Extraditing prisoners from overseas.

“The tickets for John Mark Karr’s departure are ready,” Thailand’s immigration police chief, Lt. Gen. Suwat Tumrongsiskul, told reporters yesterday. A major Bangkok newspaper reported that Karr was to be repatriated on a Thai Airways flight that is scheduled to land in Los Angeles this evening.

So, do they just put him in the back of a commercial flight and handcuff him to the armrest or what? Would this be an empty flight except for the prisoner and the police?
This is in reference to the suspect in the JonBenet Ramsey nurder case, BTW. I am quite sure Thai Airways does not fly to Denver regularly.

Normally, the prisoner would fly with an accompanying marshall seated next to him. They would just be 2 passengers on a plane full of other passengers. (But they may be seated early, and often the marshall will have special permission to carry a weapon on the plane.)

Depending on the level of violence/resistance of the prisoner, and the anticipated likliehood of an escape attempt, he might have no handcuffs, have his hands cuffed together, or have 1 hand cuffed to the marshall.

Presumably, in Los Angeles airport, they will change from the Thai Airlines flight to a connection flight that goes to Denver. Just like thousands of other passengers. (Though they are likely to be surrounded by LA police during this transfer, and the police will be surrounded by hordes of screaming reporters, cameras, etc.)

Because of the publicity, they might have more than one marshall accompanying this guy, and might request (or even purchase) additional seats to keep other passengers away.

So, a semi-serious question…

Let’s say the plane is in international airspace, and the prisoner has a paid seat (not paid for by him, but paid nonetheless), can he start buzzing the flight attendants for glasses of whisky?

Generally, the flight crew is made aware of prisoners being transported, and they usually have them board and leave the plane seperately. They would not be obligated to serve him anything that they didn’t want to.

Glasses of whiskey? Jesus, man, I’d be thrilled if my flight served me a cup of Coke. These days, the flight attendants don’t do much except make sure that you’re in your seat for take-off and landing.

Interestingly,

*The 41-year-old teacher sat in a business class window seat next to Mark Spray, an investigator with the Boulder County District Attorney’s office.

Before takeoff, he sipped champagne. During dinner, Karr had pate, salad with walnut dressing and fried king prawn with steamed rice and broccoli. Karr had a beer before a glass of French chardonnay with the main course. *

Champagne.

The international airspace part doesn’t matter.

http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mlawofsea.html (describing the jurisdictional rules under LOSC)