Vaping flight passenger prompts pilot to threaten to 'turn this plane around'
An airline passenger traveling from Los Angeles to Cancun, Mexico, took to social media to share the way a flight crew handled a recent incident of a person vaping while on board.
Posted in the "r/AlaskaAirlines" Reddit forum, the post was titled, "Vaper on LAX-CUN Flight 4/18/25."
The user wrote, "So on Flight 1340 this morning, ‘a lady’ decided that (per the gossip I heard from a flight attendant) that she needed to vape a bit in the lav because ‘she was stressed out.'"
While the Reddit user was in the lavatory, the pilot made an announcement, according to the post.
"The pilot comes on the air and tells everyone that [t]here’s been a smoke alarm in the lav and ‘no smoking or vaping or chewing tobacco’ [is allowed] on the flight," the person wrote about what allegedly happened.
The user added, "He’s upset and [said] this is a federal offense, and he’s going to turn this plane around and go home if he has to tell us all again."
The user concluded, "I exit the lav and take my seat shaking my head in digust so [that] everyone knows it wasn’t me."
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Plenty of other Reddit users took to the comments section to share their thoughts and opinions about vaping on planes.
"That’s risky, since it’s illegal to smoke on an aircraft," commented one user.
Another user said, "Please note this is not necessarily a criminal offense, so being arrested for this doesn't normally occur unless some other severe activity is also present. It is a civil violation and can result in FAA penalties."
Suggested one Redditor, "The answer for smokers and vapers is to use a patch or a Zyn on flights."
Another user commented, "Smoking and vaping require the FAs to submit a smoking/vaping report … [They] can actually do it right from their work device in real time."
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"I bet the airline cares. And will cancel her flight home. And blacklist [her] from the airline," said another user.
A different person shared, "I have a couple of flight attendant friends. She wasn’t arrested because it’s unlikely they wanted to process the paperwork in that jurisdiction and then be forced to deal with a case relating to a major U.S. airline and their airport."
On the Alaska Airlines website under its "Onboard Policies," the company lists prohibited items.
"We prohibit the use of items that do not meet FAA or Alaska Airlines regulations. These include: electronic smoking devices - battery-operated or USB-charged cigars/cigarettes/pipes that simulate smoking."
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Gary Leff, a Texas-based travel industry expert and author of the blog "View From the Wing," told Fox News Digital there’s a stigma against vaping.
"Other passengers might think vapers are smoking a cigarette even though they aren’t," said Leff.
He added, "You can’t smoke on a plane. You can’t vape, either. The FAA has interpreted the prohibition on cigarette smoking to include vaping products, even though they’re quite different."
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He added, "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."
He continued, "Planes still have ashtrays even though smoking has been illegal on U.S. aircraft for a quarter-century!"
Said Leff, "You’ll usually find them in or near the lavatory, because customers may smoke even though it’s illegal to do so."