A man surnamed Yang was detained by police on January 14 at the Beijing Capital International Airport for smoking on flight HU498 from Chicago to Beijing. The man smoked several times in the bathroom and ignored warnings from flight staff, the Beijing Youth Daily reported.

After Hainan Airlines flight attendants detected a smell of cigarette smoke in the airplane bathroom, the staff broadcasted the legal consequences of smoking on the plane and asked the smoker to reveal himself, but no one replied. Three hours after the broadcast, the smoker was caught when he exited the bathroom. Yang, a student studying overseas, admitted he smoked three times in the plane's bathroom.