Inflight smoking

In 1969, consumer advocate Ralph Nader was among the first in the United States to call for a smoking ban on airlines.Kluger R. Ashes to ashes: America’s hundred-year cigarette war, the public health, and the unabashed triumph of Philip Morris. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc, 1996.[https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/13/suppl_1/i30#xref-ref-1-1 Clearing the airways: advocacy and regulation for smoke-free airlines] Pressure for an inflight smoking ban also came from flight attendants' unions, such as the Association of Flight Attendants.

United Airlines created a nonsmoking section in 1971, the first airline to do so.Brandt, Allan M.: The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product that Defined America, p. 303-304. Basic Books, 2007 In 1994, Delta was the first US airline to ban smoking on all worldwide flights.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/18/travel/travel-advisory-delta-to-ban-smoking-on-all-flights-jan-1.html |newspaper=The New York Times |title=TRAVEL ADVISORY: Delta to Ban Smoking On All Flights Jan. 1 |date=December 18, 1994 |access-date=March 21, 2024}}

In the United States, both tobacco companies and airlines fought any regulation. In 1976, the US Civil Aeronautics Board banned cigar and pipe smoking on aircraft,US Civil Aeronautics Board. Application of ACTION ON SMOKING AND HEALTH for a stay of the new smoking rule, Part 252 as revised by ER-1245, pending court review: ORDER DENYING STAY. October 14, 1981. but under pressure from tobacco interests, it sought to limit this ban in 1978.US Civil Aeronautics Board. Notice of proposed rulemaking: Docket #41431, Part 252–Smoking Aboard Aircraft. May 19, 1983. Also, CAB banned and then unbanned smoking in 1984, with chairman Dan McKinnon saying, "Philosophically, I think nonsmokers have rights, but it comes into marked conflict with practicalities and the realities of life."{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1817&dat=19840601&id=VzUdAAAAIBAJ&pg=6774,51593 |newspaper=Tuscaloosa News |location=Alabama |agency=(Washington Post) |title=CAB flip-flops on smoking policy |date=June 1, 1984 |page=10}} After years of debate over health concerns,{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=azVPAAAAIBAJ&pg=4417%2C4485988 |newspaper=Toledo Blade |location=Ohio |agency=Associated Press |title=CAB votes to ban pipe, cigar smokers |date=November 23, 1977 |page=2}}{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=RqkrAAAAIBAJ&pg=6265%2C3520262 |newspaper=Nashua Telegraph |location=New Hampshire |agency=Associated Press |title=Should smoking be banned on planes? |date=May 15, 1981 |page=28 }} Congressional action in 1987 led to a ban on inflight smoking.{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-07-26-hd-1151-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |title=The House: Smoking Ban |date=July 26, 1987 |access-date=April 1, 2016}}{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GYIyAAAAIBAJ&pg=2912%2C6390458 |newspaper=Lawrence Journal-World |location=Kansas |agency=Associated Press |title=Senator seeks smoking ban on flights under two hours |date=September 30, 1987 |page=6D }}{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5pYRAAAAIBAJ&pg=6826%2C24097 |newspaper=Gainesville Sun |location=Florida |agency=Associated Press |last=Fram |first=Alan |title=Airline smoking restrictions approved by Senate panel |date=October 1, 1987 |page=5A }}{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-10-30-mn-11712-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |last=Jehl |first=Douglas |title=Senate acts to ban smoking on 70% of airline flights |date=October 30, 1987 |access-date=April 1, 2016}} In 1988, airlines based in the United States banned smoking on domestic flights of less than two hours,{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/17/us/smoking-ban-near-on-flights-in-us.html |newspaper=New York Times |title= Smoking ban near on flights in U.S. |last=Kramon |first=Glenn |date=April 17, 1988 |access-date=August 31, 2014}}{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=c1pWAAAAIBAJ&pg=2551%2C5138371 |newspaper=Spokesman-Review |location=Spokane, Washington |title=Northwest bans smoking on domestic flights |agency=staff and wire reports |date=March 24, 1988 |page=A1}}{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vnEhAAAAIBAJ&pg=3308%2C6108867 |newspaper=Schenectady Gazette |location=New York |agency=Associated Press |title=Airlines brace as smoking ban takes effect today|date=April 23, 1988 |page=1}} which was extended to domestic flights of less than six hours in February 1990,{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lOhSAAAAIBAJ&pg=6741%2C3348386 |newspaper=Prescott Courier-Journal |location=Arizona |agency=Associated Press |last=Fram |first=Alan |title=Senate okays smoking ban |date=September 15, 1989 |page=3A }}{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=K5kzAAAAIBAJ&pg=5529%2C3153161 |newspaper=Lodi News-Sentinel |location=California |agency=UPI |title=Bush restricts smoking on airlines |date=November 22, 1989 |page=12 }}{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JklPAAAAIBAJ&pg=6812%2C4070497 |newspaper=Toledo Blade |location=Ohio |last=Clarke |first=Jay |title=Airlines go beyond federal smoking ban |agency=Knight News Service |date=Feb 18, 1990 |page=D7 }} and to all domestic and international flights in 2000.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gKpPAAAAIBAJ&pg=2303%2C4361723 |newspaper=Kingman Daily Miner |location=Arizona |agency=Associated Press |last=Johnson |first=Glen |title=Proposed smoking ban draws fire from foreign airlines...|date=July 28, 1998 |page=4}}{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=V2cVAAAAIBAJ&pg=2647%2C385572 |newspaper=Manila Standard |agency=Associated Press |title=Smoking banned on all US flights |date=June 4, 2000 |page=A8 }}{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=roAiAAAAIBAJ&pg=5521%2C345532 |newspaper=The Item |location=Sumter, South Carolina |agency=Associated Press |title=Smoking banned on flights |date=June 4, 2000 |page=2A}}{{cite web|url=http://no-smoke.org/document.php?id=334|title=Smokefree Transportation Chronology|website=no-smoke.org|access-date=2014-10-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140109011744/http://no-smoke.org/document.php?id=334|archive-date=2014-01-09|url-status=dead}} The 1990 ban applied to the passengers and the cabin of the aircraft, but not the flight deck; pilots were allowed to continue smoking after the 1990 ban due to concerns over potential flight safety issues caused by nicotine withdrawal in chronic smokers.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/10/us/ban-on-smoking-in-airliners-doesn-t-apply-to-the-cockpit.html |newspaper=New York Times |last=Mydans |first=Seth |title=Ban on smoking in airliners doesn't apply to the cockpit |date=March 19, 1990 |access-date=April 1, 2016}} Despite a prohibition of smoking, the US Federal Aviation Administration regulations mandate that functioning ashtrays be conspicuously located on the doors of all airplane bathrooms. This is because there must be a safe place to dispose of a lit cigarette if someone violates the no-smoking rule.{{Cite web|url=https://time.com/4919780/airplanes-smoking-tray-ashtrays-airlines/|title=The Real Reason Airplanes Still Have Ashtrays}}

