Fun at City Airport

[scooter]

Air France now state in their preflight briefing "the use of e-cigarettes is not allowed", questioned the purser, they are classed as a recidavist (spelling) activity if seen, just be stealthy folks if you have to, we are not bothering anyone if we cannot be seen.

[kickit]

Recidivist? That means someone who has committed a crime and then goes on to repeat the crime again, doesn't it? In English AND in French. So how does Air France decide that you"ve done it before if they catch you with an e-cig? ???
Odd.
Unless, perhaps, the purser had just learned a new word and decided to try it for size.

[scooter]

Yes kickit, although I do know the actual/literal meaning of recidivist, I also googled it and found google to be wrong in it's bias to crime, google is simply wrong, as are people who believe all they read on the internet.
The purser simply echoed with a simpler explanation that if folk see you chugging on that thing they will either freak or spark up a real fag, as is their want, simple really, it's why most hoteliers and publicans will not allow it.

[kickit]

Actually, as I'm a freelance translator and language teacher, I didn't need to google it...
Sorry..just like you, as i see from your location,I've spent a fair time living and working around French people, they seldom use a small word when a big one will do! Whatever semantics you attach to the word, it still seems fairly inappropriate to the context, but that isn't a reflection on you, just on French officialdom!

[scooter]

Whatever kickit, I just lurved the use of the word in that context, like something George Micheal would do in a man's lavatory ;-)
Although I must add she told me all this whilst I had an ego/mini vivi nova hanging off my neck on a lanyard filled with radioactive green Murdocks Radiator Pluid.
She was simply repeating the company doctrine applied to the masses, she had no intention of stopping me, then again, my company fly me business class, I could walk on with a baby Indian elephant under my arm and they wouldn't turn a blind eye in this climate (exag') ;-)

[kickit]

Air France used to have an interesting policy regarding smoking, in the faraway days when it was being slowly phased out by the world's airlines. They banned smoking on internal and short haul flights, whilst still permitting it on long haul, giving rise to some interesting situations. I woke up on a flight from La Reunion as it landed in Bordeaux en route for Paris. I'd been sitting in a smoking seat and smoking up to that point, so once we took off again I thought I would light up, but was told I was now on a no -smoking flight.same plane, crew and passengers, but a whole new set of rules. Same cabin air, too, so those boarding at Bordeaux weren't really gaining any benefit.

[scooter]

:-) As it was being phased out out I was flying Heathrow-Bogota on KLM twice monthly, even as a smoker I hated the stink and used to book non smoking seats, walk down to the kitchen area and smoke if a I needed one.
As the route wound down, we would overnight in Heathrow airport/hotel with all the pilots and crew before the flight next day, the whole 747 was empty but for us, we had some crazy parties enroute, I had to buy an extra refrigirator in my Bogota apt to accommodate all the freebie miniatures :-)