A rude passenger was kicked off a flight causing a one-hour delay - because she refused to stop vaping.

The young woman took a cheeky puff on the electronic pen while the plane was taxiing to the runway for take-off in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

But an eagle-eyed air hostess spotted the mist from the device and gave the Chinese customer a dressing down.

However, she refused to stop using the electronic cigarette - sparking angry scenes as the captain turned the plane back to the gate.

Footage shows the offender in a grey hoodie wasting time walking back and forth before being escorted off the Airbus A320, operated by low-cost carrier AirAsia on January 8.

She is said to have been arrested and detained by airport police.

Annoyed passenger Timothy Chin recorded the scene as the rude flier was kicked out of the cabin and another person in a seat near him sarcastically shouted 'bye, bye'.

Timothy said: 'Our flight to Bangkok was delayed for an hour because of this passenger who was smoking a vape when we were about to take off.

'The flight attendant saw there was smoke from her seat and told her that smoking is not permitted on the flight, but she still insisted on vaping. The passenger was Chinese.

'Finally, the plane had to turn around and she was kicked off the flight. She was arrested by the authorities. I hope she had to pay a fine.'

The two-hour flight to the Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, eventually took and arrived more than an hour later than scheduled.

AirAsia said it has a strict no-smoking policy on all its flights, including the use of electronic cigarettes and vaping devices. Passengers are also banned from charging the devices onboard.

The airline requires that they be kept in carry-on baggage and not packed in suitcases checked into the hold below the plane.

Earlier this week, a group of rude male tourists were kicked off a plane for vaping in front of shocked passengers.

The rowdy holidaymakers appeared to ignore safety rules as they puffed on their vapes on Nok Air flight DD-532 flying from Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok on January 5.

Footage captured one of the male tourists sucking the electronic device as he played on his phone mid-flight. Another reportedly hid in the toilet to vape onboard the Boeing 737.

But fellow passengers became annoyed when the cabin began filling with a sickly sweet stench and they alerted the hostesses, who bravely tackled them.

The obnoxious tourists were detained upon landing at the Phuket International Airport, where they were escorted off the aircraft by police.