In 1990, Air Canada adopted a nonsmoking policy on all its routes. In 1994, Canada was the first country to ban smoking on all flights operated by Canadian carriers, which also covered charter flights, but not foreign airlines flying to Canada. It had previously banned smoking on commercial domestic flights in Canada and international flights of less than six hours, which obviously did not cover the Japan route. Canadian Airlines had opposed the blanket ban, saying it would put the airline at a competitive disadvantage especially on the lucrative Japan route. It said it would lose millions of dollars in business from smoking passengers. It estimated it would lose $22 million in annual revenues on its 14 flights a week to Japan. It said that three quarters of its passengers on the Japan route were Japanese and that 60% of them smoked.{{cite web |title=Canada Bans Smoking on Its Airline (Published 1994) |website=The New York Times |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230627002250/https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/29/us/canada-bans-smoking-on-its-airline.html |archive-date=2023-06-27 |url-status=live |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/29/us/canada-bans-smoking-on-its-airline.html}}

In March 1995, the United States, Canada, and Australia agreed to ban smoking on international flights traveling between those countries.[http://www3.austlii.edu.au/au/other/dfat/treaties/1995/5.html "Agreement to Ban Smoking on International Passenger Flights ATS 5 of 1995“] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170416133437/http://www3.austlii.edu.au/au/other/dfat/treaties/1995/5.html |date=16 April 2017}}. Australasian Legal Information Institute, Australian Treaties Library. Retrieved on 15 April 2017.

