ATL Bans Smoking, starting January 2, 2020
Jul 8, 2019, 9:00 am
#31
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: RDU
Programs: DL DM+(segs)/MM, UA Ag, Hilton DM, Marriott Ti (life Pt), TSA Opt-out Platinum
Posts: 3,223
Smoking/smokers have in my opinion been unfairly picked on for years. The repercussions of alcohol abuse go away beyond what smokers do. When was the last time you heard about a tobacco smoker driving the wrong way on a road taking out an entire family! Also isn't tobacco a natural earth made plant?
A person drinking doesn't affect anyone else. A person smoking affects everyone who inhales their second hand smoke. Just ask us old folks who used to have to have no choice but to hang out in smoky bars. We may not have gotten lung cancer (yet), but we darn sure smelled like an ashtray the next day. Nowadays, thankfully we don't have to deal with that in most restaurants/bars.
Disclaimer: I drink and smoke cigars.
Jul 8, 2019, 9:34 am
#32
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Wesley Chapel, FL
Programs: American Airlines
Posts: 30,004
Jul 8, 2019, 9:59 am
#33
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2012
Location: MCO
Programs: AA, B6, DL, EK, EY, QR, SQ, UA, Amex Plat, Marriott Tit, HHonors Gold
Posts: 12,809
When are they going to ban alcohol? How many times have belligerent drunk passengers caused issues inside the airport and on the airplane?
Smoking/smokers have in my opinion been unfairly picked on for years. The repercussions of alcohol abuse go away beyond what smokers do. When was the last time you heard about a tobacco smoker driving the wrong way on a road taking out an entire family! Also isn't tobacco a natural earth made plant?
Smoking/smokers have in my opinion been unfairly picked on for years. The repercussions of alcohol abuse go away beyond what smokers do. When was the last time you heard about a tobacco smoker driving the wrong way on a road taking out an entire family! Also isn't tobacco a natural earth made plant?
Jul 8, 2019, 10:21 am
#34
Formerly known as scootr29
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 976
Drinking and "Drinking and Driving" are two totally different things. The vast majority of drinkers DONT drink and drive. Just like the vast majority of tobacco users don't discard lit cigarettes into flammable materials. There's nothing a drinker can drive while in an airport or on a plane, so your comparison isn't relevant.
A person drinking doesn't affect anyone else. A person smoking affects everyone who inhales their second hand smoke. Just ask us old folks who used to have to have no choice but to hang out in smoky bars. We may not have gotten lung cancer (yet), but we darn sure smelled like an ashtray the next day. Nowadays, thankfully we don't have to deal with that in most restaurants/bars.
Disclaimer: I drink and smoke cigars.
A person drinking doesn't affect anyone else. A person smoking affects everyone who inhales their second hand smoke. Just ask us old folks who used to have to have no choice but to hang out in smoky bars. We may not have gotten lung cancer (yet), but we darn sure smelled like an ashtray the next day. Nowadays, thankfully we don't have to deal with that in most restaurants/bars.
Disclaimer: I drink and smoke cigars.
I am not a skeptic though when it comes to alcohol abuse and the death that it causes. Just had a neighborhood kid kill himself when he fell off the roof of a fraternity houses at Clemson University...guess what impaired his judgement? That "person" drinking has affected someone...he has affected his Mom and Dad, his brothers, his friends,....
Disclaimer - I am all about personal freedom BUT...I do see alcohol as a bigger personal threat to me than smoking, yet smokers have been banished to the bowels of buildings and to the sidewalks across the street. Yet I have watched many people drink and drink on an airplane or at a business function or on a golf course and then get in their car and drive home!
Jul 8, 2019, 10:23 am
#35
Formerly known as scootr29
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 976
Jul 8, 2019, 10:50 am
#36
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: SEA
Programs: Delta TDK(or care)WIA, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 1,869
SEA does I'm pretty sure I remember an announcement as we were getting ready to land; FA said upon landing, if you want to smoke you have to proceed to a non-smoking area, which the area outside the terminal building and at least 25 feet away from the doors.
Jul 8, 2019, 10:55 am
#37
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: RDU
Programs: DL DM+(segs)/MM, UA Ag, Hilton DM, Marriott Ti (life Pt), TSA Opt-out Platinum
Posts: 3,223
I am and always will be a skeptic when it comes to secondhand smoke. The internet has opened up the door to hundreds of articles that question the long term affects of secondhand smoke.
