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Woman Strips Naked On DIA Concourse  

A woman at Denver International Airport stunned onlookers Tuesday when she stripped naked on Concourse B, authorities said.

The incident happened at about 8:45 a.m. after the woman was caught smoking in a non-smoking area near gate B-81, airport spokeswoman Jenny Schiavone said.

Someone told the woman she couldn't smoke there and she put out the cigarette, Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson said.

Then the woman proceeded to take off all of her clothes, Schiavone said.

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Smoking passenger on Vietnam Airlines flight pleads fine waiver 

A Vietnamese passenger found smoking in the toilet on a Vietnam Airlines flight Tuesday has pleaded he cannot afford to pay the fine.

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Doctor's Diary: James Le Fanu  

The news that an unsmoked cigar given by Winston Churchill to a fellow diner is for sale as part of an auction of his memorabilia recalls an unusual episode from the early part of the war. In 1941, Edgar Pask, an anaesthetist and expert in respiratory physiology attached to the RAF, was asked to devise a method that would allow the great man to smoke while flying at altitudes of more than 8,000 ft in an unpressurised aircraft, which necessitated wearing an oxygen mask. As oxygen is highly flammable, the dangers are obvious. Pask modified a cigar holder, attaching a side valve through which oxygen would flow. It was an ingenious solution but never got beyond the prototype stage, being unable to eliminate the risk of the Havana bursting into flames.

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E-cigarette defendant pleads not guilty to interfering with flight crew  

A 19-year-old accused of hitting flight crew and singing about Osama bin Laden on a Tuesday flight to Houston pleaded not guilty to interfering with flight crew today in U.S. District Court in Portland.

A lawyer for Yazeed Mohammed Abunayyan, of Saudi Arabia, also said that his client has some mental health issues. He declined to discuss his health further, but Abunayyan's cousin told the Ashland Daily Tidings that Abunayyan has schizophrenia and had stopped taking his medication.

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Continental Airlines passengers hold down smoking Saudi Yazeed Mohammed Abunayyan shouting "Allah is great" 

An unruly Saudi teen was held down and detained by fellow passengers aboard a Continental Airlines flight after he began shouting 'Allah is great' and making references to Osama bin Laden as he swung his fists at a flight attendant who told him he couldn't smoke an electronic cigarette aboard the plane Tuesday.

The flight had only just taken off from Portland, Oregon, bound for Houston, Texas, when Yazeed Mohammed Abunayyan ignored the 'No Smoking' sign and began to cause a ruckus. After the incident, the pilot turned the plane around and landed it back at Portland International Airport about 20 minutes after it lifted off.

When he boarded the plane in Portland, Abunayyan was free on $65,000 bail after being arrested Sunday night in a town 285 miles to the south following a 'Grand Theft Auto'-style police chase, during which he allegedly rammed two squad cars and tried to run down a pedestrian -- all while grinning wildly.

On Tuesday, when a flight stewardess asked Abunayyan to turn off his cigarette, passengers say he started screaming, punching at the woman and singing or muttering about dead Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

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Unruly flier prompts return of Continental flight  

Updated media reports suggest the disruption of Continental Flight 1118 may have had involved more than a simple altercation over an "e-cigarette."

KHOU TV of Houston reports passengers on the flight "said the unruly man was a problem from the beginning. After boarding Flight 1113, the man became upset because he was not seated next to his friend."

Passengers tell KHOU the man then began smoking an e-cigarette, later screaming at a flight attendant when she instructed him to stop.

The Oregonian also updates it story, identifying the man as 19-year-old Yazeed Mohammed Abunayyan of Saudi Arabia. . . .

"Electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, don't burn tobacco. The battery-operated devices offer users a vapor of liquid ingredients, including nicotine," USA TODAY writes in a September story about the DOT's proposed ban.

United Continental, however, tells the Oregonian it does not permit "the use of electronic, simulated smoking materials" of any kind on its flights.

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VIDEO: 1 passenger detained after disturbance on Continental flight headed to Houston 

Passengers aboard a Continental Airlines flight bound for Houston Tuesday sprang into action to help a flight attendant having trouble with an unruly passenger. Twenty minutes after the plane departed Portland, pilots returned to the city where the FBI was waiting.

Passengers said the unruly man was a problem from the beginning. After boarding Flight 1113, the man became upset because he was not seated next to his friend.

Then after the flight took off, he ignored the "No Smoking" sign and tried to light an electronic cigarette.

A flight attendant asked the passenger to turn off the cigarette, but he refused. The Middle Eastern man started screaming at the smaller woman.

"He was screaming, 'Allah is great, Allah is great,'" said Nancy Haywood, passenger. "And it kind of worries you when that happens, but believe me, there were enough men to hold him down."

And they did. Men on the plane jumped up and ran to assist the flight attendant.

