In 1998 BA decided to ban smoking onboard all flights, and most customers are much happier flying as a result. Still it baffles me how for years non-smokers would deal with smokers enjoying cigarettes (were cigars allowed?) in the tight confines of an aircraft cabin. The idea that someone would be smoking next to, behind, in front of me and filling the finite cabin air with smoke seems ridiculous to say the least.
But still, smokers exist, and I have to believe that post-meal, in an inebriated, frustrated, confined state, some still get the urge to light up at 36,000 feet. Has anybody ever had experience with a person trying to enjoy a crafty ciggy in the air, and if so what happened 5 seconds after the tobacco was lit?
[Edit: I have not actually tried to use one of these in-flight. I'd be very interested to know if anyone has. A colleague uses one in the office from time to time though]
I can only recall flying one long haul flight back when smoking was still allowed.. SYD-DPS for a Skydiving comp of all things...
IIRC the "Smoking zone" was toward the rear of the aircraft... which of course meant that it was possible to be in the last row of non-smoking... right in front of the first row of "smoking"...
I can't recall it being too awful.. but then at the time we were quite used to smokers being nearby on trains/buses etc..
I think these days it would be WAAY more noticeable...
I can only recall flying one long haul flight back when smoking was still allowed.. SYD-DPS for a Skydiving comp of all things...
IIRC the "Smoking zone" was toward the rear of the aircraft... which of course meant that it was possible to be in the last row of non-smoking... right in front of the first row of "smoking"...
I can't recall it being too awful.. but then at the time we were quite used to smokers being nearby on trains/buses etc..
I think these days it would be WAAY more noticeable...
I recall BA Long Haul in Club in the cradle seat days. Upstairs was non smoking and downstairs was smoking. It was to and from Japan, so of course there was no problem getting a seat upstairs.
How times have changed.
What was the rule in First Class? Never got in there in those days.
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I remember the smoking days. It was awful. The only barrier to the smoke was a little card attached to the last seat in the non-smoking section telling you the next row was smoking.
Back in those days smoking was allowed in a lot of places though and I suppose we were just used to it.
I recall Air Canada was the first airline to ban smoking network wide. Being a non-smoker I specifically would choose Air Canada over other carriers including BA because of the ban. It's not just for health reasons but safety as-well. Airline seats are extremely flammable
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dsk7
In 1998 BA decided to ban smoking onboard all flights, and most customers are much happier flying as a result. Still it baffles me how for years non-smokers would deal with smokers enjoying cigarettes (were cigars allowed?) in the tight confines of an aircraft cabin. The idea that someone would be smoking next to, behind, in front of me and filling the finite cabin air with smoke seems ridiculous to say the least.
But still, smokers exist, and I have to believe that post-meal, in an inebriated, frustrated, confined state, some still get the urge to light up at 36,000 feet. Has anybody ever had experience with a person trying to enjoy a crafty ciggy in the air, and if so what happened 5 seconds after the tobacco was lit?
About 5 years ago on a BA flight from LHR to SIN an elderly (I suspect well into her 80's) German woman in front of us decided to light up. No one said anything but you could see the consternation in passengers faces as the tell tale smell of smoke drifted further and further through the cabin! It finally reached the nose of a FA and they politely identified the source and advised the woman that this was not allowed. From her reactions thereafter it was quite clear that she was well aware that smoking was prohibited.
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Worst of all was that towards the end of the smoking-on-aircraft era, most smokers would prefer to sit in non-smoking, and try and light up in a free "smoking" seat (smoking while standing in the aisle was not allowed).
I remember checking in late-ish for an Alitalia flight ex FCO in the mid-1990s. The only seats left in Y were in the last row of the DC9, which also was the last row of "smoking". The seat next to me remained empty. Result: that seat became the "smoking" seat for a succession of smokers who had bagged seats in the non-smoking section (one commenting that she "really hates the smell") but still couldn't live without a nicotine fix for an intra-Europe flight. It was like sitting next to a chain smoker The crew was supportive only in that they moved the two of us in the last row from "aisle and middle" to "middle and window", for ease of access to the chain smoking seat, and in that they insisted on some kind of orderly queue being formed... That was my first time on Alitalia, and I have actively avoided it ever since - only one more flight on AZ since that day, when it really really couldn't be helped.
On one of my 747 flights last year, I heard whilst I was in the F galley that someone had been smoking in the rear toilets, but it seemed that the crew had not identified the person in time. I assumed that an alarm had gone off on the flight deck and/or CSD's office from the smoke detectors.
Also still in the smoking-on-board era, smoking Finnair customers had apparently complained that sitting in the back makes them second class citizens. AY then came up with the brilliant solution (on the 2-3 seating DC9:s of the time) to make all AC seats smoking and the DEF side non-smoking
Not surprisingly, this experiment did not last long.
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BA used to allow cigars to be smoked in the rear cabin on concorde, in fact they were a part of the catering. BA nearly got into a lot of trouble when the US customs people realised they were offering Cuban cigars!!
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The crew was supportive only in that they moved the two of us in the last row from "aisle and middle" to "middle and window", for ease of access to the chain smoking seat, and in that they insisted on some kind of orderly queue being formed... That was my first time on Alitalia, and I have actively avoided it ever since - only one more flight on AZ since that day, when it really really couldn't be helped.
