Smoking, here we go again..!
 

I know this has been covered only about a million times, so here it goes again.

Is there an international move to ban smoking on flights? I hope so, why a whole aeroplane load of people has to suffer for a handful of inconsiderate schmucks I'll never know! There is no such thing as a non smoking seat on a smoking flight. I'm just waiting for a frequent flyer on one of these smoking airlines to develop some sort of lung related disease.... lawyers will have a field day!
I know that at the end of the day it all boils down to the individual company and country's regulating authority, but surely something can be done to stop smoking on aeroplanes worldwide?

If the night flights don't kill me, the smoke surely will!

Lady Matilda,

Your comment, <I'm just waiting for a frequent flyer on one of these smoking airlines to develop some sort of lung related disease.... lawyers will have a field day!>

Just how do you propose that these fine lawyers go ahead and prove that the pax lung desease was caused by other pax smoking on a flight? It may, for instance, have been caused by particulate pollution emitted by your car or mine.

I'm just off to my shed for a smoke!


Regards
Exeng

Or.......

it may not!

---------------------------
Good luck with the breathing apparatus

[This message has been edited by LadyMatilda (edited 20 November 2000).]

[This message has been edited by LadyMatilda (edited 20 November 2000).]

Exeng - as an aside, bare in mind that in a civil trial you don't have to prove anything beyond a reasonable doubt; on the balance of probabilities will do nicely, thank you.

Dear Lawerboy,

I'm just back from my shed and I note your interesting comment. But what do you think the chances really are of demonstating, with regard to the balance of probabilities, that the lung desease was more likely to have been caused by a frequent fliers exposure to cigarette smoke on an A/C as opposed to all the other airborne pollutants we are continually exposed to?

Has this yet been tested in court?


Regards
Exeng

As far as I'm aware this hasn't seen the inside of a courtroom yet (if I'm wrong no doubt someone will pipe up, no pun intended).

I don't know, is the honest answer. I would have thought, using common sense alone, that if you spend a large portion of your life cooped up in a metal tube breathing fairly recycled air which happens to be full of carcenogenic contaminants you're more likely to suffer a related disease than if you don't, all other nasties in everyday air notwithstanding.

We all breathe in stuff that does us no good, but the problem that airlines face in any potential litigation is that it all sounds far too plausible; smoke in a cabin is all too obvious and pervasive. Never mind that the very same frequent flyer probably also goes to a pub in London two or three times a week, for much the same time as he'd spend in flight, and inhales just as much. You can walk out of a pub - it's a bit harder to do that at 30,000ft, and that fact together with the fact that most people still regard flying as the work of the devil, means that I think you'd have a fair chance in court, particularly in America.

Incidentally, am I correct in remembering Iberia as having a particularly novel approach to separating smokers from non-smokers? Smokers on the left hand side of aisle, non-smokers down the right.....?

As this topic has appeared in Aircrew Notices, I thought I might point out that this week's New Scientist has highlighted an interesting approach to this problem.

Quote: GOOD to see that Virgin Atlantic is taking a tough line on aircraft vandalism. On a flight from London to San Francisco recently, the flight attendant waited until the plane had reached cruising altitude before announcing over the PA system:

"This is a non-smoking flight. The toilets are all fitted with smoke alarms. It is a criminal offence to tamper with them. Anyone caught tampering with the toilet smoke alarms will be forced to leave the flight immediately."
http://www.newscientist.co.uk/feedback/

Lady Matilda,
A few words for you from my favorite comedian, the late Bill Hicks:

- ON NON-SMOKERS -
"You obnoxious , self-righteous, whining little f@cks. My biggest fear is that if I quit smoking, I'll become on of you... I have something to tell you non-smokers that I know for a fact that you don't know, and I delight in sharing information with my brothers at all times. Ready?.......(He lights a cigarette) "Non-smokers die, everyday... See, I know you entertain this eternal life fantasy because you've chosen not to smoke, but let me be the 1st to POP that bubble and bring you hurtling back to reality.... You die too. Hehehahaa--Sleep tight!" http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/tongue.gif


Lighten up!


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Un diva très doué.



[This message has been edited by mriya225 (edited 21 November 2000).]

I used to smoke (only now and then Ill have one at the bar). When I traveled once on a long-haul smoking flight I was hounded by this bloodey wowser behing me who kept telling me rudely to stop smoking because he didnt like it, youll die of cancer, blah blah blah. I asked him "If this was a non-smoking flight buddy and it was up to you, would you let me just have a ciggy or two to ease my jitters?" Answer "Of course not!"
So I just said "Well then asshole it works BOTH ways!"

PS Matilda I take it a post-sex cigarette is one simple but exquisite pleasure youve never known? http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/tongue.gif

Mriya225 that wouldve been a good comeback, but the steam was taken out of it by you discribing Mr Bill Hicks as "the late"!

I am a smoker, however; I do not smoke on flights, in dining establishments, or in non-smokers households. I DO object to people giving me a glare when I smoke outside, in a parking lot filled with gas guzzling vehicles producing more harm to their lungs than my tiny wiff of smoke!

BUT...having tried to quit many a time, I realize as a non smoker that you can really smell and inhale cigarette smoke from a great distance. Which is probably why I have a hard time trying to quit! No one should be subjected to offensive smells.

And on that subject, I suggest that all PERFUME, especially Ralph Lauren's (sp) be totally banned on all flights! I spent the most agonizing hour of my life next to a person whom I'm sure never showered, only to find out a lot of men wear that certain cologne. To me, it STINKS!

I grew up on a farm, I can handle almost anything when it comes to stink...but not that indiscibable smell of what ever it was posing as cologne.

And this goes for ladies too! I've tried a few perfumes where I hated myself on the drive home, couldn't wait for a shower!


Final answer, ban smoking.

Nicotine patches are available, they work, and it would make life in an enclosed environment better.

But also consider the ban on fragrance as well.

Slash,

Bill Hicks also died -sadly- young (32) of pancreatic cancer but smoking doesn't seem to be a precursor to that particular type.

Vnv...

ExEng,

You going to the GatBash? If so. please bring your shed and I'll join you in it!

I've managed a 16-hour non-smoking flight from SYD-SFO, but I'm hapier with my flight to UK for the Bash which is Gulf Air ("smoking" - and I'll be in the very last row! ;) )

------------------
---- "Per Ardua ad Mixas" ----
(Through hardship to the bars)

To the smokers lobby:

Are you guys just having fun on this thread, or are you serious about smoking on flights being acceptable ?

If you choose to inhale carcogens that's just fine, don't presume that your fellow passengers feel so flippant about it though.

Slasher,

It was, in fact, an excellent comeback...

Bill died of pancreatic cancer, a couple of years after he quit smoking.

His point is still profound; we all die...
Now, you may or may not be able to correlate the way you live with the nature of your death, but we're all checking out--one way or another.

------------------
Un diva très doué.

It just goes to show - smokers are the most selfish people on this earth

Actually, I think it goes to show that whether you smoke or not, people who are intolerant are the most selfish.

ExSimGuy - please join me for a drink at the bash, I don't smoke, but I'll stand downwind hon. :)

Flap 5 nah. Id say habitual farters are.

Dear ExSimGuy,

Sorry but I can't make it this year, maybe next.

I should give up 737's (not fags!) and go to the 'Highlands and Islands' 'cos some of 'em actually fly in 'sheds'!!


Regards
Exeng


Disappears in a cloud of smoke.....

One of my colleagues just made a superb comment.

"Having a smoking section on an airliner
is like having a pissing section in a public swimming pool."

Nuff said.