The “glory days” of smoke-filled 747 lounges with baby grand pianos and circular staircases has been replaced with a harsh new reality–light up onboard and you’ll face a heavy fine or jail time. From Britiain’s finest news source, it appears that one illiterate Chinese farmer learned this lesson the hard way.
A Chinese farmer who lit up a cigarette on board a flight to Bangkok claimed he had no idea that smoking on a plane was illegal.
Xu Miaoqing, 61, from mainland China, told a court he was illiterate and was unable to read the no smoking signs.
Mr Miaoqing had been caught smoking in the toilet on the Cathay Pacific flight on Christmas Day by flight attendants.
He had been given the ‘free trip’ as a present.
However, he has since been hit with a HK$2,000 (£170) fine after pleading guilty in Tsuen Wan Court in Hong Kong to a charge of smoking in an aircraft.
As if that was not bad enough, the man’s travel documents were confiscated and he remained stuck in Hong Kong for several months, costing the man a quarter of his annual income.
But I have to admit, even illiterate people should be expected to listen to safety videos and observe this non-literate picture on the lavatory door–
Then again, perhaps the ashtray confused him:
Or perhaps Cathay Pacific only had bilingual placards from the Boeing 707 featured in Airplane!
Of course things could be worse–
Last month, a Nanjing-bound flight turned back to Bangkok after a flight a passenger scalded a flight attendant with hot water from instant noodles.
Another threatened to bomb the plane in a row over seating. They were later banned from travelling by provincial authorities.
Days later, a passenger on a Xiamen Air flight from Hangzhou to Chengdu yanked open a door shortly before take-off to ‘get some fresh air’.
There was another brawl on a Hong Kong-bound flight from Chongqing over a crying baby.
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