In all my years of flying I have luckily only encountered the "problem" flyer only a handful of times and all eventually conceded to the flight crew. Only one time NYC-LAX on TWA in the 80's when a group of drunk folks refused to sit down for push back which eventually led to the flight being canceled. Think that would be handled differently today. However it seems like these incidents are happening more and more and I for one wish there were more harsher penalties than what appears to occur. I understand some of these incidents are a result of mental illnesses but a fair amount are fueled by booze. I am not sure if it is worth the airlines time to sue the individual for operational costs or whether that would ever make a difference in modifying behavior, but as I said, it seems to be coming more of a trend.