GUWonder

I am betting that a lot of the daily smoking-related disturbances at the beginning of a smoking ban hitting a route/airline didn't result in a "throw the book at them" approach to violators. I recall some FAs telling passengers who smoked in the bathroom things like "it's not allowed, don't do it again" and not doing anything else as far as I could tell. But that was before the 9/11 mentality took over; and back then, the "one strike and your out approach" didn't really apply to most of those who could afford to fly and fly more frequently than their average compatriot. Not sure when they started putting up smoking alarms in the bathroom, but I do know that there have been times before 9/11 when I would go into a plane lavatory and it would smell like someone had smoked in there or at least had lit a match. As a non-smoker, I was curious if I'd ever be falsely accused of smoking in a lavatory in some of those situations, but It never happened to me.

born sleepy

Vaping was how I broke a 30-year cigarette addiction. Took a year tapering down the nicotine, then I stopped.

People who continue to vape long after the nicotine itch is dead are just dumb.

If a plane's lav had a vacuum toilet, judicious timing of a flush would suck the vape exhaust right out without tripping the alarm or otherwise bothering anyone but I only ever did that on long hauls, and then rarely.

FlyerTalker324193

Yeah, it was pretty bad.

I was a kid at the time and we always sat in the non-smoking section on those TATL flights before the complete in-flight ban on smoking. And it was horrible. The cigarette smoke wandered into the non-smoking cabin. I remember just feeling disgusting after an overnight flight when sitting in a row only a few behind the end of the smoking section.

pinniped

It's probably one of those things that feels more exaggerated to a regular passenger than it really is, but it felt like a very rapid descent with a hard 180 thrown in and then we were on the ground. Might've taken 10-15 minutes but it all felt super fast and the captain didn't talk much beyond "prepare for a rapid descent and landing". People in the back put two and two together...they smelled the smoke (cigarette smoke, not entire-airplane-on-fire smoke) and saw the smoker hustle back to his seat. There wasn't any panic in the cabin.

After the smoker was deplaned, the captain explained to everyone what had happened, reminding us that smoke in an airplane is something they take incredibly seriously.

We were headed to LA. I sometimes wonder what happened to that smoker. A guest at the Graybar Hotel for a night, a long bus ride home, and a hefty fine seem likely.

jrl767

DRO is at 6500 ft ... descent at 6000 fpm from (say) 36000 ft to 12000 ft would take ~4 min; then a more nominal rate for the approach would take ~5 min ... so your 10 min is entirely believable

the pilots probably told ATC that they needed to go to DRO, in compliance with the emergency procedure step that says “Land at the nearest suitable airport,” and ATC gave them the 180-degree course change as soon as practical

Steve M

Although I generally find the smell of lingering cigarette smoke disgusting, I had a positive association with it from my early days of flying. Although I always sat in the non-smoking section, I associated that musty smell that hit you as soon as you boarded with the joys of air travel. I just thought that that's how airplanes smelled, without really thinking it was due to smoking.

Even after smoking was banned on flights in the mid-90's, aircraft still tended to have that smell to them due to years of prior in-flight smoking. That's one of the things that struck me the first time I flew on a 777 in 1997: just how fresh the air seemed. I soon realized it was because it was the first aircraft I had been on that had never been smoked on, and not really due to the newness of the aircraft. These days, when I encounter an object that's spent a long time in a smoking environment (such as in a smoker's house), the lingering smell reminds me of flights I took as a child.

John Isaac

I remember flying as a kid in the 1970s---the smoke was terrible.

teddybear99

This, I would still smell smoke from the previous people who sat in those porous seat coverings, and feel that it would transfer to your clothing. My parents were smokers when I was growing up, so the house/cars would smell of smoke at times. When they would quit for periods of time, they would gain weight. So I thought that they needed to have something in their mouth whether it be a cigarette or food. This is something that changed as I got older and understood more about addiction.

When I was in high school 83-86, smoking classmates would run out to the front of school outside the campus fence just to take a hit. We had only 10 minutes between periods, so it had to be quick. Then they would come to class reeking of smoke, which made concentrating in class a difficult thing. At one point, a non-smoking teacher basically separated them by putting them in the back of the class with non-smokers in the front. Finally, I am glad I didn't see the appeal, I took one hit and then puked, I also tried chewing tobacco and had the same experience, so stayed away from it all.

lhrsfo

My mother was a heavy smoker and I used to fly with her as a kid. It never bothered me when smoking was allowed throughout the plane but I remember disliking being stuck in the back where the smoke was more concentrated. The same on the Tube - it wasn't bothersome when it was allowed everywhere but when it was consigned to carriages, those carriages were exceedingly unpleasant. Likewise with pubs.

Nowadays of course it's very rare I come into contact with smokers and the smell it leaves on my clothes always shocks me. I suppose it was everywhere before, and we were desensitised.

Bokehman

It was bad, but not as bad as my dad lighting up his Cuban in the car, with the windows closed.

Loose Cannon

I didn't notice it as much when I was a very young child but in the summer of 1980 I flew NRSA on AA74 LAX-CLE and was stuck near the back of coach. First Class and the forward part of coach was unavailable because the California Angels (that was their name back in 1980) had those seats. I was in a middle seat and was immersed in cigarette smoke and it was awful and I felt sick for several days afterwards.

lamphs

This thread caused me to notice smoking rooms in airports in my recent travels - IAD B and VIE G. I had forgotten all about these. I recall, a number of years ago, where a colleague would purposefully schedule flights through ORD so that he had time to go outside to smoke and make it back through security (prior to PreCheck) for his next flight.

EAJuggalo

This is what I always remember as the end of smoking on planes. I grew up at MSP in the 80's so it was very NWA heavy. In fact until 2002 I only ever flew NWA or Sun Country.

Looking at how few places banned smoking and how few places allow smoking now. I remember being in Madison, WI in 2001 maybe and being told for the first time that there was no smoking section at a restaurant. Now I can't think the last time I was anywhere that even offered a smoking room at a hotel.

Qwkynuf

I'm staying at a Hilton Garden Inn this very week that offers smoking rooms - in California, if you can believe that! I almost accidentally selected one during online check in.

Dadaluma83

My first flight was sometime back in the 80's to visit my grandparents while I was still a toddler, and I didnt fly again until I was in college in the 2000's so no memory whatsoever of smoking on planes. I have lots of memories however of smoking in restaurants. As someone with allergies and asthma it was very unpleasant. Made the food taste bad too since the cigarrette smoke stink was all over everything even in non smoking sections.

Got much better in the mid 90's when indoor smoking bans at restaurants became the norm. I remember restaurant owners screaming bloody murder that smoking bans would destroy their business because people like to light up after a meal and they feared backlash from smokers that they would stop going. Turns out it was the opposite, smoking bans made dining much better and nobody had any backlash or anything.