The children were "happy and sleepy" on a flight back to the U.S., sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said in an email.

NPR: Couple Jailed For Fleeing With Kids To Face Judge

Leila Bulling Towne, an executive management coach, was happy to be on a nonstop flight home from a business meeting in Austin and liked the RJ practice of checking and retrieving carry-on bags at the jet-bridge, since regular roll-aboard bags don't fit in purse-sized overhead bins.

WSJ: Regional Jets: Are These Model Airplanes?

Air transport is capital-intensive and cyclical, there's ease of entry, and pilots, machinists and flight attendants are militant and difficult to keep happy.

FORBES: Market Trends: American Airlines: Buy it, don't fly it