[Heel n Toe]

Or "early reporting." Stories like this always change as more details are solidified.

A federal official said that the man went to the bathroom to smoke a cigarette, and was confronted by air marshals on board the plane. The passenger understood he had diplomatic immunity, and made sarcastic comments that the marshals took as a threat, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The situation here is not like the shoe bomber,” the official said, alluding to the December 2001 incident in which Richard C. Reid, a self-admitted member of Al Qaeda, had attempted to detonate explosives hidden in his shoes on a trans-Atlantic flight.

Several law enforcement officials said late Wednesday that no bomb had been found on Wednesday’s flight. Still, the passenger was being questioned by the F.B.I., as were fellow passengers, and the investigation was continuing, they said.

Two F-16 fighters from Buckley Air Force Base, in Colorado, were scrambled to intercept the plane, the authorities said. They escorted it for the last five minutes of its flight, and it landed safely in Denver.

More:
Air Marshals Intervene in Incident on Plane - NYTimes.com