My biggest travel regret remains never flying on Concorde while it was still in commercial service. That will always be a regret. But I don’t regret avoiding Harvey Weinstein on the Concorde, who once was arrested for refusing to extinguish his cigar.
Harvey Weinstein Smoking Incident On Concorde
It was December 16, 1999. British Airways had recently banned smoking onboard its Concorde supersonic service between New York and London and one customer, filmmaker Harvey Weinstein, was not happy.
Weinstein was used to enjoying a cigar after dinner and when he was informed by a flight attendant that he could no longer light up onboard, he simply ignored her and lit up anyway.
Passengers around him complained, forcing the captain to pay him a visit. He still refused to put out his cigar. Apparently, this was not his first offense. A British Airways spokesperson confirmed the cigar incident and stated that “he does it all the time”.
Police met him on the ground and detained him for questioning. He was released but ordered to show up for a hearing 10 days later in a magistrates’ court in Uxbridge.
He skipped it.
Days later, he sent a note profusely apologizing for his conduct onboard, claiming he had smoked a cigarette in the lavatory.
“I am an extremely nervous traveler. I experienced some air turbulence. I went to the toilet cubicle where I foolishly lit a cigarette to calm my nerves. There was no violence or drunkenness involved. I am extremely apologetic.”
He was fined £200 ($250) for the incident and not banned from flying British Airways.
CONCLUSION
Whether a cigarette or cigar is not the point. I bring up this story because it is travel-related and because it helps to paint a picture of Weinstein’s character. Is it any wonder that he ran into the legal trouble he did with a clear pattern of flouting authority, not taking no for an answer, and conduct suggesting that he was above the law?
image: Dmitry Avdeev
I am not a lawyer such as yourself. On an expensive flight such as the Concorde was for most I see nothing wrong with having a cigar after the meal and even though I personally do not smoke I greatly preferred those days in society.
There are way too many laws these days and often times I am quite happy with those that defy them especially the social engineering ones. I for one voted with my feet as I prefer living in places with less laws. I for one am not going to engage in Weinstein bashing.
Uh… really? So you don’t care of that cigar smoke may bother somebody? You should have the right to enjoy a cigar in a pressurized tube and screw everyone else who also paid for the “expensive” flight?
Glad you’re happy for those that defy the laws that are made to protect everyone not individuals. Gives a lot of insight to your character. Way to go
Jerks of a feather flock together, I suppose.
I’m with you. Everything is a crime nowadays because politicians and judges believe in a giant bureaucracy which seeks to ban individual decision making and personal freedom of choice. I’m not talking about this case or airline rules in which everyone is aware. I’m talking about what you do with your own body and property in your own home. The war on drugs is the perfect example of this where you don’t have a right to decide what you do with your own body, the government does, With all the talk about police abuse it would certainly help if cops stopped enforcing the war on drugs. Half of people in prison are there for possessing drugs in which they violated the rights of no one and committed no crime against another. Speech is illegal in Europe and you can be jailed for collect rainwater on your own property in the United States. Bloomberg tried to ban businesses selling big sodas. I wasn’t born then but 1984 is what this is.
PA100 has got to be a troll.
If not, PA100, you are what is wrong with this world: “I’ll do what I want, and to hell with the rest of you.” Thankfully, people like you are becoming fewer and fewer, since for the most part they are older and dying off. Good riddance!
Lol. No that is not an older generation thing. That’s an American thing. Have you seen all the crowded beaches and bars when we are supposed to be social distancing? Those places are NOT filled with old people that’s for sure.
“I’ll do what I want, and to hell with the rest of you.”
^sounds like most of the protestors and looters of the last few weeks.
In late 2013 I was staying at the newly-opened Rosewood London. Harvey Weinstein was a guest as well.
Frankly, I didn’t know much about Weinstein at the time, other than that he was a movie mogul. But over the course of several days – usually at the breakfast buffet or at the bar – I did observe that young and beautiful girls were always with him; almost hanging on him. It looked, well, unseemly. I also couldn’t help but notice that each day he looked like a total pig. Greasy-faced and sweaty, he was always wearing the same filthy black T-shirt. I know it was the same shirt because of the pattern of stains and dried food all down its front.
None of the latter ‘revelations’ surprised me in the least.
They were hookers
did Weinstein get to say “do you know who I am?” ?
Amazing how this Clinton/Dem mega fundraiser hasn’t succumbed to Arkancide.
Chilling how there haven’t been any arrests of passengers on the Lolita Express.
A thoroughly loathsome individual ( that’s not to say his sentence of 23 years was fair; clearly it was way over the top…)
I recall watching an episode of British comedy series “Absolutely Fabulous”, where the main character, Edina Monsoon requests a smoking (and drinking) seat on a Concorde flight to NYC. I had to go back and see when the episode was made, as I assumed for some reason, that the Concorde was entirely non-smoking. Maybe some of your British readers can clarify when smoking was banned on commercial flights. Here in Australia, smoking was banned on domestic flights in the mid 80s…
I believe smoking was banned in 1999 on Concorde and not until 2002 on some BA flights to the Far East.
Why would someone of his fortune not just fly private?
Concorde allowed for transatlantic travel at Mach 2.0, cutting the journey time to 3.5 hours.