Have you ever heard of the Mile-High Club? No, not the one that involves shedding clothes and bathroom tomfoolery. We’re discussing the club where you’re high while traveling in the air.
Well, one Southwest Airlines passenger was so eager to join that Mile-High Club they decided to spark one up mid-flight. That’s right. On Flight 1250, a man ducked into the lavatory to smoke a blunt. You might be thinking this was a particularly long flight to warrant such reckless behavior, but you would be wrong. This was a flight from San Francisco to Los Angeles, with a total travel time of an hour and a half.
The pilot diverted the plane for an emergency landing at San Jose Mineta International Airport, about 50 miles south of San Francscio, after announcing a “mechanical difficulty.” Smoking on an airplane is illegal and the man was handed over to law enforcement. The remaining 32 passengers hopped aboard other planes to continue their flight plan. Some passengers said they could smell the weed smoke emanating from the bathroom.
“It looked like that someone needed to smoke a joint on a plane, and he went into the bathroom, smoked his blunt, and set off the fire alarm,” passenger Jonathan Burkes told CBS Los Angeles.
Here’s the official statement Southwest released to FOX News:
Southwest Airlines Flight 1250 with scheduled service from San Francisco to Los Angeles landed safely after diverting to San Jose following indications a Customer was allegedly smoking in the aft lavatory.
The flight landed without incident[,] was met by local law enforcement, and the Customer in question was turned over to local authorities. Our Employees in San Jose worked hard to accommodate the remaining 32 Customers on other aircraft to continue their journeys.
If you’re wondering the penalty involved here, it isn’t cheap. According to 49 U.S. Code 41706, “Civil fines for smoking on an airline flight range from $2,200 for smoking in an airplane seat or cabin to $3,300 for smoking in an airplane lavatory.” We can almost guarantee that’s the most anyone’s paid to smoke a blunt in California this year.
