There was one of those crazy news pieces yesterday about a passenger on an American Airlines flight from Nicaragua to Miami who decided to literally light up during the flight.
Turns out that she is a Penn State professor who did her PhD thesis about hysterical woman (I cannot make this up!). She rants about American imperialism on the YouTube videos taken during the flight.
You can read more about this incident on Gawker here, DailyMail here or on CBS Miami website here. I would encourage you to watch the videos, however.
Here’s an excerpt from the CBS Miami:
Halnon doesn’t deny the lighting up, even though smoking is banned on planes.
“Yes, that was me and I was actually smoking a cigarette briefly. I took a few puffs out of it and then I put it out and then I joked that the guy next to me made me do it, but that was just a joke,” she said. “Every other revolutionary smokes. Fidel, Daniel Ortega, Tomas Borge, Che Guevara, etc. And so that’s one of the significance… to identify with a revolutionary spirit.”
Last week, President Obama issued an executive order declaring Venezuela a national security threat and called for sanctions against some of the country’s top leaders.
Halnon says she fears military action could be next.
“Imperialism has to stop. And people have to use their voice. We have to act up. It’s necessary,” she said.
Halnon says she doesn’t anticipate having to return to South Florida for any court appearances. She says she is still currently employed by Penn State.
Conclusion
I remember the days when people used to smoke during the flights and, although I don’t believe that this behavior crashed any planes, I am for banning it. I was on an Aeroflot flight in business class sometime around the mid-2000’s where one of the passengers were puffing ecigars (I believe that the cabin crew had them).
This lady must have had a couple too many shots of good quality Nicaraguan rum before the flight. I Cannot understand her behavior otherwise.
