As the use of vaping and e-cigarettes exploded over the last decade, airlines have struggled to enforce passengers who go against policy and try to sneak a hit in the plane's bathroom.
While falling smoking rates and strong anti-cigarette smoke detectors had significantly curbed the problem over the last few decades, a new report from International Air Transport Association (IATA) found that the use of "e-cigarettes, vapes and 'puff devices' in the cabin or lavatories" was the number one non-compliance issue that airlines dealt with in 2022.
Related: Airlines Now Have to Deal With An Entirely New Kind Of Problem
In a TikTok video that gathered nearly four million views, Colorado-based flight attendant Natalie Magee explained why the "it's just steam" justification passengers often use to try to sneak a quick vape in the plane's bathroom is not going to fly.
@yogimagee Please don’t be this person #flightattendant #fligjtattendantlifestyle #flightattendantlife #flightattendantstories #flightattendanttiktok #flightattendants #yogimagee #yogimageeadventures
♬ original sound - Natalie Magee
'Who is vaping in the bathroom?' What happens when passengers try to sneak a vape
"If you vape or smoke in the plane bathroom, you are a d----e canoe," Magee says. "I had a flight the other day where [...] in the middle of the service we get an emergency call from the flight deck. We have different signals for the inner phone when we need to answer and it's an emergency so that way we know if something's going down. I run to the front, a third flight attendant runs to the back. We pick up the phone and the captain's like 'who is vaping in the bathroom?'"
More Travel:
- A new travel term is taking over the internet (and reaching airlines and hotels)
- The 10 best airline stocks to buy now
- Airlines see a new kind of traveler at the front of the plane
Magee said that, after going to the bathroom and finding it smelled like e-cigarette smoke, they made an announcement asking the person who did it to come clean. When no one does, the next step is a complex process in which investigators need to check the entire plane for signs of smoke.
"When you smoke or vape in the bathroom and you do not identify yourself and get caught, that airplane is grounded for a minimum of at least two hours because they have to do a complete overhaul of the systems and the engines and everything like that," Magee said.
'You absolutely need to come clean,' flight attendant says
Magee said that the passenger on the plane eventually came clean and was given a warning (it is a federal offense for which FAA could enforce fines of up to $2,000). While the risk of the latter makes some scared of admitting they messed up, Magee reiterated that one could have much bigger problems by not doing it.
"You absolutely need to come clean because maybe you'll get a fine, maybe you will get berated depending on how cooperative you are but you are going to mess up a lot of people's day because you were selfish and went in the bathroom because you had to vape on the flight."
Magee’s video was upvoted more than 200,000 times but some viewers still asked why e-cigarette water steam was as dangerous to airlines as regular smoke.
"Smoking, vaping, e-cigarettes and smokeless tobacco are all not allowed on the airplane, it's illegal," she says in a follow-up video. "[...] Some people were saying that they just blow it into the toilet or this, that and the other and it hasn't set off the smoke alarm but in many cases it does because the smoke alarm just detected smoke particles in the air."
