A man was ejected from a Spirt Airlines flight for lighting up a cigarette at his seat. His reaction, when a FA confronts him, is priceless.
I normally would avoid a story like this, especially for the reason I will address below, but the man’s reaction to being caught just made me laugh:
In fact, it reminded me of this:
Like, really buddy? You just had no idea that you couldn’t smoke on an airplane? But perhaps that is unfair.
The flight was headed to Minneapolis and police met the man upon arrival and escorted him off. After the flight attendant put out the cigarette (on the tray table – lovely…) the man apparently sat quietly for the remainder of the flight and did not cause any more problems.
Some have criticized the passengers around him for making a spectacle of him rather than stopping him. Clearly, they knew he was breaking the rules and did not even try to help the guy out. He now faces a fine of up to $4,000.
But I don’t blame the passengers. Now this is just speculation on my part, but the passenger in question looks like a prime victim of the opioid crisis gripping the USA. Perhaps he needed a fix and was going so crazy that he lit up a cigarette in desperation. That’s doesn’t excuse his conduct in the least, but it does contextualize it a bit (if that is the case). I’d be hesitant to approach a passenger I felt was drugged up.
> Read More: My AA Seatmate: “Dude, I’m High On Molly And So Drunk…”
CONCLUSION
I thought the man’s reaction to being “busted” was hilarious. Even so, the primary point here is not to poke fun at the man. Rather, it is a reminder that smoking remains illegal onboard and that those who break the rules likely do not do so with a clear mind.
Would you have stopped the man from lighting up or just filmed him doing so?
I wonder – if one of the passengers reminded the man that smoking was not allowed and he uneventfully extinguished his cigarette without cabin crew getting involved, could they also be charged if a flight attendant subsequently discovered that he had lit up?
Nope.
God bless America.
I’ll take a more charitable view and suggest that he might genuinely have forgotten where he was. Maybe exhausted and half asleep. After all, no one could claim to be ignorant of non smoking regulations, least of all smokers.
The insurance scam video is very funny. Selling and installing these cameras is big business, so I was surprised that the take up rate is low in the US, the worldwide centre of scams.
I agree with your suspicion. I know plenty of dudes who look like this guy and work 60 hrs a week remotely on infrastructure as contractors and then fly home for two days to see their kids. He looked genuinely exhausted and apologetic. Especially considering he didn’t appear to be disruptive outside of the incident. I feel bad for him.
His reaction was priceless. I’m thinking thank goodness for all the other passengers, the Flight Attendant had enough sense to put the cigarette out immediately. I don’t think it’s wise to walk through the aircraft to the front with a lit cigarette.