Smoking family causes costly diversion: charges may be laid

[rotornut]

Family of smokers on airplane forces costly diversion - Nova Scotia - CBC News (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/story/2013/02/03/ns-smoking-family-sunwing-bermuda.html)

[ATC Watcher]

under Canadian transport regulations the plane needed to land at the nearest available airport,.....(pax)arrested refused to say if they had left other cigarettes on the aircraft, if they had hidden cigarettes on the aircraft. ...... we had to search the aircraft thoroughly."

is this a hoax ? I cannot beleive we have gone down that far ...

[paully]

I trust Sunwing will point out to these Brain Deads just how expensive smoking is these days......and force them to spend the rest of their lives repaying their enormous bill...:ugh:

[PAXboy]

One airline has to make the first step of taking these kind of folks to court. Thus far (to the best of my knowledge), all carriers have avoided it. But until there is a big case and a big award - even if they can't pay it - this will continue.

Incidentally, a quote in the article from Daryl McWilliams, the vice-president of media relations with the airline.
I cannot believe that passengers did this.I know he has to say such things but anyone who works in public transport for more than a week - will believe humans possible of anything, with this being trivial by comparision to some.

[jackieofalltrades]

I agree. I really hope that an example is made of these folks, and they are shown the true expense of the stupid actions. Maybe then it will act as more of a deterrent to other folks wanting to smoke on board.

[lokito50]

Mom dad and son decided to just light up smokes while in their seats. Plane diverted to Bermuda where they faced charges. For more info read
Yahoo! News Canada - Latest News & Headlines (http://ca.news.yahoo.com/smokers-sunwing-flight-halifax-bermuda-court-152819492.html)

[Llademos]

Update (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/story/2013/02/04/ns-smoking-family-bermuda-sunwing-court.html)- looks like they will be sued. Well done Sunwing, I hope they win.

[ExXB]

From the link: Prosecutors decided not to proceed further with the charges, so in the end, no one was found guilty of smoking on the plane.

What were the prosecutors thinking here? Was it too difficult? Were there no witnesses?

I can just see the defense if/when Sunwing sues: "But your honour the Bermuda court acquitted us. It must have been somebody else."

[rotornut]

Proof in civil actions is easier than in criminal cases. If there was evidence of smoking then it's possible that the whole family could be found jointly and severally liable. Anyway, this is getting a lot of publicity here so let's hope it will serve as a deterrent - especially if Sunwing gets a hefty award of damages. However, I suspect the family will settle out of court.

[radeng]

They may well be found to be 'men of straw' with no worthwhile assets that can be obtained.

If they were prosecuited in Bermuda and hadn't much money to grab, all the Bermudians could have done would have been to imprison them (costing money) or deport them. Even if the credit cards were taken, it may well prove difficult to hang on to any money raised on them. Deportation wouldn't be easy if no airline would take them, so you'd need to find a ship that would.

[Snapdragon]

Sue them in court, get them convicted and fined, but also have them put on aviation watch lists so they can never fly again, whether they pay their fine or not! It's about time these pikey type peasants get some sort of penalty. When airlines start banning passengers as a group people wil start to listen!:mad:

[Snapdragon]

Better still, prosecute etc as far as possible, then have a warning sent to them that they can't fly again due to previous post etc. then have them on airline watch list. They book holiday, hotel, all other expenses etc. they then check in and are not allowed to fly on next holiday! Of course you can have your airline ticket refund sir, however all other expenses not our problem as you knew you weren't allowed to fly. The message would soon get through!! Then they have to spend weeks / months trying to get relevant refunds for unused hotels/tickets etc!

[ExXB]

AFAIK there is no such thing as an 'aviation' watch list. Governments have one, individual airlines have one, Alliances could have one, but I doubt it.

[rowly6339]

Maybe there were not charged because the judge could clearly see they are retarded, to even consider doing something like this is mental never mind all of them sparking up at the sametime:ugh: