A couple of days ago, I covered a story whereby an American Airlines passenger uploaded a video of him getting into a confrontation with a flight attendant after being caught vaping in the lavatory.
Continue reading: American Airlines’ Viral Vaper Doubles Down, Demands Accountability
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
@ UncleRonnie -- I guess that's a reasonable interpretation as well. But if you're violating Federal Aviation Regulations and if a flight attendant has a reason to believe you're smoking or vaping in the lavatory, one loses their right to privacy. Presumably the smoke detector was going off, or something, or else the flight attendant wouldn't have barged in.
Sounds like someone is getting banned from AA lol. Play stupid games…win stupid prizes. Hopefully he will grow up
"I will fight for justice, privacy, and dignity for every passenger."
He can start by fighting himself first, give justice to passengers who don't want to inhale vape smoke in a prohibited area.
It's always good to see a fellow Arizona State alumnus make a name for themselves.
This won’t end well for this self-entitled brat. It’s simple - Don’t break the law on planes.
Hopefully he learns a lesson rather than relishing in all this publicity the story is getting and listening to those egging him on.
This scumbag is literally just generating noise to get more coverage (and therefore views ie revenue) and you fell into the trap of giving him what he wants
Very easy to see that he laying the tracks for a lawsuit. Using terms like emotional distress and privacy are the pillars of any good lawsuit.
He'll probably get lucky and AA will settle out of court as I'm sure they'll want to put this behind them and move on.
Be careful, JS, he might put you on the internet for his ...*counts*...25,000 followers to see.
A Kardashian he is not. Thank goodness.
Gavin, please give that advice to the Eskimo as he is stupidly obsessed with trolling Tim Dunn …. 🙂
Technically, it's not smoke, it's vapor. Thus the words "vape" and "vaping" instead of "smoke" and "smoking."
Color me shocked.
Nothing happened to him once he got off the aircraft apparently. This man should have been met by LEOs and fined. He violated federal law.
I stand by my original FB post. He is an entitled arrogant prick. The fact that he wasn’t arrested and charged tells me that AA didn’t press the issue. There must have been something in the that made them not put this guy’s head on a spike.
It’s hard to know what AA will do. They might just try to make this go away, since the chances of negative social media PR may just be the thing that drives their actions.
However, I wish they would go in another direction. First, in my opinion, this guy violated 49 USC 46504 and 49 USC 46706 (interfering with crew members and smoking/vaping respectively). Both have civil fines but 46504 has possible jail time in the statute.
It’s hard to know if what he did rises to either, but there is nothing that says the FAA can’t refer this to the FBI to investigate. This is the first thing that needs to happen.
As much as I would love AA to tell this guy to pound sand, they don’t have the time to mess with nuisance lawsuits. I would hope their lawyers would scare the crap out of him and make this guy think twice about taking any legal action. However, we would probably never know that.
There needs to be zero tolerance on both smoking/vaping and interference with crew members. The safety of passengers is the only thing that matters and this guy put them at risk. HE needs to be held accountable for his actions.
I fully support AA.
Let the chips fall.
Why ! Why ! Do the wrong doers always cry faul when caught during the breaking of set rules ?? The person should be fined and possibly jailed for his reckless behavior !!!
guys got blond hair on an Asian head and talks like
a spoiled 12 year old. he's a jerk.
I am not a fan of Mr Rumsfeld but in one thing he had been absolutely right.
If you are already in a hole stop digging.
This is a no-brainer...He is pulling what we are seeing these days — deflecting the issue to divert attention and trying hard to make a few bucks.
A good way to avoid "reputational damage" is to not act like a c*nt, and if you can't avoid that, at least to not put yourself acting like a c*nt on the internet. Peace.
F this guy. Seriously.
He embodies everything that is wrong with the selfish people of today.
AA needs to press charges, and this idiot needs to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, with a long incarceration and hefty fine. UGH!
He does not allow comments on his Instagram posts and is trying to have people pay $4.99 to get access to his channel to see his AA stories. Yeah, this guy is not getting any support, just roasted.
Right. Smoke detector going off = possible fire = possible everyone dies. I’d be concerned if an FA didn’t immediately intervene. Given the possibility the person may have intentionally started a fire, or is in the middle of trying to detonate something, you don’t give a courtesy knock, you get in ASAP.
And yeah, probably 99.99% of the time it’s some idiot smoking or vaping, but given what’s at stake you’ve got to assume the worst.
"...pillars of any good lawsuit." What literal nonsense is this? Putting that aside, I think AA could easily argue that claimant's alleged emotional distress stems significantly from their own posting of their video and that IF AA's crew had caused any of this alleged emotional distress, there would be no way to parse out how much was self-inflicted vs caused by AA.
Why would AA settle out of court? The video doesn't seem to be harming the company, driving a need to put this behind them. Further, AA's finances may not be great, but they surely have enough money to drag this through court, either outlasting claimant's finances, or going the distance and very likely seeing judgement in their favor. Even if they didn't get judgement in their favor, I don't think the cost would be high, nor does it seem there's any reputational harm here.
As others have said, claimant should stop digging and let this be a weekend news cycle slop story that dies.
He sounds like he has both persecutory delusions and delusions of grandeur, but I’d still be interested to see his “Hollywood producer” filmography lol.
Remember, in his own words, "I have a lawyer.....I am a lawyer." How very Jon Lovitz SNL character of him!
I wonder if his admitting in his own video that he was vaping is enough to get him fined? If the flight attendant saw smoke coming from the lavatory or smelled smoke, she likely had the right to open the door. If he was really in there with his pants around his ankles, I wonder why no other passengers have come forward to support him.
His Linkedin profile does not show any law degree or legal training like he claims. Odd that he changed his name to a description on it too.
These are the kind of people that make every day contact difficult. His mental health must have been in question long before this incident. This flight attendant didn't want to be photographed...sadly she touched his shoulder, hardly an assault that ruins the world's credibility. At least I won't run into him on American Airlines anymore!
AA should ban him and they should have filed criminal consequences because of vaping.
Hilarious, in his new post says his mental health was impacted... LOL, for that you need to have one first. Watching his idiotic behavior, it's doubtful
A technicality without a practical difference.
Both emit poisonous chemicals into the air, and produce a bad smell, impacting those around them.
Legal would have a cow, but I'd love to see AA respond with "In the interest of full accountability, we have referred both our actions and the actions of Mr.Legal would have a cow, but I'd love to see AA respond with "In the interest of accountability for all parties involved, we have referred both our actions and the actions of Mr. Nguyen to the FAA with a request that the full force of the law be applied for any violations thereof."
What a turkey. Follow the rules and there is no problem. Break the rules and suffer the consequences. He should be banned from flying again.
Like I said yesterday, he’s the Asian, effeminate version of George Santos.
There is so much with him,
This. Even if it was a detector malfunction of some sort (in which case, at most an apology for the inconvenience and a few thousand miles offered proactively would feel "about right"), the FA was right to react quickly and strongly.
The first toy this idiot received in his life was a victim card.
AA, please prosecute this fool to the fullest extent of that is possible.
If you don't address the small infractions, they become larger and larger. The guy violated the law and that has repercussions. No one can fix his ignorance.
Ugh, very privileged, completely self-unaware, and acting like a child. Hope this follows him around for a long time to come.
He should quit while he's ahead but doesn't sound like he's smart enough to do so.
A moron!!
I am sorry that he wasn't met by law enforcement and fined for disregarding the FAA regulations.
He broke the law!! Federal Law dictates that there should be no using of cigarettes nor any vaping on any aircraft.
Additionally, AA and FAA should ban him from flying.
He is a narssacist of the worst kind. Prosecute him for violating federal FAA regulations and put him on a lifetime no-fly list.
Wish there was a way to actually take money from a gofundme. Get him into negative balance.
So, he has safety concerns? Where were those concerns when he (illegally) decided to light up a potentially dangerous object?
"I’m not just a CEO and nonprofit founder — I’m also a Hollywood producer. The reputational harm from this incident has been devastating to my career."
Self-inflicted wounds really do sting.
All his followers should unfollow this idiot! He should be prosecuted to the fullest for violating federal regulations and putting all passengers in danger. And I agree he should be put the the no-fly list!
He broke a federal law and admitted it in his own video. Hoping the Feds get involved with this guy and give him reason to regret his actions. Obviously he's truly not sorry to the others passengers and airline personnel. Loser...
The lav smoke detector doesn't know the difference between actual smoke from a fire or that from vaping. The system sends the alarm to all flight attendant stations as well as the flight deck. Initially the alarm in the flight deck is of the highest priority,
Level 3 Caution → Master Warning / Continuous repetitive chime
Immediate action required
This is the same initial warning received for an engine failure/fire or cargo fire. I've experienced a few of these in my career (retired Airbus Capt). That attention getter is not a pleasant experience. But it illustrates the danger associated with an inflight fire. Anyone that chooses to endanger the entire aircraft because they can’t their addition should most definitely be put on a nation wide no fly list. I guarantee this behavior would end overnight.
I sure hope that Capt backed his/her flight attendant. She did nothing wrong.
This kid can't accept that he was at fault.
I hope the FEDS go after him for this stunt.
He filmed it and he tried to make the crew bow to him.
He needs to be banned from ALL carriers for life.
If there is a suspected fire in a lavatory the flight attendant must act quickly to investigate the cause, opening the door to check cause of smoke/fumes is exactly what is expected