randyqx

i took air china 939, beijing to rome, on the 13th. i paid business class. the whole way, the crew smoked somewhere up front. i left the flight with enough head congestion and a headache to last the night.

i will not be flying air china again. if you do not like cigarette smoke, i recommend you not fly them.

Traveloguy

It's common on a number of carriers for crew to smoke in the cockpit. Several European carriers do this too.

SirRagnar

Yikes - I can think of many other reasons not to fly them either, but that one definitely takes the win.

Perhaps it's good that they smoke though, it might cover up that nasty stench of them preparing the foul Y meals (don't ever fly AirChina with hangovers!).

sunseeker

from remote second hand smoking?
if that really is the case, maybe you have a much more serious health condition
problem and should not fly at all.....

mahasamatman

Business Class is pretty close to the front (hardly remote), and if they're smoking heavily, it will easily permeate the entire cabin.

The OP has certainly convinced me to avoid CA and all European carriers referred to by Traveloguy.

LAX

I guess the no smoking regulation is for US-based carriers only?! What about pax on CA? Are they allowed to light it up in the lavs?

LAX

mahasamatman

Many non-U.S. airlines are also non-smoking.

As far as I've been able to find, CA is supposed to be a non-smoking airline. A lot of information on the web is out of date, but the airline descriptions on the ANA web site seem to be pretty current.

LAX

If so, I don't think there should be double-standards. No smoking for pax while the crew can puff away. Perhaps I would stay away from CA if that's indeed the case.

LAX

travelinmanS

The crew can do whatever they want in regards to smoking on Chinese airlines. I've been on many planes in china where you get that smoky smell soon after takeoff and it lasts for the whole flight. Smoking is a passion in China so you just have to suck it up and deal with it when flying on Chinese airlines.

mahasamatman

My preliminary research has shown that even in the U.S., there used to be one. It was apparently determined that safety could be compromised if an addicted pilot was going through nicotine withdrawal, so it was allowed for a time.

randyqx

did i say remote? strange, i did not think i had i was in the second row, probably 5m or less from the flight deck. but i suspect the smoking room was actually this small crew-only space right across from the lav, in the cabin crew's area.

SirRagnar

Which carriers would that be?

dsquared37

Like when indoors and people are lighting up right under the no smoking sign?

toyotaboy95

Contrary to you, the meals on CA for me have been basic to very good. On the other hand, it may be a matter of culture rather than taste because most of their meals are Chinese-style. Certainly not foul.

I recall a thread about Spanair pilots smoking.


OP, are you sure that the 'cigarette smoke' you smelt was not the body odour of other [Chinese] pax? A big proportion of mainland Chinese people are addicted to their cigarettes. I've been on many flights in the past few years since CA joined *A and I've never smelt strong cigarette smoke although there is a stench of weak cigarette smoke because of body odour.

Anyway, if anyone has any feedback to CA, please do so at:
starquest (at) airchina.com
customer_relations (at) airchina.com

Traveloguy

TP for one. I think even LH still allow their crew to do so too, but that may have changed.