American Airlines passenger reportedly lights a cigarette in flight

A video was recently posted to Twitter showing a passenger aboard an American Airlines flight smoking a cigarette.

American Airlines comment: This past week, a video was posted showing a passenger lighting a cigarette aboard an American Airlines flight. The four-second video shows the man lighting the cigarette and nothing else. However, the filming passenger Sara Radosevich stated in the accompanying tweet that a flight attendant snatched the cigarette out of the man’s hands.

In this situation, the cabin crew responded appropriately by extinguishing the cigarette, as smoking aboard an aircraft is illegal and poses a fire risk. The airline commented on the tweet, stating that it was handling the situation. A representative for the airline commented on the following on the video,

“Our team is on top of this and appreciate you bringing this to our attention. Please DM the flight details.”

A representative for American Airlines told Simple Flying the following concerning the incident, “Smoking and the use of e-cigarettes are prohibited by law and not allowed on any American Airlines flight. We thank our team member for their swift action in addressing the issue.”

Smoking aboard an airplane is not only prohibited by most airlines but is also illegal in most countries. Airlines started prohibiting smoking in the 1970s, and by the year 2000, it was banned on most airlines. Smoking on an aircraft is frowned upon because it causes a health hazard to other passengers and a fire hazard aboard a flight. In-flight fires are extremely dangerous, which is why most airlines do not allow smoking whatsoever.

In the US, smoking on an aircraft is not only illegal, but it is punishable with a $4,000 fine. US officials treat smoking on an airplane as a serious offense and have strictly enforced this law since it was first passed.

Flight diversion from smoking
A few years back, in 2019, an Alaska Airlines flight diverted to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (ORD) after a passenger attempted to smoke in-flight. Alaska Airlines flight number 1138 had departed San Francisco and was en route to Philadelphia when the incident occurred. At cruising altitude, a passenger attempted to light a cigarette. When a flight attendant instructed him to extinguish it, the passenger reportedly became angry and attempted to light it again.

Following the confrontation, the flight landed at ORD, where police escorted the passenger off the aircraft. The airline reported that the diversion was necessary to remove a disruptive passenger who was attempting to create a hazard to flight safety. Thankfully the flight continued to its destination safely, and no one was hurt. simpleflying.com