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• Flight departing Portland International Airport turns around after passenger lights electronic cigarette, becomes disruptive 

A flight departing Portland International Airport this afternoon turned around after a passenger turned on an electronic cigarette and "was not cooperative" when asked to turn the device off.

The man is currently being questioned at the airport by airport and federal authorities, said Steve Johnson, a spokesman for the Port of Portland.

The Continental Airlines flight departed PDX for Houston just before 12:20 p.m., Johnson said. At some point after take off, the man turned on the cigarette.

"He was asked to not do that and was not cooperative," Johnson said.

The flight returned to PDX about 1:15 p.m. and was met by local law enforcement, said Christen David, a Continental spokeswoman. The unidentified passenger was removed along with his traveling companion.

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Flight returns over man with electronic cigarette 

PORTLAND, Ore. -- An airline passenger who refused to turn off an electronic cigarette could face a federal charge in Portland.

FBI spokeswoman Beth Anne Steel says the man was held Tuesday after he was taken off a Continental Airlines flight that had returned to Portland International Airport.

The Oregonian reports Flight 1118 returned about half an hour after taking off for Houston because the man was not cooperative.

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On the airplane, no smoking means exactly that: No. Smoking. 

A traveler narrowly avoided criminal charges after lighting a cigarette onboard a Southwest Airlines flight that had to refuel at the Durango-La Plata County Airport.

Daniel Villalobos, whose age was not available, was on a flight Thursday headed to Albuquerque from his hometown of Kansas City, Mo., said Don Brockus, spokesman for the Durango-La Plata County Airport.

The flight was diverted to the Durango airport to refuel after circling Albuquerque, where it was unable to land because of poor visibility.

Villalobos is believed to have lit up in the plane's restroom about the time the plane was landing at the Durango airport, around 7:40 p.m., Brockus said. . . .

Villalobos was given "a courtesy drive into town to figure out his situation," Brockus said. He was cooperative and no arrest was made, nor were charges filed, Brockus said.

"He may be facing federal civil fines, but there are no criminal charges associated with this situation that local law enforcement could charge him with," Brockus said.

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Judge orders mental evaluation for combative air passenger  

At the request of his own lawyer, a Miami man accused of disrupting a flight and forcing it to make an unscheduled stop in San Antonio has been ordered to be examined by a psychiatrist.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Pamela Mathy this week approved the request from assistant federal public defender R. Clark Adams. His client, Manolin Jesus Villaverde, “may be suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering him mentally incompetent” to understand the proceedings against him “or to assist properly in his defense,” Adams said in a court motion.

FBI agents said they arrested Villaverde, 37, last week after he became combative when told to put out cigarettes on a Continental Airlines flight

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Artists lend their voices to airport PSAs 

We're talking messages from the likes of Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie), hip-hopper Macklemore and grunge legend Jerry Cantrell, who alerts travelers to the airport's no-smoking policy with a decidedly sympathetic twist:

"This is Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains reminding you that smoking is allowed on the lower drive outside the building and only in designated areas … Bummer, dude."

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Jet Diverts To San Antonio When Man Lights Cigarette 

A passenger has been accused of smoking and causing a ruckus on a California-bound Continental Airlines jet, which then diverted to San Antonio.

A detention hearing is scheduled Friday for Manolin Jesus Villaverde of Miami.

The FBI says Villaverde has been charged with interfering with flight crew members Tuesday night.

Investigators say Villaverde became unruly, on Continental Flight 1287 from Houston to Ontario, Calif., when he lit up twice and was told to put out the cigarettes. Other passengers helped a flight attendant subdue Villaverde.

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Cops: Passenger arrested at NJ airport after smoking pot on flight; claimed medicinal reasons 

A man faces drug charges after allegedly smoking pot on a JetBlue flight to Newark, N.J.

Airport police say the man claimed he had the marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Crew members from Flight 510 from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., say they became suspicious Monday when the man, identified as 43-year-old Adam Blumenkranz of Los Angeles, dropped a clear plastic bag in the cabin.

As the plane approached Newark the crew reported the man entered the lavatory. When he emerged, they say there was a strong smell of marijuana.

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Airport smoking rooms a 'retrograde' step 

New designated smoking rooms at Perth Airport will set a dangerous precedent and are a step backwards for the campaign to denormalise smoking, health experts warn.

A purpose-built smokers' area is being built at the southern end of the domestic terminal and will open next month, with a second facility to follow at the international terminal.

A Perth Airport spokeswoman said the buildings were aimed at creating a pleasant, smoke-free environment for passengers and staff by reducing the impact of passive smoking.

The 44sqm building will have capacity for 60 people and will feature flight information displays and vending machines.

But Professor of Health Policy at Curtin University Mike Daube described the move as retrograde and bizarre.

"I don't think we have anything like that at Australian airports. It goes absolutely dead against the approaches we have been taking towards the decline of smoking," he said.

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