Video: Florida Deputies Pull Woman off Flight for Lighting Up

Aug. 25, 2021

Broward County sheriff's deputies needed to remove a Spirit Airlines passenger after she lit a cigarette while the airplane taxied on the tarmac at Fort Lauderdale International Airport.

By Madeleine Marr

Source Miami Herald

Broward County, FL, sheriff's deputies remove a passenger who lit a cigarette aboard a Spirit Airlines flight Tuesday.

A Spirit Airlines passenger disobeyed a law that went into effect more than 30 years ago and lit up a cigarette on board.

Cellphone video taken by fellow passenger early Tuesday morning shows the chaos on the flight from Detroit to Fort Lauderdale once smoke started billowing into the aisle.

Alexa Majdalawi, of Boynton Beach, told the Miami Herald the woman lit up a little after landing as the plane https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6YoG8kiJvI

Majdawali said she first asked the woman to stop smoking, then complained to the flight attendant because she was having a hard time breathing.

The clip starts with another passenger yelling about how the smoker “messed everyone’s day up.”

Deputies enter the plane and start walking to the back where the woman appears to be asleep.

“I’ve had a long day,” she said, according to Majdawali.

“Oh my God, come get her!” says the other witness as people laugh and deputies try to find the alleged offender’s overhead bag.

This isn’t the first incident of this nature for Spirit. In 2019, a man lit up mid-flight heading to Minneapolis. Video shot by a fellow passenger shows the man taking a drag and then appearing to fall asleep before a flight attendant tells him what he is doing is “against the law.” He was reportedly escorted off by police once the plane was on the ground.

The Miami Herald reached out to Spirit Airlines for comment:

“When Flight 845 from Detroit was taxiing to the gate in Fort Lauderdale, a passenger inexplicably decided to light a cigarette in violation of federal law,” said a statement. “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. Our crew summoned law enforcement officers to have them waiting at the gate to remove the passenger.”

According to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, the smoker complied with deputies’ request to leave the plane and was not arrested.

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