I didn't know smokers could get this desperate. It's really pretty sad, isn't it?

Yes, the lounge is inside of security (sorry, should have made that clearer) - therefore they definitely had snuck it through - the agent did not seem very happy with them at all & I'm sure they bust a whole lot of people that way. Would love to know what happened to them.

The first officer on my flight from KUL-DPS on Air Asia smoked a cigarette in the bathroom.

In that position I'd probably tell the agent I found it on the floor.

Not that I smoke, but if I had some other contraband -- a cracker in a restricted agricultural zone, say.

It's not that difficult to get a lighter through the security check point. I, and many others, have done it many times.

Right, I do it all the time. I just forget to put the lighter in the suitcase. And anyway, how am I going to smoke if I'm in transit without my lighter :p

Not all airports have the same policy concerning lighters. In Zurich, I was never asked if I had a lighter or searched for one.

I've been on at least one long-haul international flight where I could tell someone had been smoking in the toilet. Smokers just don't seem to understand how completely obvious the smell of cigarette smoke is to a non-smoker who lives and works in a non-smoking environment, and how it clings to everything. Colleague was on an long-haul international flight where the smoke detector had gone off, and they were threatening to divert unless the smoker owned up - if the smoker didn't, they would have had to land to investigate what had caused the detector to go off.

"if the smoker didn't, they would have had to land to investigate what had caused the detector to go off."

Free trip to Newfoundland?

On about every other flight I take from Turkey to the US there is the threatening announcement about someone either setting off the smoke alarms or had been smoking in the lav.

I've been on a couple of flights (domestic in Australia, and between PNG and Australia) where I could smell that someone had been smoking. The FAs could smell it too, but I don't remember them catching the culprits.

In 1990 I did my first international travel, flying to (and from) the Solomon Islands on Solomon Airlines on a flight with a smoking section. Thankfully, those are the only two flights I've ever done that allowed smoking (are there any flights left with smoking sections?) My sinuses get messed up badly enough by the dry air on the plane, adding smoke to the equation would make things totally miserable for me.

Back around 1984 on a Pan Am 747 from London to LAX there were around 50 members of a Georgian ( former Soviet republic, not southern US state) Dance Troupe many of whom drank the plane dry of all alcoholic beverages and chain smoked in the no smoking seats the whole trip. The flight attendants went and hid in their little curtained off areas or in FC and when people rang their call buttons or came up front to complain, were told to be seated and stop bothering the FA's. A very unpleasant flight.

On a flight New Year's Day - LAS to OAK on WN. They had closed the doors and were about to push back, when an FA mentioned there was still somebody in the lav. Next thing you know, the smoke alarm went off. FAs head back to investigate, door opens again, other WN personnel are coming on. A guy was caught smoking in the lav, and he and another woman were escorted off the plane. Ugh. It's only a 90 minute flight for goodness sakes.

I find it funny that you think a cigarette leaves no odor. I can smell them from 100 feet away when people are outside a building smoking! It just takes one wisp of smoke to stink up a room. That's why smokers smell so bad.

Can you seriously not take a lighter through TSA security? I'm not being an ... here, I've prob flown 40-50 times this year alone and I always put mine in my carry-on which goes through the scanner with no problems. Never thought about it. Am I really that lucky for not being caught??? ...

The rules changed sometime in 2007 (or 2006). Lighters are now allowed.