"hello my name's Ibrahim and I'm from Afghanistan. I'm part of Al Qaida and on June 1st I'm gonna do something really big bye," she wrote on Sunday from the account @Queen - Demetriax, which Twitter now shows as suspended.
American Airlines responded to her vow to "do something really big" by saying it "takes these threats very seriously" and said the issue would be passed on to the FBI.
Just six minutes after it was sent, American Airlines replied to say her "IP address and details" had been taken.
A spokeswoman from the Dutch police said the girl was being questioned in the company of a relative at a police station in Rotterdam after Twitter had disclosed to them the internet address from which she had written the message.
"We are asking her right now why she sent out these messages," the spokeswoman said, adding that police had asked the airline if it wanted to press charges.
I can only imagine how scary it must be for this girl to be attacked on Twitter and then arrested, just because of one silly joke.
People think they are anonymous when sitting behind a computer, but that's not true. If an issue is serious enough, police can certainly track where online traffic is coming from.
The internet may offer ways to mask people's identity but the case of this 14-year old girl shows that this is on the surface only. It didn't take long to track down that she was responsible for the threatening tweet.
Professional hackers and other cyber criminals will use secure software to stay anonymous and find ways to hide their IP address, but I think it is reassuring that law enforcement officers also get savvier every day.
New tactics and systems are being developed all the time to track down those who make threats in cyber space.
Not everyone, especially children and teenagers, fully understands that the internet can be a scary place. I still call it the Wild West.
As a parent of two young boys who love computer games and are increasingly clever in the way they use them, I do my best to monitor their movements online but it's impossible to keep track of everything they do.
I have considered banning them from the net altogether, but I won't because technology has its place in children's development.
But we do need to try our hardest to keep our kids safe from cyber bullying, and also make sure they are not dishing it out to anyone else.
I have spoken to them at length about what's acceptable and what is not when on the internet.
They know not to give out any personal information, and never to respond to messages that have bad words, are scary, or just seem weird.
I have assured them that they can talk to me at any time about absolutely anything, and am hoping that they will do just that when they suspect something seems not quite right.
I also found all sorts of valuable information about staying safe online on www.netsafe.org.nz and on their blog; blog.netsafe.org.nz, in particular.
Netsafe is an independent, non-profit organisation that promotes confident, safe, and responsible use of online technologies and it represents a range of perspectives from New Zealand's cybersafety community.
If you have any worries or questions about being safe online, my advice is to check it out.
Martine Rolls is a Tauranga writer and digital strategist - www.sweetorange.co.nz
