Passenger Causes Flight To Be Diverted After Trying To Light Cigarette Not Once, But Twice

Entitled airline passengers aren't a new thing, and most anyone who has flown semi-regularly has likely experienced the ways they manage to make everyone's life more difficult.

A recent passenger on the red-eye Alaska Airlines flight 1138 between San Francisco and Philadelphia managed to take this to a whole new level.

The flight was forced to divert to O'Hare International Airport in Chicago when a passenger insisted on lighting a cigarette; not once, but twice.

Alaska Airlines told CNN that the plane was forced to land:

"Due to a disruptive passenger onboard and out of an abundance of caution, the flight was diverted to Chicago and landed at 4:22 a.m. local time."

After being told by the flight crew that smoking was not allowed on planes, the passenger insisted on trying again.

The pilots chose to land and to have the passenger removed about an hour before the plane was due to reach Philadelphia.

Chicago police met the plane to escort the passenger, who was described as "somewhat belligerent."

They left the plane without incident, but the detour added around an hour to the flight's travel time, as the plane needed to be refueled.

Chicago PD, the FBI and the US Marshals told CNN that they did not make any arrests in relation to this incident.

It is still unclear whether the passenger will face any consequences from the FAA, which governs air travel in the United States.

Some Twitter users had a hard time understanding the selfishness behind a move like trying to smoke on a plane.

One Twitter user offered a solution for next time.

Smoking in planes hasn't been allowed since 2000, and was being phased out well before that.

It shouldn't be that hard to remember to comply with a regulation that has been in place for nearly 20 years.