A passenger who was caught smoking on a recent Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight was apprehended by the police after the plane touched down in Shanghai.
His fellow passenger, who posted about the incident on XiaoHongShu, shared footage of cabin crew asking the man to surrender his cigarettes.
Source: Richard老师去哪里 on XiaoHongShu
According to a series of posts by the witness, the flight was about to land at Shanghai’s Pudong Airport when a cabin crew member approached the passenger sitting diagonally across the aisle from him.
The cabin crew then asked, “with great patience and courtesy”, for the man to surrender all his cigarettes to them.
After about 5 minutes of discussion, the passenger’s cigarettes were collected in a clear plastic bag, and he was given a white slip of paper — likely a notice of violation.
A clip the original poster (OP) uploaded showed a flight steward speaking politely in Mandarin to a man seated in Business Class seat 17F, informing him to wait till all the other passengers had disembarked.
Source: Richard老师去哪里 on XiaoHongShu
The OP said he was at first puzzled by what he had seen.
But after the flight landed, the crew asked passengers to remain seated for a brief wait as the authorities were boarding the plane.
He thus realised that something was amiss and expected that it would take a long time to handle the situation.
However, as the offending passenger was detained, the rest of the passengers could disembark first, ensuring their time would not be wasted — a move praised by the OP.
As the OP exited the aircraft, he saw police officers at the door.
He also saw evidence being handed over — two cigarette butts wrapped in a napkin.
Source: Richard老师去哪里 on XiaoHongShu
When he questioned airport staff, they confirmed that a passenger was caught smoking in the plane’s toilet.
The OP expressed shock that someone had smoked on his plane, saying this was the first time he had encountered such an incident in his years of travelling.
He learnt that the passenger would be briefly detained and banned from flying for a year, a punishment he felt was “somewhat lenient”.
He hoped that the man would be banned for life so as not to endanger other passengers.
According to safety regulations posted on SIA’s website, smoking and vaping is strictly prohibited on Singapore-registered aircraft.
Passengers found guilty could face up to 12 months in prison and/or a fine of up to S$5,000.
In response to queries from AsiaOne, SIA confirmed that a passenger was caught smoking in the toilet on board flight SQ836 from Singapore to Shanghai on 21 Aug.
Those caught smoking or vaping on board SIA or Scoot flights will be banned from travelling on both airlines.
Also read: Abusive passenger offloaded from Singapore Airlines plane, delays flight for close to 2 hours
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Featured image adapted from Richard老师去哪里 on XiaoHongShu and XiaoHongShu.