Posted on 02/23/2015 6:25:07 PM PST by Drango
IF you think the air travel experience generally stinks now, consider what it was like before smoking was banned on domestic flights 25 years ago.
Tracy Sear, a flight attendant with US Airways, was looking over some Facebook posts from colleagues recalling those bad old days when a third or more of passengers on any flight puffed away, and cabins were foul with smoke. When I spoke with her the other day, she read one of those posts to me: “Suitcases, uniforms, hair — all stunk from cigarette smoke. And it’s astounding that we didn’t have more cabin fires.”
~snip
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
“I remember old threads claiming smoking didn’t stink.”
Smoke and you won’t have to smell it!!!!!
I remember flying before a TSA idiot made me take off my shoes.
I’m shocked that the NYTimes would dig up some stupid bozo to criticize smoking.
Shocked I say!
You need to qualify that with the year you are talking about.
I grew up with many family members that smoked, and there was no smell to anything that had been in the room. Of course this was in the 1950’s and early 60’s.
A funny thing happened when the ‘low tar’ and ‘low nicotine’ cigarettes started showing up - smell. I have a sister in law that smokes like a chimney and so help me you can smell her house from the backyard. Likewise I have memories of playing checkers and riding on a tractor with my grandfather while he smoked his hand rolled Bull Durham - and no smell at all.
Our son worked for UAL at the SFO Maintenance Base years ago. He told us that the air cycle a/c system filters on the United planes were a difficult to maintain with smokers on the planes. Also to try and maintain some semblance of fresh air, the planes had to cycle through more outside air which cost fuel to create because it had to be compressed to maintain cabin pressurization. I also remember when the non-smokers were “treated to seats in the aft cabin and a cross-country flight was more like spending six hours in a bar. Smoking, one of life’s filthiest habits.
The other day I was in an outside line waiting for a place to open. I was smoking and some gal behind me commented that she was allergic to smoke.
I turned to her and said; “You can take allergy shots for that”.
“Smoke and you won’t have to smell it!!!!!”
Smoke and you ARE it!
Making cigarettes basically illegal was an important step.
We were a better country when most people smoked. That's not a comment about tobacco. That's a comment about freedom.
I remember my flight from San Antonio to Chicago back in 1966.
Got aboard, the NO SMOKING light was on. As soon as we were airborne, the NO SMOKING light went out and the smokers grabbed for the cigarettes. Within a minute you could not see from my seat to the front of the plane.
I found the air vent and turned it on me to get some air, it was that bad! After about 20 minutes the air began to clear some, but was never clear as so many chain smokers were still lighting up.
Smoking was everywhere. Doctor’s offices, hospital waiting rooms, cafeterias. buses, There was no respite.
In the 1970s some cafeterias set off portions for NON SMOKING so people could still taste their food. Problem was, you had to walk through the smoking area to get to it.
Ahh, the good old days. I’ve been around long enough to have smoked in a hospital bed (bummed a cig off the nurse) after knee surgery. There used to be ashtrays in some doctor’s waiting rooms, too. I quit a long time ago.
Flying was civilized back then.
My husband and I were just talking about this with our teen son. Booking a flight and sitting in the “nonsmoking” section on an airplane. What a joke it was! People smoking at the mall, in restaurants, everywhere. IMO the advent of making smoking less available is one of the few benefits of living in the 21st century. (Donning flameproof.. And smoke proof.. Suit.)
Great movie.
I remember the stench from the 1950s of my family smoking. After about 30 minutes there would be a layer of smoke floating in the air about 4 feet off the floor.
And Yes it still stunk. KOOL cigarettes and PRINCE ALBERT.
But darned expensive on a COL adjusted basis.
People who do not police themselves will BE policed. People who exercise no self control will BE controlled. And they won't like it.
Collectively, smokers were boors; aggressively offensive to any and all, caring about only themselves. Comments like #3 and are typical ... Now we have the anti-smoking nazis, the ant-fat nazis, the anti-alcohol nazis, and a whole hairy horde of others. We have them, at least in part, because a couple of generations of cigarette smokers treated the world like their own personal ash-tray.
Sad, but thoroughly predictable.
Great days before the Government Nazis. I remember traveling on an airliner in the 1980s with my then new wife as we smoked in the plane half way across the country.
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