Local news outlets have identified the suspect as 76-year-old Robert Albanese, who was arrested and taken into custody by the Broward Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n
Sources claim Albanese made the threat after becoming frustrated with not being able to find space in the overhead bins for his carry-on luggage. The details of the threat he made have not, however, been made public.<\/p>\n
Depending on the point in time at which Albanese allegedly made the threat could be a big factor in which federal crime he might be charged with.<\/p>\n
If the aircraft door was closed, then the plane would be considered \u2018in flight\u2019, meaning that Albanese could be charged under 49 U.S.C. \u00a7 46507 \u2013 False Threats Aboard Aircraft, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment.<\/p>\n
If, however, the cabin door was still open, then he would more likely be charged under 18 U.S.C. \u00a7 35 \u2013 Bomb Hoax, which carries a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment.<\/p>\n
Last month, 27-year-old Taj Malik Taylor from Madison Heights, Virginia, pleaded guilty to one count of false information and making threats on a plane after he loudly proclaimed that his laptop was a bomb shortly after the flight had taken off from Saint Pete-Clearwater International Airport in Florida on July 6, 2025.<\/p>\n
Other passengers sitting around Taylor heard his comment, and the plane diverted back to Saint Pete-Clearwater, where he was taken into custody.<\/p>\n
Taylor is yet to be sentenced.<\/p>\n
It is, however, rare for bomb threat suspects to face the maximum possible sentence. In 2024, for example, a man who made a bomb threat aboard a Breeze Airways flight to Rhode Island was sentenced to two years in federal prison<\/a>.<\/p>\n Evan Sims was also ordered to pay Breeze more than $25,000 in restitution for the disruption he caused. Sims made the threat when he claimed his partner had a bomb on her\u2026 she had just broken up with him.<\/p>\n If there\u2019s one place that a bomb threat will be taken more seriously than anywhere else, that\u2019s in an airport or on an airplane. Authorities will normally scramble law enforcement when even the least plausible of threats is made.<\/p>\n In January, fighter jets from both France and Spain were scrambled to intercept a Turkish Airlines flight<\/a> to Barcelona after a bomb threat was detected via a network name created via the in-flight Wi-Fi service.<\/p>\n As the plane was approaching Barcelona, another passenger searched for a Wi-Fi network on their phone and discovered a network that had been named: \u201cI HAVE A BOMB. EVERYONE WILL DIE.\u201d<\/p>\n The pilots took the threat seriously, declared an emergency, and entered a holding pattern while fighter jets were scrambled to escort the plane into Barcelona. The threat was later declared a hoax, although attempts to trace the culprit have so far been unsuccessful. <\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n \t\tSubscribe to our newsletter\t<\/p>\n \n\t\tNo spam, just a weekly roundup of the best aviation news that you don’t want to miss\t<\/p>\n \t Mateusz Maszczynski honed his skills as an international flight attendant at the most prominent airline in the Middle East and has been flying ever since… most recently for a well known European airline. Matt is passionate about the aviation industry and has become an expert in passenger experience and human-centric stories. Always keeping an ear close to the ground, Matt’s industry insights, analysis and news coverage is frequently relied upon by some of the biggest names in journalism.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/cef9cb1579594cfd078520dbe0869fd066e56d5e439461f889f15c2dbeaa5417.png\")
\n\t\tMateusz Maszczynski<\/a>
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