated....does that count for anything?

 

[LowPlainsDrifter]

Usually these things are dealt with swiftly and harshly.
I don't think this friend is in any danger of arrest,
but she *may* be on a list of people to be
more intensively screened or even on a "no fly" list.

Your friend got really lucky she wasn't arrested. In the new,
paranoid post Sept. 11 air travel environment, raising any
kind of fuss with flight crew, including asserting your rights
to a beverage, pillow, etc or go to the bathroom,
can be construed as "interference" and therefore grounds
for arrest and prosecution.

 

[picard]

if the passenger is disorderly he/sh can be restrained at the seat by flight crew. However, if those measures fail, the passenger will be drop off at nearest airport and be arrest for sure.

these incidents happen more often than people realize.

 

[diablo]

Your friend has nothing to worry about if they didn't book her at the airport. The odds of them actually coming to her house to make a 'disorderly passenger' arrest after the fact are one in several million. How many times has a police officer knocked on your front door to give you a ticket for the time when you ran a red light two months earlier?

Regarding it being over international waters, that doesn't make a whit of difference. The plane is considered a movable territory of whatever country it is registered to, and all laws governing that country also govern that plane. If there were no laws regarding conduct when passing over international waters, then I could in theory murder the person sitting next to me and have no fear of repurcussions.