And I will once again shamlessly plug the SHURE E2 Sound Isolating In Ear Earphones. They have passed my "will it block out raving lunatics?" test with flying colors on the NYC Subway.

Bring them and a RIO Carbon MP3 Player (20 hour battery on a single charge) and you're set for even Continental's longest flight (EWR-HKG @ 16hours).

Trust me. I'm an expert on raving lunatics and long flights.

As for the smoking section, I remember flying Icelandair with my parents in the mid-late 70s from JFK to Luxembourg (Geez, are they still around?) and you had to walk past the smoking section to get to the aft lavs. I remember waiting my turn and seeing a thick acrid haze that you could cut with a knife - and they gave you real knives in those days, even in economy