An American Airlines passenger was caught vaping at his seat in economy. The passenger behind him who filmed was appalled – and complained that cabin crew “won’t do anything” about it. I suspect that this passenger didn’t say anything to flight attendants, and was just being passive aggressive – crew would likely have told the man to stop. He may have just faded into the sea of coach customers and gone about unnoticed?

Passenger in front of me is vaping mid flight and your attendants won’t do anything. Is it policy to allow smoking in the cabins? Respond swiftly. @AmericanAir pic.twitter.com/aIQ20hIPdp

— Deem (@DeemBanton) June 29, 2024

A year ago an American Airlines passenger was filmed appearing to snort coke at his seat. Much bigger deal!

But it seems like more and more people are vaping on planes. I flew long haul last year where a passenger was openly vaping, the door to his suite was even open.

Just a week and a half ago a Delta Air Lines passenger decided to vape on the jet bridge prior to boarding.

Hit the vape right before the plane✅
byu/Great_Significance_8 indelta

Another Delta Air Lines passenger was kicked off a flight prior to departure for vaping back in March. She too was doing it right out in the open, in full view of passengers and crew.

@tipsytalk

How to get booted off a plane

♬ original sound – TipsyTalk

@tipsytalk Replying to @jpg mafia ♬ original sound – TipsyTalk

You can’t smoke on a plane. You can’t vape, either. The FAA has interpreted the prohibition on cigarette smoking to including vaping products, even though they’re quite different. According to the rulemaking,

The NPRM stated our position that the reasons supporting the statutory and regulatory ban on smoking also apply to a ban on e-cigarettes

That’s the case even though the FAA rule explicitly allows a passenger to emit vapor if it is from a “medically beneficial substance.” So it’s not about banning vapor. The regulation simply extends the ban on cigarettes to include e-cigarettes, which weren’t contemplated when the law against on board smoking was passed. While stare decisis was explicitly noted in the Supreme Court’s decision last week, if made now without the benefit of Chevron deference would the FAA be able to ban vaping without statutory authority?

Separately, the concern isn’t batteries, as some people mistakenly believe. Laptops, cell phones, tablets, and noise cancelling headphones are permitted. And airlines have procedures – and burn bags – for dealing with outlier issues inflight. But there’s a stigma against vaping, and other passengers might think vapers are smoking a cigarette even though they aren’t.

The first airline to create a nonsmoking section was United back in 1971. No U.S. airline fully banned smoking worldwide until Delta in 1994. U.S. airlines were still allowed to offer on board smoking up until 2000. Yet planes still have ashtrays! You’ll usually find them in or near the lavatory, because customers may smoke even though it’s illegal to do so – and they need a place to put out their cigarettes. Without ashtrays they’d be most likely to put out their cigarettes in the lavatory trash.. and light the paper tossed away inside on fire.