File:Japan Trip 2018 2323 (44883297314).jpg

In April 1988, Japan Airlines (JAL) was the first Japanese airline to introduce a smoking ban on domestic flights of less than one hour, which was extended in October 1990 to flights of less than two hours.{{Cite web |url=http://www.jal.com/en/press/1998/090901/090901.html |title=JAPAN AIRLINES TO BAN SMOKING ON INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS FROM APRIL 1 1999 |access-date=2019-09-27 |archive-date=2019-09-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190927032904/http://www.jal.com/en/press/1998/090901/090901.html |url-status=dead }} In 1998, All Nippon Airways and JAL banned smoking on all domestic flights, which covered more than 50% of Japanese domestic travelers.[https://aviationweek.com/awin/jal-ana-ban-smoking-domestic-flights JAL, ANA Ban Smoking On Domestic Flights] These airlines extended the ban to international flights in March 1999, among the last airlines to ban smoking on international flights.[https://aviationweek.com/awin/jal-ana-ban-smoking-international-flights JAL, ANA Ban Smoking On International Flights] Japan Tobacco lobbied the airlines to reconsider the ban, noting that smoking was earlier banned on all flights of 22 foreign airlines using Japanese airports and that with the smoking ban by the two major Japanese airlines more than 80% of seats on international flights departing from Japan would be nonsmoking.[https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/1998/09/16/national/japan-tobacco-asks-jal-ana-to-rethink-smoking-ban/#.XY18nSVS9Gw Japan Tobacco asks JAL, ANA to rethink smoking ban]

In 1986, flag carrier of Turkey, Turkish Airlines banned inflight smoking for all domestic flights and international flights of less than six hours. The airline banned all inflight smoking in 1999.{{Cite news|title=Sigara yasağı: 1940'lardaki çakmak yasağından, 2019'da sürücülere cezaya|language=tr|work=BBC News Türkçe|url=https://www.bbc.com/turkce/haberler-turkiye-49854358|access-date=2022-01-27}}

In 1988, SAS made domestic flights in Sweden and Norway non-smoking and in 1989, the policy was expanded to domestic flights in Denmark and flights between the Nordic countries. In 1996, SAS flights to the Benelux countries, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and the United Kingdom became non-smoking. In 1997 SAS banned smoking on all flights. Also in 1997, the European Union banned smoking on flights in member states. Air France, the French state-run carrier, did not allow inflight smoking from November 2000.{{cn|date=December 2021}}

Aurigny Air Services which is based in the Bailiwick of Guernsey became the first airline in the world to ban smoking entirely on its flights, in July 1977. The first United Kingdom airline to ban smoking was Loganair which banned smoking on all flights in 1980.{{cite news |title=Loganair celebrates 60th birthday – with many claims to fame |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/loganair-60th-birthday-scotland-airline-b2005271.html |access-date=8 December 2023 |work=The Independent |date=1 February 2022 |language=en}} The Flag carrier British Airways introduced a trial ban on smoking on some flights in 1990 and banned smoking on all flights in 1998. Virgin Atlantic banned smoking on all flights in 1995.{{cite web |title=Passenger sets plane bathroom alight with sneaky cigarette |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/fire-plane-bathroom-cigarette-passenger-b2214957.html |website=The Independent |access-date=8 December 2023 |language=en |date=1 November 2022}}

Australia banned smoking on domestic flights from 1 December 1987, on international flights within Australian airspace from 1 September 1990, and from 1 July 1996 banned smoking on all Australian international flights.{{cite web |title=International Civil Aviation Organisation Working Paper - Smoking Restrictions on International Passenger Flights |url=https://www.icao.int/assembly-archive/Session31/A.31.WP.107.EX.EN.pdf}}

Cuba’s state-owned Cubana banned smoking on international flights in 2014.

China banned smoking on domestic flights in 1983. In 1993, China announced that all flights would be smoke-free by January 1995.{{cite report |author= World Health Organization|author-link=World Health Organization |date=30 June 1995 |title=Country Visits - Report of the Sub-Committee of the Regional Committee on Programmes and Technical Cooperation, Part I |url=https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/141034/WPR_RC046_10_Country_Visits_Report_1995_en.pdf |publisher= |page=40 |docket= |access-date=2023-02-06 |quote=All domestic aeroplane flights have been totally smoke-free since 1983 and, in 1993, China announced a total ban on smoking on all flights by January 1995.}} Both 1983 and 1993 bans only applied to passengers smoking in the cabin, while pilots were allowed to smoke in the cockpit. A total ban of inflight smoking was announced in October 2017, and individual airlines were given two more years before a cockpit ban was to take effect; however, this concession was scrapped in January 2019 following incidents that triggered safety concerns.{{cn|date=June 2024}}

