Man Kicked Off Plane For Puffing On E-Cig

A flight that had left Portland International Airport was forced to turn around this week after a passenger refused to stop puffing on their e-cigarette shortly after the plane took off.

The passenger and his traveling companion were escorted off the plane after it touched back down in Portland and the man now faces Federal charges and a likely hefty fine from the airline who will be forced to pay a fee for landing.

While e-cigs do not give off smoke they do dispense a vapor from a liquid nicotine solution. A flight attendant argued that the e-cig violated the pilot’s no smoking sign.

While federal law prohibits smoking on commercial airplanes the federal government has never addressed the issue of e-cigs which have grown in popularity over the last several years.

In the meantime the Department of Transportation has hinted that the e-cig products could be banned on commercial flights before the end of the year.

The flight in question was a Continental Airlines flight and that airline had already placed an explicit ban on the use of e-cigs during flights that are currently in progress.

While passengers were inconvenienced by the return to Portland the plane waited just one hour to begin the journey back towards Houston.

I personally don’t want to inhale vapor nicotine solution during an entire flight but maybe that’s just me. Do you think e-cigs should be banned on airplanes?