Often1

+1

This. Second hand smoke. Puts the cleaners at risk & needs a real secondary ventilation system with proper filtration.

beachmouse

The smoking lounges are actually costing the airport authority money.

You could cram yet another shop selling overpriced phone charging cords and battery packs in the space the smoking lounge occupies and the electronics shop also doesn't require a specialty ventilation system to keep the secondhand smoke out of common areas.

kop84

I totally agree, that having an indoor space is a problem. But I guarantee you as a former smoker, if they just had a door to an outside area surrounded by cyclone fencing with a few coffee cans with some sand in it, that would be enough for 99% of smokers at the airport. The whole thing would cost less than ATL spends on air filtration in a quarter.

ND76

I don't smoke, and I frequent places where many of the patrons are allowed to smoke (horse racing tracks and casinos). As long as others don't blow smoke in my face, I can deal with it.

ATL had the smoking rooms with ventilation. There are some nervous flyers who need a smoke break between flights. I think it is cruel of the Atlanta city council to do this to those flyers.

I am always amused by politicians who rail against tobacco and at the same time support cannabis.

kop84

To be fair the body count on Tobacco is more than most wars, meanwhile cannabis is 0.

DenverBrian

Cannabis has carcinogens, no?

lsquare

Yep. There's a lot of false information spread on the internet about cannabis just like with e-cigarettes. Anything that is burned emits toxic fumes. There's a reason why the tobacco industry have never came close to inventing a safe cigarette. It's just impossible. I feel like people are just looking for a justification to doing something stupid. If people want to smoke cannabis, then that's fine, but I can't stand people going around spreading BS like how it's "safer" than cigarettes.

Me neither. I was surprised when I saw this on the news. I recalled seeing smoking rooms at Chinese airports. It's a disgusting habit, but I guess I'm not surprised since there's more Chinese smokers than the entire population of the US.

When I was younger, I use to work in the hospitality industry and I was shocked at how many people smoke. When they come into the office, they just smell really bad and quite frankly, I get a little pissed off cuz I'm breathing in that crap. It's 2019 and quite frankly, people should just stop doing this disgusting habit. It'll be better for their health and their wallets.


It's a fact that the US spends more on health care and not getting the desirable outcome. I'm all for personal freedom and I'm not trying to do my part and turn this into a debate about whether universal free healthcare is suitable for our country or not. At the same time, if people want to smoke and drink, then they should bear whatever the financial consequences will be for treating them afterwards.

I've experienced that way too much in China. Unfortunately this will become a reality unless there is an effective mean to enforce the rules and laws in the restrooms.

I don't want to sit to a guy who just smoked. It's disgusting. I recognize that this is a serious addiction, but that's not an excuse to subject me to breathing in that crap. I should have the right to sit in a truly smoke-free environment.

That is true, but smoking also cause heart disease. I don't know if it's possible to craft the best possible public health policy given how political this can easily get. Perhaps we should tackle these issues one issue at a time? Quite frankly, I don't know what's worse, but how many of us here are comfortable sitting next to someone who smells like an ashtray? Can you imagine flying across the Atlantic with a guy like that? I pray to god that I won't end up in that scenario and it has happened yet...

kop84

Then what about people who have poor eating habits, don't exercise, etc. Because Heart Disease is the number one killer accounting for nearly 1/4 deaths in the US. Starting to play to moral arbiter of what vices are covered and what aren't gets dangerous quickly. As someone said upthread, would you rather sit next to someone who smelled like cigarettes or someone spilling into the seat next to you?

kop84

At least the smell will dissipate or you'll get used to it. If someone's spilling into your seat, that's not dissipating.

I don't like the smell either, but I'm trying to live in reality. Many smokers are going to smoke, especially in a place like ATL...when I was a smoker, if I had just gotten off the flight from JNB, and don't have time to get outside before my connection, I'd have considered stabbing a nun to get a cigarette. Giving people a space to smoke behind security is going to stop people from smoking where they shouldn't...on the plane, in the bathroom, etc.

ExpatSomchai

Jaimito Cartero

Wow, what a fire hazard!

GrayAnderson

To be perfectly frank, I think the answer here is to force the wages up for those workers (separate minimum wage and/or requiring a higher wage for folks at the same facility, perhaps barring them from getting the tipped minimum wage, etc.), require employers to provide additional (and fund long-term) health coverage to cover smoking-related health risks (and which can't block out coverage if they smoke as well), and move along. Plenty of jobs have various known health/safety risks and the work isn't banned, and (for good or ill) there's a rate that a person could be expected to rationally accept for work that comes with the risk of second-hand smoke (particularly if they already smoke, and as such the incremental risk is lower).

On the other side of it...airports failing to monetize a "smoking lounge area" and treating it as "dead space" is their own fault. Given the number of folks who will pay for access to simply a quieter place to relax, the answer would be to either use an area that would otherwise not be used due to size/configuration (perhaps an outside area) or simply provide some nominal additional amenities (heck, upcharge and sell a decent cigar) and charge $10 or $20 for a day pass. Airports failing to work on this from such an angle is a real failure of imagination.