The first smoking-related accident happened on 6 August 1937, when an international Aeroflot flight from Moscow to Prague crashed near Herina after a passenger lit a cigarette in the toilet, causing accumulated avgas fumes to ignite. All six occupants (three crew, three passengers) were killed.{{Cite web |last=Ranter |first=Harro |title=ASN Aircraft accident Douglas DC-2-152 URSS-M25 Herina, Bistrita-Nasaud County |url=https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19370806-0 |access-date=2022-03-15 |website=aviation-safety.net}}

Following the crash landing of Varig Flight 820 – due to a fire possibly caused by a lit cigarette thrown into a lavatory waste bin – in 1973, the US Federal Aviation Administration banned smoking in aircraft lavatories.Assigning “soapboxes”: Where there’s smoke, there’s ire. Frequent Flyer magazine, May 1985:77. Following a fire that originated in a lavatory (not necessarily from smoking) on Air Canada Flight 797 in June 1983, resulting in the death of 23 passengers, new requirements to install smoke detectors in lavatories were brought in.

Normally, passengers found to be smoking on non-smoking flights will, at least, face a fine and, at most, be arrested and detained upon landing. Due to stringent security measures, this often causes disruption; a flight may have to be diverted or a scheduled landing might have to be expedited upon arrival at the destination airport in order to escort the smoker from the plane.

Such regulations have on occasion met with defiance; in 2010 a Qatari diplomat was arrested upon arrival at Denver International Airport for smoking in the onboard lavatory on United Airlines Flight 663 and for making threats; when confronted by airline staff, he jokingly suggested that he was attempting to set his shoes on fire.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/apr/08/qatari-diplomat-smoking-plane-scare |title=Qatari diplomat 'smoking' causes US plane scare |first=James |last=Meikle |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |date=April 8, 2010 |access-date=April 1, 2016}}

On February 3, 2013, a family of four were accused of smoking during a Sunwing Airlines flight from Halifax to the Dominican Republic. The flight made an unscheduled landing at Bermuda L.F. Wade International Airport, where the two parents of the family were arrested by Bermuda Police Service and subsequently sentenced to a $500 fine or 10 days in prison.{{cite web |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/family-of-smokers-on-airplane-forces-costly-diversion-1.1377263 |title=Family of smokers on airplane forces costly diversion |publisher=CBC News |location=(Canada)|date=February 3, 2013 |access-date=April 1, 2016}}{{cite web |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/unruly-sunwing-passengers-sentenced-in-bermuda-court-1.1399222 |title=Unruly Sunwing passengers sentenced in Bermuda court |publisher=CBC News |location=(Canada)|date=February 4, 2013 |access-date=April 1, 2016}}

Most new aircraft, built after the no-smoking regulations were put into place, now have a permanently lit no-smoking sign that cannot be independently turned off.{{Cite web |date=2024-08-23 |title=Modernization of Passenger Information Requirements Relating to “No Smoking” Sign Illumination |url=https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/08/23/2024-18602/modernization-of-passenger-information-requirements-relating-to-no-smoking-sign-illumination#:~:text=SUMMARY:,Smoking%E2%80%9D%20signs%20on%20and%20off. |access-date=2024-08-31 |website=Federal Register |language=en}}

E-cigarettes are also banned on flights, as well as transporting such devices in checked luggage,{{cite web |url=http://boingboing.net/2015/10/27/u-s-bans-e-cigarettes-in-chec.html|title=U.S. bans e-cigarettes in checked baggage, and no vaping on the plane either / Boing Boing |website=boingboing.net|date=27 October 2015 }} because of fire risk from their batteries. In July 2019, an Air China aircraft made an emergency descent after a pilot's e-cigarette triggered a false smoke alarm in the air conditioning system, causing a loss of cabin pressure.[https://www.theage.com.au/world/asia/vaping-pilot-linked-to-air-china-plane-s-sudden-plunge-20180713-p4zrg1.html Vaping pilot linked to Air China plane’s sudden plunge][http://avherald.com/h?article=4bb06499&opt=1]AvHerald

• Olympic Airways v. Husain
• CAAC Flight 2311
• Smokers Express
• Smoking ban
• EgyptAir Flight 804

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{{Commercial air travel}}

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Category:Civil aviation

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