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April 19

Smoking on an airplane in the 1960s

Do we have to stop smoking during take-off₤ and landing? -- Toytoy (talk) 01:09, 19 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Yes.

You have a time machine? Clarityfiend (talk) 09:59, 19 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, myself (I was there at the time). DOR (ex-HK) (talk) 19:36, 20 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Smoking is not allowed during take-off or landing or when the illuminated signs read "No Smoking", nor at any time in the toilets. Ash trays are provided in the arms of the chairs. On leaving the aircraft, do NOT smoke until you are inside the terminal building.

SAFETY ON BOARD - early 1960s passenger safety instructions, AustAir Jet Services. Alansplodge (talk) 10:33, 19 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

There was reasoning behind it. The materials used in planes and airports were flammable. It was a lot of wood and glue. Even if it didn't catch fire, they didn't want little burn holes in everything. Smaller planes are affected more by turbulence. So, having smokers dropping cigarrets during takeoff and landing was an issue. Further, having them toss their cigarette on the floor and stamp it out, burning the carpet in the airport, was a problem. One solution is an ashtray. If we assume most smokers are willing to use an ashtray instead of just tossing the butt on the floor, the burns will be reduced. Because there is no way to truly stop smokers from smoking on flights, ashtrays are still required on many flights. Some people ask why we have them if you aren't allowed to smoke. They are there because some people are not capable of survining a flight without smoking and need the ashtray to avoid burning things by doing something stupid like dropping a lit butt in the trash full of paper towels and tissues. 75.136.148.8 (talk) 12:14, 19 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Have you been on a flight in the last couple of years on which smoking, while not allowed, was condoned? You can get arrested for that and be put on a no-fly list.^[1] There are ashtrays on the lavatory doors, but not elsewhere. --Lambiam 13:26, 19 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I can't afford to fly around, but my brother works with international doctor programs and does experience smoking on flights. 75.136.148.8 (talk) 14:19, 19 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I suppose that if somebody DOES illegally light-up, there needs to be a place where it can be safely extinguished. Alansplodge (talk) 11:16, 20 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

That's why there are ashtrays on the lavatory doors. --Lambiam 18:33, 21 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

And airliners may sometimes be sold or leased out or chartered to organisations which will permit smoking? {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 151.227.134.31 (talk) 19:36, 20 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I would be very surprised if that were the case. The no-smoking rules are set by a country's ministry's of transportation (or equivalent agency) and apply to all aircraft operating on its territory, privately-chartered ones included. Xuxl (talk) 13:52, 21 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

But, Xuxl, unless all such national ministries worldwide enforced non-smoking when an aircraft's cabin was last fitted out, there would have remained the possibility of it being (e.g.) chartered to operate in a territory where smoking was permitted, in which case one would have wanted the ashtrays to be available. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 151.227.134.31 (talk) 15:36, 22 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Try to find a territory where smoking on an airplane is allowed. ICAO bans smoking on all flights between member countries indirectly, by treating smoking as an act against the safety of the aircraft, which is already banned. The same resolution (from 1993) that put forward this interpretation urges all member countries to ban smoking on domestic flights as well. See here for a summary. Xuxl (talk) 17:24, 23 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

My favorite memory of sitting in the non-smoking section on a TWA flight is that the smoking section was the next row over. Never made any sense. Back then, smoking was so common that it was dangerous to wear short-sleeved shirts and shorts, because if you ever waited in any kind of line (queue to others), there was a very high chance someone in front of you or in back of you would be smoking and could accidentally burn you with the red hot cherry of their lit cigarette. By the time I was ten years of age, I had several burn scars on my legs and arms from this exact situation. Viriditas (talk) 23:01, 26 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]