Miss Your Flight? Do Not Do This

When Dr. Kou Wei Chiu, 32, arrived at the Sea-Tac airport on July 25, 2007, he realized his flight home to Memphis, Tennessee was already boarded and departing. Really wanting Northwest Airlines flight 980 to stop and come back for him, Chiu called 9-1-1 from a pay phone near the gate -- and several witnesses -- and told the emergency operator, "Flight 980 Memphis. There may be a bomb on board." When he saw that the plane was not stopping, Chiu called in the threat again... and again.

The plane finally stopped and came back to the gate, where it sat for several hours, but instead of being served his in-flight snack, Dr. Chiu is serving three years of probation, 500 hours of community service, and paying $81,249 in restitution for the felony offense of issuing false information and threats. Lesson learned? Don't mess with airport security.

According to the Justice Department, Dr. Chiu's actions cost Northwest over $70,000 in fuel, gate fees and other expenses. In addition, the TSA, along with the Port of Seattle and Port Police spent "thousands of dollars" in dealing with the case.

At the sentencing hearing, expert testimony revealed that Chui, who suffers from depression, had stopped taking his medication prior to the incident and was suffering a manic phase that "impaired his judgment.” Chui promised the court he would never again call in bomb threats to stop planes and would "be taking medication for the rest of his life."