A woman on a us-regions-bound flight drew the scorn of her fellow travelers after lighting up a cigarette as the airplane was making its way toward the terminal early Tuesday, according to a video of the incident recorded by another passenger.
Alexa Majdalawi, 31, was sitting directly behind the woman on a general flight from Detroit to Fort Lauderdale when they landed around midnight Tuesday, she told Fox News. The plane took an hour to make its way to the gate, during which the passenger pulled out a cigarette, she said.
“She literally took out a cigarette and just started smoking,” Majdalawi, who suffers from asthma, told Fox News. “I said, ‘Is this real life?’
“She’s smoking it in my face,” she added. “She’s turning around to blow it.”
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Majdalawi, a Boyton Beach resident, had traveled to Detroit to attend a friend’s wedding in Ann Arbor, Mich. Her initial flight back home was canceled the night before, she said.
As the woman was smoking, Majdalawi alerted the flight crew to the smoke but they refused to do anything, she said.
They told her she could move the back of the plane if she wished, which she did. The recording begins after she moved from her seat, she said.
A Spirit Airlines spokesperson said flight attendants were made aware of the smoke and took appropriate action.
“Flight Attendants noticed the odor and the other Guests were quick to point out who was responsible and hand over what remained of the extinguished cigarette,” the airline said in a statement to Fox News. “Our crew summoned law enforcement officers to have them waiting at the gate to remove the passenger.”
The Broward County Sheriff’s Office said deputies responded to the incident and removed the woman from the plane at the request of the airline employees. She complied and no arrest was made, authorities said.
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Years ago, inflight smoking went hand-in-hand with flying but has been prohibited on all flights into and out of the United States.
“This has been banned for a long time,” Majdalawi said. “What decade do you live in?”