I am not a skeptic though when it comes to alcohol abuse and the death that it causes. Just had a neighborhood kid kill himself when he fell off the roof of a fraternity houses at Clemson University...guess what impaired his judgement? That "person" drinking has affected someone...he has affected his Mom and Dad, his brothers, his friends,....
Disclaimer - I am all about personal freedom BUT...I do see alcohol as a bigger personal threat to me than smoking, yet smokers have been banished to the bowels of buildings and to the sidewalks across the street. Yet I have watched many people drink and drink on an airplane or at a business function or on a golf course and then get in their car and drive home!
I am not a skeptic though when it comes to alcohol abuse and the death that it causes. Just had a neighborhood kid kill himself when he fell off the roof of a fraternity houses at Clemson University...guess what impaired his judgement? That "person" drinking has affected someone...he has affected his Mom and Dad, his brothers, his friends,....
Disclaimer - I am all about personal freedom BUT...I do see alcohol as a bigger personal threat to me than smoking, yet smokers have been banished to the bowels of buildings and to the sidewalks across the street. Yet I have watched many people drink and drink on an airplane or at a business function or on a golf course and then get in their car and drive home!
Back in reality land: second hand smoke kills 4 times as many people per year as drunk driving. Smoking in general is tied to 480,000 deaths per year in the US. Drunk driving is about 11,000. (Source: CDC and MADD). Additionally the vast majority of fatal car accidents do not involve alcohol. So should we ban cars too?
Sorry about your neighborhood friend. We just buried my best friend’s mother who smoked most of her life and died of lung cancer (she quit 10 years ago, but the damage was already done). Not that either of these anecdotes change the overall statistics.
Jul 8, 2019, 10:59 am
#38
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: RDU
Programs: DL DM+(segs)/MM, UA Ag, Hilton DM, Marriott Ti (life Pt), TSA Opt-out Platinum
Posts: 3,223
Many large companies I work with are outlawing it on their whole campus to get better insurance rates.
Jul 8, 2019, 11:56 am
#39
Formerly known as scootr29
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 976
You can argue with science all you want. Go ahead and think the Earth is flat too...
Back in reality land: second hand smoke kills 4 times as many people per year as drunk driving. Smoking in general is tied to 480,000 deaths per year in the US. Drunk driving is about 11,000. (Source: CDC and MADD). Additionally the vast majority of fatal car accidents do not involve alcohol. So should we ban cars too?
Sorry about your neighborhood friend. We just buried my best friend’s mother who smoked most of her life and died of lung cancer (she quit 10 years ago, but the damage was already done). Not that either of these anecdotes change the overall statistics.
The CDC has made it very clear that actually linking secondhand smoke to death is sketchy at best. If smoking is a banned activity why are people still dying of secondhand smoke? Smoking in public has been banned for many years yet the amount of deaths the CDC links to secondhand smoking does not decrease...hmm. Maybe there are other environmental factors at play?
I suggest reading this great article published in the JNCI Journal of the the National Cancer Institute. Keep in mind we are discussing secondhand smoke.
https://academic.oup.com/jnci/articl...4/1844/2517805
Jul 8, 2019, 11:58 am
#40
Formerly known as scootr29
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 976
I think back in the 2000s RDU cut it out. I don’t think either of the new terminals ever had smoking areas and T2 opened in 2010. The State of NC outlawed smoking in bars and restaurants (excl private clubs) back in 2010 as well. I don’t know that any of our airports have had it since then.
Many large companies I work with are outlawing it on their whole campus to get better insurance rates.
Jul 8, 2019, 5:09 pm
#41
Join Date: Dec 2012
Programs: AA Plat Pro
Posts: 909
Think about the repercussions to social security if we don't let people enjoy vices that shorten their lives (I smoke). This push toward health will have its consequences....long live transfats and cigarettes....in fact, make it Gitane!
Jul 8, 2019, 6:06 pm
#42
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: Delta PM, Delta Reserve, Amex Plat, Bonvoy Gold, Hilton Diamond, Starbucks Gold ;)
Posts: 1,775
Jul 15, 2019, 2:41 am
#43
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: LAS; home will always be DTW
Programs: Delta
Posts: 197
Jul 15, 2019, 3:18 am
#44
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: HH Diamond, Marriott Gold, IHG Gold, Hyatt something
Posts: 33,538
Jul 15, 2019, 6:00 am
#45
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Mid Atlantic
Programs: Delta Plat, one-time United Plat, Amex Plat, Marriott Plat, Hertz Prez Circle, Bus Pass
Posts: 1,237