An American Airlines flight from Phoenix (PHX) to San Francisco (SFO) took a bizarre turn when a self-proclaimed celebrity industry “expert” was caught vaping in the lavatory, then tried to spin himself as the victim by accusing the flight attendant of assault.
American Passenger Caught Vaping, Then Fires Fake-Lawyer Claims at Flight Attendant
It all went down on flight AA2860 on August 4, 2025. Passenger Peter “Kobe” Nguyen, who bills himself as a pickleball coach, agent, and AI expert, decided it was OK to vape in the rear lavatory of the aircraft, a violation of federal law (he later claimed he was only took “one puff”).
Smelling the vape, the flight attendant forced the locked lavatory door open. Shocked, Nguyen began recording the interaction. While lecturing him, the flight attendant noticed he was recording and tried to grab his phone (there’s no evidence she ever touched him). That’s when the meltdown started. He accuses her of assault:
- “She just put her hands on me!”
- “I am a lawyer, I am a lawyer!”
- “You are in so much trouble … I’m going to call the police!”
- “I have 25,000 followers … do you want me to release this video?”
Nguyen is not a lawyer, though he may not have been wrong in claiming assault.
Recall I just mentioned in my Brazilian Jujutsu post that assault is not touching someone, but an intentional act that causes another person to reasonably fear imminent physical harm and is often confused with battery. The flight attendant should not have lunged for his phone, though that hardly excuses his poor behavior.
Nguyen was removed from the flight upon arrival, with AA releasing the following statement:
“A customer on American Airlines flight 2860 with service from Phoenix (PHX) to San Francisco (SFO) was removed from the aircraft upon arrival at SFO due to disruptive behavior. We thank our customers for their patience and apologize for any inconvenience.”
I understand sometimes when you are addicted, you just have to take a puff…but man up if you are caught. Don’t act like my five-year-old daughter…
CONCLUSION
Nguyen could have taken the warning, apologized, and gone on with his day. Instead, he turned a minor infraction into a spectacle, complete with fake-lawyer theatrics and social media name-dropping. Vaping in the lav is dumb. Pretending to be Perry Mason afterward is even dumber. Next time, save the puff for the airport smoking area and the courtroom drama for Netflix…
Hat Tip: One Mile At A Time
Loser. I used to smoke a pack a day and survived EK from SFO to DXB. Being in F did take the edge off, though.
If you can’t make it a few hours, you need a patch or Nicorette.
Vaping was the greatest trick ever by the cigarette industry that was dying to continue to addict suckers.
By the way, this is the culture liberals created by allowing everyone to believe they are a “victim”.
Deport this clown back to whatever 3rd world country his parents or grandparents came from!
@Dave Edwards: I am proud to say I never smoked in my life. I have been pleased that I see less and less people smoking, maybe because of them been banned to smoke on planes, buses, restaurants, malls, etc… When vaping became a thing, I was surprised to see how many young people got into it and shocked to see how much damage vaping does to people but I haven’t seen many people vaping in the US anymore. Now, I just spent 3 weeks in Italy and I was absolutely shocked to see how many people vape there. In my view, it is epidemic. Anywhere you go it appears you are the only one not vaping. On the beaches, bars, streets,, everywhere you look you see smoke coming out of people’s mouths. We booked a semi private boat tour where the boat had 12 passengers and 2 crew members. We were a party of 4 so there were 8 other passengers. Every single one vaped. For an entire day, they all vaped non stop. We then went to our favorite restaurant in Rome which has a nice outdoor seating area. A couple sitting next to us, vaped the entire time, they would take a bite of their food and then vape, a sip if their drink and then vape, it was insane. I am not an expert but I think vaping is way more addicting than cigarettes and these people will have a very bad outcome in life.
Douchebag Dave Edwards, proving with every comment that your nickname is accurate and completely deserved. Nothing better to do with your pathetic waste-of-oxygen life than to comment here 23 times every day. Re: “99% of the public agrees with me …”, 99% of the public doesn’t even think you’re human you SHPOS, the chances of them agreeing with you is infinitesimally small. Always with projection, we should deport you back to whatever rock you crawled out from under.
Shocking how fast racists raise their hands when posting online. As a FYI, in California, the Vietnamese people vote overwhelmingly Republican.
Seems to me the Karens and Chads who are always playing the victim card live in the suburbs in their gated communities, driving their luxury cars, harassing little league coaches and policing the school library is everything that offends their little snowflake brains. Last time I checked, the majority of these people voted for a President who is the most victimized politician ever. Supported by rich politicians claiming some brown dude picking tomatoes in the field is a rapist who stole their job.
But hey, we’re all entitled to our opinions.
“I understand sometimes when you are addicted, you just have to take a puff…but man up if you are caught. Don’t act like my five-year-old daughter…” I think your daughter would react better than this guy.
Notwithstanding his vaping, there is no excuse for the flight attendant to attempt to assault him or seize his phone. I hope that part is properly investigated by the airline and appropriate disciplinary action taken against the crewmember.
Hear hear.