Posted on 07/20/2025 5:22:39 AM PDT by xxqqzz
Passengers were stranded in a “war zone” at a Maine airport for over 17 hours after their flight was diverted due to a pair of butt-huffing bozos puffing cigarettes on board.
Passengers were stranded in Bangor, Maine, for over 17 hours after their TUI Airways flight from Cancun, Mexico, to London, UK, was diverted due to a couple smoking on board.
“It was like a war zone in a lounge — rows and rows of beds,” passenger Terry Lawrance said while painting the dismal scene in Bangor, Maine (pictured).
“Everybody was fed up,” UK native Terry Lawrance, 66, told Southwest News Service of the unplanned layover, which occurred July 8 on a TUI Airways flight from Cancun, Mexico, to London, UK.
The aircraft had been flying for about an hour when the pilot came on the intercom and announced that two passengers had been “smoking in the toilet” and that he’d have to make an unscheduled landing if they persisted, Lawrance recalled.
“About three hours later, around the border with Canada and he came on to let us know that the plane was being diverted to Bangor, Maine,” recounted Lawrance.
Tracking data on Flightradar24 depicts the plane turning back toward Maine, right after entering Canadian airspace.
The passengers continued smoking despite a warning from the pilot.
They landed around 9:30 p.m. that evening, after which the two smokers were escorted off the plane. “They were obviously drunk, and he basically assaulted his partner,” recalled Lawrance.
The pilot said they’d be on their way after some paperwork was done, not knowing that their short pitstop would turn into the layover from hell.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Absolutely wrong
People who smoke have no idea how much you could smell it on entire plane
I guess when you smoke your sense of smell is dulled.
No it stunk all over. Glad it is not allowed
The following is an AI summary. There have been crashes due to smoking causing fires, mostly in the lavatory or the cockpit. One case where the most caused the pilots to start losing conciousness and crash land and the passengers were all dead from breathing the plastic fumes.
EgyptAir Flight 804:
In 2016, EgyptAir Flight 804 crashed into the Mediterranean Sea, killing all 66 people on board.
A French investigative agency, BEA, concluded that a fire in the cockpit was the likely cause, potentially ignited by a cigarette combined with oxygen leaking from a faulty mask.
The pilot’s mask had been left in the “emergency” setting, which could have caused oxygen to leak.
While the exact cause of the fire remains debated, the possibility of a cigarette igniting leaking oxygen is a strong possibility, according to reports.
Varig Flight 820:
In 1973, a Varig Boeing 707 crash-landed near Paris due to smoke inhalation, resulting in 123 fatalities.
The fire was believed to have started in the lavatory, possibly from a lit cigarette thrown into a waste bin.
The FAA issued an airworthiness directive to address the issue, requiring measures to prevent smoking in lavatories and the proper disposal of cigarette butts.
Other smoking-related incidents:
In 1937, an Aeroflot flight crashed near Herina after a passenger lit a cigarette in the toilet, causing a fire that ignited fuel fumes.
A DH 86 Express aircraft was also believed to have been lost due to a cigarette, though the exact cause was not confirmed.
No We all.did not smoke on planes.
Only inconsiderate idiots who were apparently too stupid to wonder if it was harmful or why all smokers coughed all the time and healthy people didn’t
If Do you still smoke
The one thing I get a kick out of, is looking at casino reviews and a very small number complain to high heaven, about the smoke in casinos.
Same here. Separation of smoking and nonsmoking areas did NOT stop the smoke from getting into the nonsmoking section. It only made it less, so the air didn’t look like a Bingo hall or bar.
Thank you!
That is true.
The pilot is the absolute authority.
If the air rule is no smoking, he enforces it.
If he says everyone in seats with seat belt on, you do it.
One of the ways hijackers prepare for their missions…is to defy the orders of the aircrew.
If the pilot determines passenger defiance of his orders to be unsafe, it is in his authority to land the plane,
Not true.
We did not ALL smoke on planes.
Plenty of us didn’t smoke at all and we flew.
👍
The beloved "great circle" route that cuts hours off the flight time from America to Europe.
I’ve always been terrified of third hand smoke. I understand that cigarette smoke becomes more dangerous every time it’s filtered through lungs. JK :)
It wasn’t so much that it bothered other customers, it was the maintenance required to get that stale smell out of the airplane. The tar/other stuff would build up in the air re-circulation system and stink up the whole plane. Any high maintenance item that can be avoided will be. Time and money mean more than people’s health/habits.
This is about the authority of the pilot and crew.
Not about smoking.
If they were roaming the aisle a refusing to take their seats…he would land the plane.
They refused to stop smoking in the toilet. Why?
We don’t need to wonder why they deserved to defy the pilot, and the flight rules.
When a flight has an in flight incident you land it at the nearest airport capable of handling that aircraft. Also, the passengers of international flight landing on US soil per ATC instructions are, by definition, not illegal.
I don’t understand why they don’t ban alcohol. That’s more destructive. If a person can’t go two hours without a drink, they have huge issues. Ban alcohol on planes today! It’s a nuisance that’s unnecessary.
I remember a guy in the manufacturing business lamenting how much harder it was to properly pressurize an airplane now due to the fact that the residue in cigarette smoke would seek out and seal all of the little air leaks between panels and around the rivets.
👍
Either you're kidding or you're delusional.
...on the other had, in the past aircraft pressurization held better LONG AFTER the plane was built, due to smokers, particularly the tar from their drags getting into every microscopic opening around the rivets that held things together.
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