Date: 201912
Local time of day: 0001-0600
Location: ZZZ.Airport, US
Aircraft: B737-900
Operator: Air Carrier
Operating under: Part 121
Flight plan: IFR
Mission: Passenger
Flight phase: Parked; Taxi; Cruise
Reporter organization: Air Carrier
Reporter function: Flight Attendant (On Duty)
Reporter qualification: Flight Attendant Current
Human factors: Communication Breakdown
Second reporter function: Flight Attendant (On Duty)
Anomaly: Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Passenger Misconduct
Detector: Person Flight Crew
When detected: In-flight; Aircraft In Service At Gate
Result: General None Reported / Taken
Contributing factors: Human Factors
Primary problem: Human Factors

Narrative: During deplaning (A-FA (Flight Attendant)) and I were tidying up the first class cabin when I got to his seat and 3 'smokeless cigarette butts' littering the seat and floor. It became apparent that while we thought he was sleeping with the blanket covering his head he had indeed been puffing his cigarette. (A-FA) then realized when she thought she had smelled a faint cigarette odor in FC (First Class) but found no smoke or anything in the lav she chalked it up to being on someone's clothes. These types of cigarettes are a newer items that are smokeless and quite odorless as well. He was standing outside baggage claim as we were walking to our crew van so (C-FA) and myself politely went up to him and mentioned that we had found his smokeless cigarettes around his seat. Our intention was to politely tell him that it was a fine-able offense and so for future flying he'd have been warned. However before we finished speaking he started berating us and our airline; using explicit language and saying we are the worst airline he's ever experienced and that the cigarettes had fallen out of his pocket. He said that he had already tweeted a negative review and was awaiting [TV New Channel] response and to get the '[Expletive deleted]' which (C-FA) and I remained calm and polite and walked away knowing anything else we might say would fall on deaf ears. During our agricultural form pass-out of the flight we had limited quantities so I allowed a few traveling families to include their elderly grandparents on their forms so that we had enough. (Literally we were short only 2 forms on walk through). [Passenger] said he heard that and was notifying [State] Agriculture that we allowed them to lie on their forms. However we had a few families take extra forms and then delivered those to previously stated families to fill out for the grandparents so his allegations were obviously not true. He was a very rude passenger and escalated any event on this flight to create a very hostile work environment. Earlier submitted report:We had a very disgruntled first time [Airline] flyer occupying seat XX.His first grievance was that we could not serve him a double bourbon upon boarding and then became pissed when he realized we served our pre-departure beverages in plastic glasses and refused his sparkling white wine when it was handed to him. His companion then requested a pillow which I told them we did not have and his response was 'Do you guys have [expletive deleted] anything'; I apologized and walked away. During the flight while I was guarding for a Pilot break he tried to stand and come forward; I politely explained I needed everyone to remain seated as the pilots were utilizing the lav. He began to complain once seated again that this was '[expletive deleted] unnecessary and he's never seen it before'...he then got impatient and got up to attempt going to the aft and rudely made his way past our C doing a water service cussing under his breath. While there was no personal damage done; his choice of foul language and bad attitude is worth mentioning seeing as our normally favored [Airline] service was not enjoyed by him and he may write one healthy complaint.[Passenger] should not be allowed to fly our airline and should be fined for his obvious rule breaking behavior. He was defiant and apparently has trouble understanding our responsibilities as a crew.


Second narrative: Mid flight I noticed I smelled cigarettes around row X; and after looking could not locate the origin of the smell; and saw no smoke. At this point I figured someone had smoked before we left and had shifted positions and the smell was suddenly released from their clothing. After landing D FA (Flight Attendant) and I assisted with cleaning up FC (First Class) and found 3 cigarette butts all around his seat. After a little research we realized they were smokeless cigarettes. When letting our crew know; (Flight Attendant B) found one more. Passenger was 'sleeping' with his head covered under a blanket the entire flight. (Flight Attendant D) and (Flight Attendant B) informed him as they passed on the way to the shuttle that that kind of behavior is a fine able offense.Crew to be made aware of the situation on his original flight. Agents should inform him before he boards that this kind of behavior is illegal and flight attendants can and will in force FAA rules.


Synopsis: Flight attendants reported finding smokeless cigarette butts and confronting passenger in baggage area.