Do you like smoking in bathroom? At least, avoid Smoking on Airplanes and their bathrooms. Well, in this post I will tell you the reasons as I share details about an inflight smoking incident on a TigerAir flight.
My trip
I visited Guangzhou (capital of Guangdong province in China) in mid-February, 2017. I had Singapore-Guangzhou Tiger Air flight. On the flight I came across a situation that I had never encountered before. The total duration of the flight was around 4 hours.
Something unusual
After nearly two hours of the journey, I saw the two Air-hostesses talking to a guy (say Mr. SmoFl) who was sitting just two seats ahead of me. The ambience inside the flight was quite peaceful. There was no sound other than the cruising of the flight. However, I couldn’t hear the talk between the Air-hostess and Mr. SmoFl, and I absolutely had no clue about what was going on. However, the Air-hostess looked firm and a bit strict as they were talking to Mr. SmoFl.
Smoking on Airplanes?
After a few minutes, I smelled the inflight smoking. After a few more minutes of talking, I saw same the Air-hostess walking towards the cockpit with a passport in one of the Air-hostess’s hand. By now I had a better idea about the situation. The smell from the inflight smoking inside the flight was too much. I don’t know how to describe the situation, but the passengers were at unease. I am a non-smoker and I felt the air quality quite unhealthy for the breathing. As such, I had never encountered smoking on airplanes before.
Smoking in bathroom!
It turned out that Mr. SmoFl. Did smoking in bathroom of the TigerAir flight. I was just wondering about what was going to happen to Mr. SmoFl. I knew that smoking in bathroom of flight is usually not allowed. However, but I was not very sure about the nature of the punishments for the violation of such law/rules. Later I saw the following photo displayed very clearly in the flight.
Now I had more idea about the rules regarding smoking in the flight. The flight was peaceful again. But I saw the Air-hostess returning to this guy several times. On occasions, I also saw three Air-hostesses talking to Mr. SmoFl.
Landed safely
We had a very safe landing at the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport. We started deboarding the flight. While coming out of the flight, I asked one of the Air-hostesses- what will happen to this Mr. SmoFl? They told me that they have taken control of his passport, the guy would be handed over to the airport security, and now it’s up to the law enforcement agencies to decide.
Bought a prepaid SIM card
I came out of the flight and walked towards the immigration counter. The Guangzhou airport was not much crowded and the immigration process was very fast. I cleared the immigration and bought the China Unicom SIM card (4GB for CNY 150, valid for 30 Days).
What happened to Mr. SmoFl?
Now I was walking out of the airport. And then I saw the Tiger Air crew members walking out of the airport as well. I asked the same Air-hostess about what happened to Mr. SmoFl. She told me that they have handed over the guy to the local police, and the guy will be prosecuted as per the Chinese law.
Soon I saw few police men walking away with Mr. SmoFl. He was not handcuffed, but he was surrounded by the police.
I don’t know beyond that. But definitely, Mr. SmoFl would have faced the music.
Let’s be responsible citizens
I was really surprised with such an incident. How can someone behave irresponsibly inside an international flight? We must understand that the airports are the high security zones (in any country). The flights are equipped with state-of-the-art technology to ensure a safe journey. The smoke detectors will definitely trace you down. Also, the immigration officers are always smart (at any international airport) and they can smell the rat very fast. Never try the play with them. In fact, as a responsible human being, we are supposed to cooperate with them. They are there to help you.
Can you take cigarettes on a plane?
For details regarding inflight smoking, you may want to refer the Wikipedia. You may also check the discussion on Quora regarding “Are there any airline flights where smoking is allowed?”. So can you take cigarettes on a plane? Well, the general conclusion is – you shouldn’t take cigarettes on a plane.
Smoking section & Smoke zone
Airport terminals may provide you smoking section or a separate smoke zone. But it’s always better to not mess-up things. You’d rather not smoke than to look for a smoking section or smoke zone. I mean prevention is better than the cure.
So people, please don’t do such things. I always emphasise that the law of land must be respected. Now I have to request you to respect the law of the air as well. 🙂
You can also call tiger airways if you have questions about smoking on airplanes.
That’s it for the post. If you find the write-ups useful, buy me a beer!
You may also want to refer to the Xiamen Review – Part 1, Part 2, other posts about China, or the other countries. Here is the YouTube playlist of the videos that I have taken in China. You can also find more about me!
With love 🙂
Last updated: Tuesday, September 5, 2017