A passenger flying American Airlines from San Juan to Miami on Monday reportedly vaped from his middle seat in row 22, “He would take hits on his vape and thought no one could see the vape smoke coming out his nose and mouth.” He was wrong – it was noticed – and another passenger on board reports that the man was detained on arrival by police.
Don’t be this guy and vape
byu/Alternative-Box-7353 inamericanairlines
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.
One passenger who lit her cigarette inflight says police beat her after flight attendants spiked her drink. And in 2020 a passenger lit up a cigarette after refusing to wear a mask on board.
Before the pandemic another passenger downed 4 bottles of beer, vaped an e-cigarette, and punched a flight attendant all before his honeymoon. Another lit a cigarette, drank his own booze, and bit a flight attendant’s ear. While a man who burned himself with his own e-cigarette on board had the temerity to sue the airline.
I’ve been guilty of taking a few hits of my vape in the airplane bathroom before. I wager many others do this as well.
The chemical reaction inside a vape does not trigger the smoke detectors, at least in their current form. They measure small particles in the air and the electrical balance between positive and negative charges. That doesn’t happen with vape smoke. Now, if they are upgraded, well that might suck for me.
But don’t do it in your seat. Try to be at least a little respectful, people. 🙂
@Mike
“But don’t do it in your seat. Try to be at least a little respectful, people.”
How about don’t do it, at all? The regulations exist for a reason, and one of them is that the rest of us don’t want to have to smell or be exposed to another person’s exhaust. I’m sorry if a vaper is essentially a drug addict who simply must have their hit, but that isn’t my problem, and I shouldn’t have to smell it or be exposed to it, whatever is in the vape.
Interesting how there are discrepancies in the rules about any smoking whatsoever in aircrafts at all. If by some chance if there is no sayings about vaping on aircrafts at all,then airline companies should NOT be able to enforce this stuff at all because then they would be in violation and it would then come back to butt them in the ass. My advice to them would be to sit down and Shut up about it
FACT: Second hand vaping emissions are, AT LEAST, as bad as second hand cigarette smoke.
https://www.lung.org/quit-smoking/e-cigarettes-vaping/impact-of-e-cigarettes-on-lung#:~:text=E%2Dcigarettes%20produce%20a%20number,as%20cardiovascular%20(heart)%20disease.&text=E%2Dcigarettes%20also%20contain%20acrolein,primarily%20used%20to%20kill%20weeds.
If it’s against the rules don’t do it. There’s a lot about air travel I hate. The TSA security theatre, the chaotic and often moronic boarding process, etc. but I either abide or stay home. Suggest you do same.
How about don’t snitch.. was it bothering you?
@Hal “How about don’t snitch.. was it bothering you?” Agreed, I will not report someone scamming your parents/grandparents of their life savings. “No officer, I didn’t see the guy who mugged Hal,” as I delete the picture of the mugger from my phone.
I’m perfectly fine with people who cannot go on a flight without vaping to be put on a list that does not allow them on airplanes for a set number of years. On the other hand, maybe there should be more smoking rooms in airports so that they can get their fix before boarding and almost immediately after exiting the airplane. Other possibilities include nicotine patches, nicotine gum and nicotine lozenge to counter nicotine cravings that don’t include second hand smoke or second hand vapor. Maybe some of those should be available for purchase onboard. With the other options, those who vape on board don’t care about regulations or others around them having to deal with their exhaust.
@Bob Moran: All regulations exist for a reason, but sometimes that reason is simply regulatory inertia. How long did we unnecessarily continue banning cell phone use on planes?
The kid on American Airlines plane from Providence to Washington, DC Tuesday morning quickly vaped. I suggested quietly to him that he might put that thing away because if they saw him do that they might turn the plane around and have him arrested. I really did restrain myself. No complaint. To the crew. In general, I have no sympathy for addicted folks. But he really was kind of dumb.
Dear smokers/vapers: If you can’t go [duration of flight plus time in airport] without a hit, then drive instead. Or start working on addiction recovery. Admittedly, I’ve come to strongly prefer having some THC in my system during flight for motion sickness. Also, I choose edibles so that my THC doesn’t end up in YOUR lungs as it would with smoking/vaping. Get some nicotine gum or something so the rest of us don’t have to smoke alongside you. Why is this so hard?
1990’s had smoking sections in planes, McDonald’s gave parents disposable paper foiled ashtrays
A little strawberry vape scent in the isle isn’t that bad, ex smoker here so I’m biased
My son told me that smoking in the public garden was illegal, it’s a damn park?!? The pigeons flying by might get mad? When I smoked I enjoyed having one with a coffee on my break (fully allowed and legal) sitting on a bench getting some sun ☀️ ☕️
You can refrain from vaping, I can’t refrain from breathing. End of story.
Oh, the scolding, the sanctimony, the officiousness! Yuck. Mind your own business. It’s just vapor and has no impact on you whatsoever. Be sure to always vape in the aircraft lavatory for privacy.
Cool story, but vaping in the lavs CAN and WILL set off the smoke detectors. I have personally experienced this with at least two pax as a flight attendant.
Depending on the aircraft, our screens light up saying “SMOKE DETECTED” (super unsettling because this could also mean a fire) while indicating which lav it is.
Our detectors are sophisticated enough to catch vaping.
Just trying to save y’all some embarrassment (and potential fines).
Second hand vape bothers my sinuses.
I am glad the rules are the way they are. Someone else’s addiction should not be my burden.
