absolutely NO sympathy for smokers in airport
 

OK,
I am a smoker

devil devil devil SOME of you say, and probably with some justice.

However, can someone explain the total lack of sympathy for us in airports where ABSOLUTELY no smoking is allowed once in the terminal?

I have recently been in Malaga and there is a smoking area in the departure area. How civilized, and an absolute boon for those of us who may be delayed. No complaints from other passengers as the area is cut off. But elsewhere...... well in Dublin recently, I was delayed 4 hours and could not get a ciggie. Me and others too. Tempers frayed. You can guess the rest.

Alright, I agree with no smoking in public areas, but really, in an airport, where people are stressed enough with possible fear of flying, and bags, buggies, bottles, babies, grannies, and delays, surely a place out of sight and smell for us could be arranged?

I doubt I'll get much sympathy for my plight, but anyone?????

Completely agree! A seperate room for us to have a cheeky one before spending hours on a delayed tin can. Terminal 3 LHR had a room. T'was perfect

Oh my,

I really didn't expect a fellow traveller! Well, what should we do?

Do Airport authorities not accept that at least 25% of their passengers need nicotine? I think banning smoking in an airport is cruel and unusual punishment.

Could this be a reason for SOME air rage???

I hasten to add that even without nicotine, I can cope......just!

YVR had a couple or three smoking rooms, sealed with separate air in and out. Now all closed and you can't smoke outside within 3 metres of a door or air inlet.

Outside UK and US, most airports have smoking rooms and at least in new-build, these seem to have been easily accommodated. As often as not, many of the occupants are staff who face the same problems as passengers.

Of course, if one is really desperate, one could light up in the bar, be arrested and enjoy a smoke while in prison.

Or, be elected as an MP and smoke in the Palace of Westminister.

Filthy habit. However, I don't see why an airport cannot set aside an enclosed space for the pariahs.

I can see no problem with having a dedicated smoking room for smokers.

It's my understanding, and it may well be wrong, that in the UK it's not so much the airport authority's decision rather it's the law and they have little choice in not providing a smoking area? I think it's the same in the US, or at least in certain states.

"that at least 25% of their passengers need nicotine"

Aren't nicotine patches made precisely for this?

Yep me thinks you are correct, it is not the airport. It is the law, the whole smoking in public buildings bit. So as frustrating as it maybe (I say this as a smoker) we don't have a lot of choice.

Anyway, time to pop outside for a Tab, anyone wanna join me? :ok:

Personnally I would prefer you to be inside a sealed room with an airlock rather than lounging outside the doors, looking untidy, and polluting the air we non-smokers breathe.

I think there is a 3m rule too where you should not smoke near a door. Certainly you can't smoke in a bike shed or bus shelter as they have more than 50% walls.

EMA has just constructed a caged area outside the terminal but airside for the smokers.At least it has a roof!

Very simple. The anti-smoking powers do not believe that the vile smoker-devils deserve any sympathy at all. They are to be ridiculed, hounded, persecuted and ultimately exterminated. Exterminate. Exterminate.

Last time I went through Sydney Airport (a couple of years ago now) they had a smokers lounge in International Departures:D

Only problem was that no one cleaned it :yuk:

Stockholm Arlanda also has little smoking chambers in the departure/arrival lounge and I recall that in Frankfurt smoking seems to be encouraged.

thanks for your (mostly) sympathetic support. Yeah yeah I know about the LAW (an ass most of the time), but has anyone heard that Shannon airport, despite the smoking ban in Ireland, has a dedicated smoking area for ....wait for it...... the transitting US marines and soldiers on the way to Iraq and probably rendition somewhere or other.

Only problem is, the commercial passenger is not allowed anywhere near it for Homeland Security reasons or the law in Ireland for the non marine I suppose.

Some spokesperson for SNN will no doubt scream that THIS IS UNTRUE!, but I believe it, anything to keep the US planes flying in, It's just not fair.

I am somewhat surprised that our dear government hasn't allowed smoking in special smoking rooms in such places as airports, railway stations etc, subject to a suitable entry fee (plus VAT). I have no doubt that Bloody Awful Airports (Heathrow Ltd) would leap onto this idea to increase revenue.....

I believe it is still the case that the revenue raised from tobacco sales exceeds the amount spent by the NHS on smoking related diseases, let alone the savings brought about by the reduction in time that pensions are paid.

BTW, I stopped smoking over 30 years ago, and can't stand the smell these days. so I don't have an axe to grind....

As a non-smoker I have absolutely no objections to an airside smoking area that smokers can get their fix in before the flight. The only thing I would like is that the area (if a closed area) has an air curtain to 'dust smokers off' so to speak. :-)

S.

Ah yes, I saw something similar to what deltayankee described at Skavsta... 2 stools, with a table in the middle, a roof and 3 sides... and some sort of high-powered extraction system which meant you could stand right next to the booth and not smell a thing! Great idea... I didn't get a chance to try it as I was late, but next time...

The indoor thing is simply out of the question now in the UK, for obvious reasons. However... I can't believe noone's taken a proactive stance on this. A lot of airports in the UK could provide, at relatively trivial cost, an area for outside smoking (Singapore being an excellent example). As a smoker, I don't for a moment expect to be subsidised in this respect, so stick a full-height turnstile entry on it that takes £2 coins.

The airport are going to make money from it, and smokers are catered for. Take a very low figure as an example... 10000 people pass through an airport in a day. Say 3000 of them smoke to some degree. Then say 1000 of those aren't bothered about having a fag pre-flight. The other 2000 use the facility once. That's £1.5m in the coffers just in a year. The return covers the construction costs 10x over, the rest is pure profit.