Originally Posted by
bdschobel
Maybe I'm an outlier, but I couldn't care less if people smoke. I believe in letting people do whatever they want to do, as long as it doesn't hurt me. I'll accept the small risk of breathing second-hand smoke.
For decades, people were allowed to smoke on planes. It can't be significantly dangerous, or it would have been banned long ago. And the current ban is primarily health-based, I believe, not safety-based. Someone else may know more about that.
Bruce
If the passengers can't legally light up during the flight, there is no reason the cabin crew should. I'd be fine with a smoking section that evacuates the smoke outside the plane so others don't have to breath or smell it, but barring that, wait until the flight lands. I don't like my clothes smelling like secondhand smoke. While I think chewing tobacco is also gross, that is a more 'personal' option that I could live with for others who need their nicotine.
The current ban could very well be safety based if you consider some idiot putting a still lit cigarette butt into something that catches fire at FL 35.