Robert Vietze, of Warren, Vt., was detained by police and then given a federal summons charging him with indecent exposure on the red-eye flight. The JetBlue plane left Portland late Tuesday and arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Wednesday morning.
Vietze was intoxicated and got up from his seat during the flight and relieved himself in the cabin on another passenger, said Sara Beth Joren, a spokeswoman with the police department of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which manages the airport.
Police officers met the plane at the gate. Vietze was questioned, given the summons and released.
Federal prosecutors ultimately decided not to pursue the matter and dropped the case, Joren said. Robert Nardoza, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn, said he had no information about the case.
The phone rang unanswered Thursday at the only listed phone number for a Vietze family in Warren.
A spokeswoman for JetBlue Airways Corp., based in Forest Hills, N.Y., confirmed that an "incident" had taken place aboard the flight and that police had been called, but she declined to discuss it further.
Details of the episode were first reported by The New York Post.
