Electronic cigarette man pelted flight attendant with peanuts
A man from Salt Lake City in the US State of Utah sprayed plenty of salt around a Southwest Airlines flight from Los Angeles when he allegedly pelted a flight attendant with a hail of peanuts and pretzels.
The trouble began when the man, Pogos Paul Sefilian, 42, tried to use an electronic cigarette.
Flight attendants told him firmly to stop using it. They didn’t ask him to put it out because you can’t stub out an electronic cigarette. The cigarettes are electrical devices resembling cigarettes that attempt to simulate tobacco smoking by producing an inhaled mist resembling tobacco smoke. Some have optional nicotine cartridges.
According to the Salt Lake Tribune, a flight attendant spotted Sefilian with the electronic cigarette and told him that he couldn’t use it on the plane.
It might have ended there, but apparently Sefilian didn’t take the order quietly. Charges filed in a US District Court allege that he became enraged by the ban and then disruptive, fighting back by hurling peanuts and pretzels at the flight attendant and at the flight deck door.
He has been charged with assaulting a flight attendant with bags of peanuts and pretzels.
The charges further contend that when the attendant told Sefilian to stop hurling peanuts, he instead leapt to his feet and started opening overhead lockers, possibly seeking more peanuts or pretzels as ammunition. He is accused of defying six announcements to sit and of “posturing his chest out at the flight crew” instead of sitting down. When the plane landed, FBI agents stood ready, seizing the alleged peanut hurler and placing him under arrest.
He could be in for a roasting.
Written by : Peter Needham
Would be interesting to know what airlines’ policies are regarding the electronic cigarettes, especially considering:
a) they are becoming more common
b) they do not emit any smoke or smell
c) they are not a fire hazzard
d) they cannot possibly offend other passengers
e) and they likely keep smokers passively happy on long haul flights?
I might do some research for an article!