Why Can’t You Vape on a Plane?

Why Can’t You Vape on Passenger Jets?

A look at why you can’t smoke e-cigarettes on commercial aircraft?

Why can’t you vape on a plane?

The reasons why you can’t vape on a plane include the vapour being mistaken for smoke, the potential fire risk from a malfunction and the fact it is classed as anti-social.

Vaping on a passenger jet – an introduction

As with smoking, commercial airlines won’t allow you to vape e-cigarettes on flights. Many wonder why they are banned as you might think they pose much less of a fire risk than from a regular cigarette and the vapour dissipates much quicker than smoke. Well there’s a few good reasons why they are banned.

Hold Luggage & Fire Risk

If items of luggage apply pressure to an e-cigarette, it can be activated unintentionally. If it’s continually activated, it can cause the battery to overheat which might result in a fire. As the luggage in the hold is unattended, in the past this has caused in-flight fires.

The Sight of ‘Smoke’

One of the worst situations that can develop in an aircraft is an inflight fire. Cabin Crew are therefore trained to be constantly on guard for sources of smoke. With someone sat down vaping behind a seat, it would be very difficult for the Cabin Crew to tell the difference between real smoke the vapour from an e-cigarette. With a few passengers vaping, a genuine source of smoke might go unnoticed for a prolonged period which could develop into a fire.

Smoke Detectors

Most aircraft smoke detectors can’t differentiate between vapour and smoke. If you vape in the toilets, the smoke detector will go off. This raises in alarm in the flight deck and has to be investigated by the Cabin Crew.

Second Hand Smoke

With fewer and fewer smokers in the population, second hand ‘smoke’ has become increasingly socially unacceptable, as has second hand vapour from e-cigarettes. Given the reducing number of smokers and vapers, it’s reasonable to assume that the vast majority of passengers are quite happy with the airlines decision to ban vaping on flights. Whilst its banned, it’s also just common courtesy not to vape in confined spaces.


If you’ve found this article of interest, check out our page on why there are still No Smoking signs on passenger planes.