Authorities at Mae Fah Luang Airport have identified the passenger who smoked an e-cigarette on a plane departing from Chiang Rai on Sunday.
They said the woman could be charged not only with smoking on public transport under the Tobacco Products Control Act, BE 2560 (2017), but also with violating the Act on Certain Offences Against Air Navigation, BE 2521 (1978).
Airport officials have ordered the airline to contact the passenger for further legal action, said Sqn Ldr Somchanok Tiamtiab-Rat, the airport director-general.
A video of a female passenger smoking an e-cigarette on board a plane was posted on the Red Skull X account, which has nearly 620,000 followers, on Sunday.
“This is shameful. I don’t know how she was able to go through the airport security checkpoint,” the person who took the video wrote.
Sqn Ldr Somchanok said airport staff conducted a security check on every passenger, both physically and through X-rays. However, an e-cigarette might be missed as the mouthpieces are usually made from plastic, which is not detectable by X-rays.
He said vaping components (commonly referred to as ”mods”), e-liquids and disposable vapes are all banned on flights in Thailand and will be seized by airport officers if found.