The American Airlines flight was forced to turn back for a ridiculous reason

While the introduction of anti-smoking laws for airlines dates back to the mid-1980s (older movies sometimes surprise younger generations with scenes of someone lighting up a cigarette on a plane), the recent explosion in e-cigarette use has reignited what what many once considered an almost solved problem of passengers trying to “sneak away”.

A report by the Air Transport Association (IATA) says that the use of “cigarettes, e-cigarettes, vapes and ‘puff devices’ in the cabin or toilets” has become the main issue of passenger non-compliance reported to the authorities recently. years. Flight attendants have also raised the alarm about passengers becoming aggressive when told they can’t vape on board.

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The latter is exactly what happened on an American Airlines (AAL) flight from Milwaukee to Dallas-Fort Worth when a first-class passenger pulled out an in-flight device to see everywhere on board and then became aggressive with a flight attendant who told him to stop.

The passenger vaporized in plain sight after allegedly being “hounded” by the flight attendant

“The warning allegedly antagonized the passenger, who accused the flight attendant of making false allegations against him before chasing the crew member into the forward gallery,” the initial description on aviation website PYOK read. “At this point, it appears other passengers jumped from their seats to protect their flight attendant and the pilots decided to make an emergency diversion to Oklahoma where the perpetrator could be disembarked.”

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FlightAware data shows that American Airlines Flight 1733 was, in fact, diverted to Tulsa and then departed for its destination in Texas several hours later. American Airlines confirmed that the flight was “diverted to Tulsa, Okla. due to a disruptive customer,” but denied reports that a flight attendant had been attacked.

As is standard in such situations, the airline thanked “the team for their professionalism and apologizes to our customers for the inconvenience.” The flight landed in Tulsa at 9:20 PM instead of the scheduled 5:27 PM

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These are some of the other vaping incidents that have occurred on planes in recent months

Several airlines and flight attendants who work for them have reported an increase in vaping incidents.

In March, a Delta Air Lines woman (DAL) the passenger was not allowed to board the flight after he started vaping on the jet deck towards the plane and became belligerent after being told this was not allowed.

In a TikTok video that has garnered more than four million views, Colorado flight attendant Natalie Magee said the “it’s just steam” argument that many passengers use to justify vaping doesn’t actually work given that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) does not distinguish between cigarettes and e-cigarettes and treats both as a violation of anti-smoking laws.

Flight attendants have the ability to warn passengers if they are caught just once or report to the authorities if they continue to disobey the law to the point of endangering the people on board the flight.

“When you smoke or vape in the bathroom and you don’t identify yourself and you get caught, that plane is grounded for at least two hours because they have to do a complete overhaul of the systems and the engines,” Magee explained.

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