My brain explodes when no distinction is made between vaping dry cannabis flower and vaping other drastically different things like noxious flavored tobacco or even cannabis oil cartridges with unregulated ingredients. These are three distinctly different things people. Only one of them is innocuous in regards to your health. You can vape cannabis flower for 75 years and it won’t do a thing to you. It’s the only harmless high in existence relatively speaking. It’s a million times safer and healthier than demon alcohol. People are really stinkin dull though so we just act clueless and call all of it vaping.
Fellow travel readers: I understand why most are upset, and I’m sure majority is cutting back/quitting smoking, it’s important to be healthy but we’re talking about VAPE, someone said to drive not fly but when you need to be in MIA but your in BOS or LGA AA 2.5 hr flights are a must compared to driving 20 plus, most people don’t fly more than 1x per year, sitting in an aluminum tube with 100+ strangers gets people nervous at 30k ft, they vape to calm down it’s only a few percent of people that sneak some drags on flights, live and let live
A bit overdramatic “can’t breathe” from strawberry vape on a ventilated 737, yes you can smell it but nobody’s missing oxygen
For the health-conscious, think of all the other fumes you’re breathing in while flying – ever notice a distinct exhaust/petrol smell?
Let passengers vape so long as they’re not using the overly obnoxious ones with clouds of smoke. Or better yet, reinstate the smoking lounges in some obscure corner of the airport. They were never removed for health reasons, but rather to maximize retail space in airports. If so, they wouldn’t have shifted smokers to directly outside of the entrances that we all have to walk through.
There were certainly fewer in-air freak-outs when the nicotine addled could get their fix.
@yomamamtoldme
I have vaped in lavs across the world on thousands of flights, millions of miles, and every airline imaginable. Trust me, it doesn’t set off a damn thing. And, quite frankly, stick me in a first or business class seat with a door and you will never know when I do it there as well. Why? Because it’s discreet and has no odor or causes any harm or disruptance to anyone around me. Why? because it’s vapor…it’s nothing. Get over yourself. Discreet vapes like a Juul (not huge cloud ones) ranks up there with complaining that you notice someone taking a sip of wine or a cocktail. Not exactly healthy, probably causing some to act poorly, but mostly just a harmless act in privacy.
So, yomamatoldme,? Youdaddytellsyou, lighten up, Francis.
I’d much rather they ban from flying those fat assed food addicts that spill over into MY seat due to their addiction to Twinkies and massive food portions. While I’m at it, you get one carry on, not thirteen plastic bags, one full of curry that I have to smell the entire flight.
@Christopher Raehl
Anti-vaping rules exist so that the rest of us don’t have to smell and inhale potentially toxic materials. That’s a far cry from a cell phone and far from regulatory inertia. I teach high school, and the reasons vapes are banned are myriad, but the second hand health effects do exist and are serious. I caught a kid vaping in my room last month and the eye irritation alone caused us to leave the classroom. This wasn’t the first time. Now, imagine that on an airplane where you can’t leave the room. What do you do then, Christopher?
The flight attendants I’ve heard recently on Hawaiian and United state quite clearly in their safety announcements that no-smoking rules include no-vaping, both on the loudpseakers and in that video safety show. That’s enough for me. I’m truly sorry if someone is a drug addict and so addicted to their vape that they can’t survive for a few hours, but that isn’t my problem. It’s their’s. Knowing that the rules against vaping exist on planes, these vape addicts need to decide what’s more important, following the rules or possibly being banned for willfully violating them.
The American Airlines website sates the following, which is all anyone really needs to know: “Since some electronic cigarettes use lithium ion batteries, you cannot travel with them in your checked bags. You can travel with them in your carry-on, but you’re not allowed to use them onboard any flight. We recommend traveling with them in a designated carry case.”
Just go to the bathroom. Blow the vapers into toilet paper and no smell, no smoke. Wow.
I have vaped in the aircraft lavatory many times, on many different types of aircraft. It definitely does not set off the smoke detector because…(wait for it)….vaping does not produce “smoke.” Very entertaining comments on this issue…sounds like a real fun crowd!!
So many adult whiney babies in the comment section can’t handle their pacifiers being restricted from use for a few hours. Nobody wants to inhale your nasty cancer fumes. Maybe get help for your pathetic habit instead of making the general public miserable.
Only a bottom-feeder loser would smoke on a plane. It’s not even a 3 hour flight and this bum just couldn’t resist his addiction to sucking on things with his mouth.
For those dismissing typical adult indulgences to smooth out the rough edges of life (cf. “pacifiers” and “bottom feeder loser[s]”)…all coffee (remember the drug caffeine?), soda, and alcohol are now banned on the aircraft. Also, the food service will only be for sustenance and nutrition—nothing tasty for you! (FYI retired early at 40…so not really sure about the odd references…here in AZ the ganja is fully legal). For the adventurous among you: don’t knock it till you’ve tried it. Peace, love, and Trump 2024!
@Privacy/@Antwerp (same moron) –
Contrary to popular belief, some people don’t require vices to cloud their brains or vision to get through life because reality really isn’t that bad. I don’t drink soda, coffee, alcohol, vape or smoke weed and guess what? I’m perfectly fine because I like treating my body well.
You should check your logical fallacies if you’re intelligent enough to self-reflect (doubtful given your political association)
Your entitlement and lack of regard for other fellow humans is blaringly obvious in these posts.
Congrats on your early retirement! You really should find something more constructive to do with all your spare time rather than getting high and illegally vaping on planes. ✌️