Originally Posted by
HDQDD
I suppose they could hit you with the vague: "Interfering with a flight crew" or "failure to follow crew instructions". I seriously doubt any prosecutor would pursue that case though...and the airline wouldn't want all the negative press.
Still unlikely, but FAA does have civil authority to propose fines up to $13,333. Those are theoretically public, but they are not publicized.
My general view of these things is that I don't have any desire to find the one FA who turns this into a "federal case". Even if the US Attorney refused to prosecute, this could be an unpleasant experience.