Spirit Airlines bans passenger for life after vaping on airplane

A 30-year-old passenger on a Spirit Airlines flight was banned for life after vaping in the plane’s bathroom, according to a Saturday report from CNN.

CNN reported Saturday that a Spirit Airlines passenger was banned for life on a flight from Detroit to New Orleans after deciding to take a smoke break in the plane’s bathroom.

A flight attendant told a deputy on Tuesday that she saw the man “take a drag” from an e-cigarette and exhale it into a bag, Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s spokesman Capt. Jason Rivarde told CNN. She warned him not to smoke, so the man then got up and headed to the restroom, according to a report filed with the sheriff’s office.

According to CNN, the plane’s smoke alarm then went off while the man was inside.

When a deputy met the plane at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, the passenger denied smoking in the restroom and then told the deputy he didn’t know that smoking was prohibited on airplanes, according to CNN.

The passenger was not arrested; however, Spirit Airlines decided to ban him for life and that he could never fly with them again.

“It’s a private business that can ban customers at their own leisure,” Rivarde told CNN.

He added: It’s like telling you not to come back to the restaurant. Once he was on the ground, he was cooperative with our deputies so he didn’t face any criminal charges.

According to CNN, vaping was not the passenger’s only problem – another passenger complained to the flight attendant that he was drinking from bottles of alcohol that he brought onto the flight, which is also prohibited.

Spirit Airlines has not responded to CNN’s request for comment.