I think
Basil Fawlty raised an interesting issue. I have been flying as SLF for 30yrs now (OMG..am I really that old!!) and I can't recall air-rage as an issue in my early days of flying. I have been fortunate to fly both in Business aswell as Economy and rarely with charter airlines but on reflection it is only since airlines have banned smoking that incidents seem on the increase. Maybe the solution should be for all SLF to be asked at check-in if they are smokers and if they are for them to be issued a Nicotine patch...after all going "cold turkey" if you are a nicotine addict (add to that alcohol, maybe stress at flying if you are not a happy or frequent flier) must be hell!
I am an infrequent smoker these days -I used to smoke quite heavily but chose to not smoke several years back but still permit myself a cigarette when the occasion seems to create the demand! I am lucky - when I quit it was of my own volition! So many spend months trying to give up that when airlines require it instantly there is probably some medical situation brewing!
My apologies for a "from the gut" response, I am not a Dr but if there is one on pprune maybe he/she can give input here. This could be a/the solution!
