Step out for a cig...at 30,000 feet?!

Woman wanted outdoor cigarette mid-flight

BRISBANE, Australia, Nov. 21 (UPI)-- An Australian court has chastised a French woman for trying to open an aircraft door mid-flight so she could step out for a cigarette.

Sadrine Sellies, 34, was placed on a good behavior bond Monday after pleading guilty in the Brisbane Magistrates Court to endangering the safety of an aircraft.

Her defense lawyer told the court Sellies was terrified of flying, had taken sleeping tablets and had consumed a lot of alcohol before takeoff. She had no memory of what happened on the flight and also had a history of sleepwalking, her lawyer said.

Sellies and her husband were en route to Australia on Saturday on a Cathay Pacific flight for a 3-week vacation, the Melbourne Herald-Sun reported.

She was placed on a one-year $1,000 good behavior bond, warned by the judge to behave while flying and then released.

© Copyright 2005 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Man Gets 15 Months for Smoking on Plane

Nov 17, 5:41 PM (ET)

ATHENS, Greece (AP) - A Greek court sentenced a man to 15 months in prison for smoking on a plane, and then hitting a male flight attendant who told him to put his cigarette out, court officials said Thursday.

The 50-year-old Greek resident of New York was also convicted of endangering the aircraft. He was traveling on Olympic Airlines Flight No. 412 from New York to Athens last week.

Flight attendants said the defendant had been smoking in the main passenger area of the plane and in the toilet.

The man, who remains free pending appeal, said a 45-minute delay in takeoff from New York had made him nervous.