Smoking in lav

[bubbles]

So yes, as the title says.

I was on SQ857 coming back from HK. I sat at 44H, the emergency aisle seat. So the lavs were next and in front of me.

I had a good rest despite traffic to the lav, it's a lot better than the last row which I sat from Shanghai to HK, eveyrone was pushing my seat just to get to the lav at the back

Anyway, back to the story ... there was an elderly lady, around 50s maybe who went into the lav in front of me with a young girl around 8-9+. Nothing unusual. Until they emerged 10 mins later.

First thing that struck me was, why were they in there for that long? The moment they stepped out of the lav and closed the lav door, the strong stench of cigarette smoke came. I smelled it and immediately paged the crew. Before the crew approached me, she already smelled it as well. They checked the lav and found the butt in the lav. Incredibly irresponsible and inconsiderate of this woman to be pulling a stunt like that on the flight despite the signs and warnings. What more she had the poor child in the lav with her the whole time!

Now, I believe there's a smoke detector in the lav? I'm not sure how or why it never beeped at all. The lady had the cheek to deny it wasn't her smoking but eventually confessed and the crew warned her. The poor crew had to douse water into the bin, clean and spray the lav to get rid of the smell. I always thought lighters are banned as well (i dont smoke so i'm not sure haha)

[alian]

man this sucks ... but it is easy to evade a smoke detector though, I did an attachment with a Fire Specialist company long time back and it took a lot of smoke to activate the detector (we use a smoke spray can )

really tougher penalties need to be in place as well as enforcement

what really angers me it the child endangerment, that is totally not excusable

[Avenger777]

she should count her blessings, if this was on a U.S carrier, they would have arrested her upon arrival.

[FN-GM]

I wouldn't call someone in their 50's as elderly!

[SQGamespeed]

she should count her blessings, if this was on a U.S carrier, they would have arrested her upon arrival.

Oh, given recent events, I fear she'd get more drastic treatment first.

[zilchster]

She should have been strapped/handcuffed to the seat for the rest of the flight and then handed over to the police on arrival in Singapore.

[bubbles]

I wouldn't call someone in their 50's as elderly!

oops sorry!

[bubbles]

Actually I was surprised there was no action taken against her apart from just a warning. I thought these sort of stuff can get you fined or even a coffee session with the police.

Now, I'm assuming the butt that was thrown was not fully extinguished or to be on the safe side, the crew doused the water continuously into the bin to ensure nothing catches fire. The lead crew came and thanked me and someone else for alerting them as they were busy serving and clearing meals. She asked me to help monitor the lady if she ever went to the lav again, but i saw the crew hanging around the lav area more often just to be sure.

When I related this incident, a friend mentioned that it's possible that the smoke alarm didn't go off if she blew smoke into the toilet bowl and kept flushing (dont ask me how he knows this tactic )

[SQ228]

When I related this incident, a friend mentioned that it's possible that the smoke alarm didn't go off if she blew smoke into the toilet bowl and kept flushing (dont ask me how he knows this tactic )

That would make sense since it's a vacuum mechanism, however it would also use up a lot of flushing water intended for other passengers!

[Metropolitan Airlines]

Honestly I think the crew should have been notified the captain and get some police waiting for her on arrival at Changi Airport. I think a warning is just too lenient, where she deserves at least a fine. (I think smoking on the plane will attract the fine of $5000?)

Smoking on the aircraft could lead to fire and hull loss accident and it is totally unacceptable. I think you could have made a complaint to SQ and to train the crew to fine the woman next time they find her smoking on the plane.

[kapitan]

Honestly I think the crew should have been notified the captain and get some police waiting for her on arrival at Changi Airport. I think a warning is just too lenient, where she deserves at least a fine. (I think smoking on the plane will attract the fine of $5000?)

Smoking on the aircraft could lead to fire and hull loss accident and it is totally unacceptable. I think you could have made a complaint to SQ and to train the crew to fine the woman next time they find her smoking on the plane.

in the days when smoking was fashionable, there were smoking seats available in the back on all airlines. not heard of one incident where plane caught fire because of smoking......

its banned for health reasons other than accidents...

[mr_botak]

Check out Varig 820 - the reason there are still ashtrays in the toilets. Agree though that the principal reason for the phase out of smoking sections was otherwise.