During the Covid pandemic flight restrictions of 2020 and 2021, many airlines were grounded for an extended period of time, causing great damage to the travel business.
As those restrictions began to be lifted in late 2021, the damaged airline industry began to bounce back.
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But one increasing problem had begun to get serious and did not go away: bad passenger behavior.
Conflicts had arisen as passengers resumed flying, largely around requirements to wear masks.
And disorderly passenger incidents rose 47% worldwide in 2022, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Most common among unruly behaviors are noncompliance with crew members, verbal abuse, and intoxication, the IATA said.
But another rule that continues to be broken regularly has been getting attention recently. Incidents of passengers vaping and smoking during flights have been reported on social media.
One man was recorded vaping on a United Airlines (UAL) -) flight on June 25. A video of the incident was posted to X (formerly Twitter).
On American Airlines (AAL) -), another passenger was seen lighting up a cigarette in December of 2022.
This guy really just lit a cigarette mid flight.. @AmericanAir good thing your girly pop flight attendant snatched it out of his hands pic.twitter.com/oRAeLFvLiO
— Sara Radosevich (@Sara_Radosevich) December 6, 2022
In a Nov. 26 incident on an unspecified carrier, a flight attendant confronted a man who was smoking a cigarette. The episode was also captured on X.
Another passenger who saw the man light up had signaled for help using the call button above his seat across the aisle.
"You cannot smoke on airplanes," the flight attendant was heard saying. "That's against the law. You do know that, right?"
Guy lights up cigarette on a plane and finds out pic.twitter.com/XyCCBlNlK8
— Crazy Clips (@crazyclipsonly) November 26, 2023
Smoking on airplanes has been banned for decades
One travel expert gave a brief history of the move toward banning smoking on passenger flights.
"The first airline to create a nonsmoking section was United back in 1971," wrote Gary Leff on View From the Wing. "No U.S. airline fully banned smoking worldwide until Delta (DAL) -) 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," Leff added. "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."
Matej Kastelic/Shutterstock
A few other incidents were also recounted where passengers got into other kinds of trouble that only included smoking and vaping.
"One passenger who lit her cigarette inflight says police beat her after flight attendants spiked her drink," Leff wrote. "And in 2020 a passenger lit up a cigarette after refusing to wear a mask on board."
This behavior, of course, did not only begin after airlines took back to skies after the Covid flight restrictions were lifted.
"Before the pandemic another passenger downed 4 bottles of beer, vaped an e-cigarette, and punched a flight attendant all before his honeymoon," Leff wrote. "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."
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