NEW YORK • Steven Slater, the JetBlue flight attendant who activated an exit chute on a just-landed plane at Kennedy International Airport after a dispute with a passenger Monday and slid to notoriety, did not post the $2,500 bail set by a judge at his arraignment Tuesday morning and remains in custody.

Slater, 38, was arraigned on charges of criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and trespassing, counts that carry a maximum penalty of seven years in prison.

Meanwhile, sentiment online appeared to fall in Slater's court. By Tuesday afternoon, more than 20,000 people had declared themselves supporters of Slater on Facebook.

"Overwhelmingly people said it should have been the passenger who was ejected from the plane," said George Hobica, founder of AirfareWatchdog.com. Slater's lawyer, Howard Turman, told reporters that before the flight took off in Pittsburgh, a female passenger had been verbally and physically abusive to Slater.