Recently I was a couple of hours into a long red-eye when someone a few rows ahead of me lit a cigarette. I had a aisle seat and saw what looked like a flame flickering a few rows ahead, but thought it was just someone's booklight malfunctioning. Then someone in the same row as the smoker turned on his overhead light and his call light and I could see the smoke spiraling up. After a few seconds I could smell the cigarette smoke. FA's came trotting down the aisle from fore and aft and had a discussion with the smoker and then everything calmed down. Are there penalties for lighting up on a flight or do they just tell you to extinguish your cigarette and all is forgiven? Also, as I was sitting at the gate that evening, I noticed a passenger being wanded and having his bag searched in front of the gate counter. Why would they be doing that at the gate? I would assume he had already gone through security. Could he have come in on a private flight and been escorted directly to our gate? Enquiring minds want to know. Nervous minds want to be reassured.

IIRC, gate screening occurs when TSA misses a SSSS selectee at the checkpoint. At most airports where I've observed the SSSS process, TSA marks the BP to note that the extra screening has taken place. The gate agent would then notice the lack of the mark and call TSA to do the secondary search at the gate.

I am fairly certain there are still penalties for smoking on board--but, as with any other penalty of this nature, it's up to the crew to decide whether to actually report the offense.

I can't speak for other airlines, but with mine the smoker would be issued a written notice to cease and possibly be met by law enforcement upon landing. Most FA's would probably just make a verbal request first and let it go if the customer complied - but we could legitimately jump straight to the written form since the non-smoking policies are made clear with PA announcements, the safety demo, and the 'no smoking' signs in the cabin. It's a judgement call...but you know, 99.99999% of the population is aware of the regulation. I'm sure there are some flyers out there who knowingly light up to get a puff or two in, knowing that they probably won't get in trouble on the first offense. In that sense, tolerating it and letting it go just enables the same behavior on their next flight. Documenting it can clue the airline in if there is a pattern...

It's sad if you ask me...and I can say that, being a (mostly) reformed smoker myself. If you can't make it a few hours in a plane without lighting up, you've got problems.

The person probably was from a connecting flight that was not on the same airline that he was boarding. He did have to go through security at the originating airport but when he went to connect and they checked his seating at the gate he came up SSSS. This happens more often than TSA missing a SSSS at the checkpoint. At our checkpoint, contractors check the boarding passes and ID and send them down the SSSS lane. Sometimes they miss it. Have no fear though at NY a couple of weeks ago a man was connecting from an other airline that came from out of the US, He was found to be SSSS and when they screened him at the gate he had a bunch of live weapons munitions from the war in IRAQ. To make a long story short, he went to jail.

Something is wrong with that story. If you take an international flight to JFK, you have to go through security to board the connecting flight after having passed through immigration and customs. If he indeed did have weapons at the gate, the screeners at JFK were the ones who missed it.

Here is the link: http://www.madville.com/link.php?id=77754&t=24

Last year on an overnight UA flight IAD-AMS, shortly after the meal was served, the movie started and people (including me) were settling in to sleep, a passenger decided to have a smoke in the lav. The smell of smoke woke me up. The cabin lights were turned on and an FA made an announcement stating that one of our fellow passengers was inconsiderate and smoked in the lav. She stated that if the cigarette wasn't properly disposed of, it would start a fire and that at 30,000 there "wasn't a whole hell of a lot they could do" to put out a fire. Of course, now, none of us could sleep, because we were waiting to see if a fire started (it didn't)! I don't think they knew who had lit up, but shortly after the announcement someone about 10 rows in front of me rang their call button, had a short conversation with two FAs, who both then went to talk to a passenger a few rows further up, who I assume was the smoker. Not sure if there was any consequence for the smoker. As for me, I couldn't get back to sleep and spent the first day of my trip in a zombie like exhausted state.

The plane was not going to catch on fire as a result of one inconsiderate person smoking. Back in the old days, half or more of the people on an airplane would be smoking to calm their nerves, and the planes didn't catch on fire and fall out of the sky as a result. I realize she was trying to put the fear of God into the smoker, but there was probably a better way to handle this that wouldn't terrify the rest of the passengers.

At most airports I've been to where the SSSS has been "missed" the gate agents simply ignore the lack of a stamp/punch and let me on the plane. I've never been gate-groped and haven't seen it happen to anyone in over a year.

"Back in the old days" when smoking was allowed, people would smoke openly and would discard of their cigarettes in the ashtrays. I think what the FA was talking about in this case was that there was a risk that the person who was smoking in the lavatory might discard of the cigarette by throwing it in the trash, where all the paper towels would catch fire. I would really hate to be on a flight where that happened.

For example: http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?e...14X43285&key=1

I guess it's been a while since that CVG myth saw the light of day, so for the benefit of NickW and others(that's not me shouting BTW), IOW it was an electrical fire - no cigarette or naughty smoker involved at all .

I see you know better than the NTSB, who could not identify the source of the fire, and stated explicitly that they would not rule out a cigarette as the cause of ignition.

Random gate screening has returned as part of the Inter-agency Security Plan.

The smoking incident should be reported to FAA Flight Standards and a civil penalty could be issued.

Where did they state that, exactly ?