# Do you remember smoking sections on airplanes? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 13, 2021, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-smoking-sections-on-airplanes/941974 "2021-05-13T09:32:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-smoking-sections-on-airplanes/941974/21 "2021-05-13T16:12:48Z")
I never thought I’d see non-smoking casinos, but now it’s the norm. Getting home late from a night of poker, I used to strip to my undies in the garage and then shower in the hall bathroom before coming to bed. I quit tobacco in '88 and _still_ have dreams in which I’m enjoying a smoke. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-smoking-sections-on-airplanes/941974/22 "2021-05-13T16:20:56Z")
The last time I remember dealing with smoking on a flight was in 1994, when we were flying back to Chicago from Zurich, on Swissair. There was an equipment change at the last minute, to a somewhat smaller plane, and the seating assignments got jumbled. I wound up having to sit in the smoking section at the back of the plane. Not fun, but I grew up in a household with parents who smoked, so I could cope. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-smoking-sections-on-airplanes/941974/23 "2021-05-13T16:32:00Z")
I remember them. I more clearly remember the smoking sections in restaurants and although people complained that you could still smell smoke in the non-smoking section, I don’t recall that being an issue. But on a plane? It is a pressurized compartment and if one person is smoking, everyone is. I was glad for that, but it seemed like it was then a rapid rush to no smoking in the entire airport, which I thought was unfair. It is a gigantic fucking building and surely accommodations can be made for a guy to have a room at the end of the terminal to grab a quick smoke without bothering non-smokers. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-smoking-sections-on-airplanes/941974/24 "2021-05-13T18:08:08Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > The caption to the picture below: If you look at pictures of airliners taken prior to 1990, you might see brown stains around the outflow valve I remember reading a post on another board from someone who was an aircraft mechanic in those days. He said the only good thing about smoking on planes was that it made it really easy to diagnose pressure leaks. But like the rest of the caption says, it also gummed up everything else on the plane. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-smoking-sections-on-airplanes/941974/25 "2021-05-13T18:22:31Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > If you guys didn’t like the smoke you could have just stayed home… I found that if I moved my tongue to the side of my mouth it prevented me from inhaling second hand smoke. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-smoking-sections-on-airplanes/941974/26 "2021-05-13T18:36:17Z")
The idea that there was a ‘section’ of the plane is morbidly amusing. > [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](#): > > It was as recently as five years ago that I discreetly took a few puffs on a dispoable e-cig on a plane, though I don’t think one could get away with that anymore. Why not? I’ve always assumed that the nicotine addicts are vaping away in the restrooms. Is there some mechanism to prevent that? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-smoking-sections-on-airplanes/941974/27 "2021-05-13T18:41:32Z")
Last time I took Amtrak from DC to Chicago, there was still a smoking section at one end of the observation car. Some drunk really raised a ruckus after being cut off and getting told that he couldn’t smoke during the movie being showed on the monitor at the opposite end of the observation car. He ended up getting so obnoxious that he was put off the train at some tiny station in Ohio where some members of the local PD were waiting for him. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-smoking-sections-on-airplanes/941974/28 "2021-05-13T18:49:27Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Why not? I’ve always assumed that the nicotine addicts are vaping away in the restrooms. Is there some mechanism to prevent that? I mostly meant that you probably couldn’t get away with taking a drag in your seat. People are way more . . . concerned about it now. As for the bathroom, I don’t even want to go in there to pee, much less inhale deeply. Also, wouldn’t the smoke detector pick up on the vapor(?) ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-smoking-sections-on-airplanes/941974/29 "2021-05-13T18:58:07Z")
I wasn’t on a plane until 2004 when I was 18 years old, as my family wasn’t rich. So it was after they got rid of smoking sections on planes. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-smoking-sections-on-airplanes/941974/30 "2021-05-13T19:15:59Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](#): > > I mostly meant that you probably couldn’t get away with taking a drag in your seat. People are way more . . . concerned about it now. As for the bathroom, I don’t even want to go in there to pee, much less inhale deeply. Also, wouldn’t the smoke detector pick up on the vapor(?) In 2013, I vaped in my seat, but made sure not to exhale much vapor. It is just water vapor and if you keep it in very little comes out. Of course, I am taking about the normal vape pens and not the obscene devices that make you wonder if the person in the car in front of you has started an engine fire in their car. Also, West Virginia doesn’t have any major airports but sometimes the government props up the local airport and you get discount fairs to a nearby one. I was flying back from Chicago and in addition to the no smoking, no vaping lecture they also said no smokeless tobacco which I thought ridiculous for two reasons: 1) the smoking ban is because of the dangerous and discomfort of second hand smoke for others; it is not supposed to be a neo-prohibitionist tobacco ban, and 2) how much more stereotypical can we be towards us country bumpkins? ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-smoking-sections-on-airplanes/941974/31 "2021-05-13T19:19:21Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > I remember growing up in a house with parents that smoked 2 packs a day, each. Never noticed that I and all of our possessions smelled like cigarette smoke until I went away to college in the early 80’s. My dorm was a non-smoking dorm. I became self-conscious about my parent’s smoking habits in middle school when people started telling me I smelled like smoke. It suddenly dawned on me that a lot of students, teachers, and parents probably all thought I was a smoker. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-smoking-sections-on-airplanes/941974/32 "2021-05-13T19:25:32Z")
As a brief aside, those flights are always hilarious in the boarding process. The last one I took, there were 11 passengers. It was straight out of Meet the Parents. “We will now begin boarding those with small children and those needing special assistance in boarding the plane.” We all looked at each other. Next: “We will now begin boarding Delta Sky Miles Platinum Members…” It’s 11 fucking people, how about everyone just get on the plane? ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-smoking-sections-on-airplanes/941974/33 "2021-05-13T19:25:53Z")
I sure do. And you cannot isolate the smoke in an airplane. As I recall, you could basically smoke **anywhere**. Only exception I can think of were the local subways, trolleys, and buses. I used to smoke in classrooms, both as a college student and as an instructor. Not sure about movies and concert halls. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-smoking-sections-on-airplanes/941974/34 "2021-05-13T19:27:36Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](#): > > Doesn’t this question simply boil down to “how old are you?”. 🙂 Well, that and how old you were when you first flew in an airplane. I flew a lot as a child, so HELL YES I remember smoking sections, and the whole plane smelling of smoke. I was DELIGHTED when that became illegal. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-smoking-sections-on-airplanes/941974/35 "2021-05-13T19:33:28Z")
Yeah, dimly. I was 19 when it was banned. I don’t remember it being that bad, but I was around smokers fairly often so it wasn’t a shock. Plus I don’t fly on airplanes all that often, and don’t find flights all that memorable, so it’s not something that would really burn into my memory. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-smoking-sections-on-airplanes/941974/36 "2021-05-13T19:52:59Z")
I remember sitting at a gate in O’Hare Airport in Chicago, waiting for my flight to board. Suddenly I heard cheering and applause coming from somewhere else in the terminal. I briefly wondered what that was about, and went back to reading my book. Then, a few minutes later, there was another eruption of applause somewhere else in the terminal—then another, then another… Finally, at my gate, the United employee announced that my flight was about to begin boarding, and she added that all United domestic flights were now non-smoking. There was an immediate outburst of applause and cheering, and I joined in. Yeah, I definitely remember. I also remember the standard joke that a smoking section on an airplane is like a peeing section in a swimming pool. ---
**Author:** ![thdudescar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thdudescar/32/4638_2.png) [@thdudescar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thdudescar)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-smoking-sections-on-airplanes/941974/37 "2021-05-13T20:45:24Z")
I’ll fess up, I was one of the guilty parties. In 1983, I was working for Eastern Airlines and I flew quite a bit between New Orleans and Miami and other places. Most of the time I was in first class which only consisted of three or four rows. The last row or two were designated smoking which really meant nothing and must have hard on the rest of the passengers. Haven’t smoked in 35 years and thank God. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-smoking-sections-on-airplanes/941974/38 "2021-05-13T20:59:14Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > The idea that there was a ‘section’ of the plane is morbidly amusing. On a family vacation sometime in the 70’s with 2 heavy smoking parents. As we got on the plane and headed to our seats we found we were in the row just behind where the smoking section ended. My mother, not being the shy type, loudly proclaimed that we had purchased tickets in the smoking section. To which the stewardess responded by taking the “no smoking section” sign off of the back of the seat in front of us and putting it on the back of her seat. And, voila, we were in the smoking section! ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-smoking-sections-on-airplanes/941974/39 "2021-05-13T21:04:06Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > : If you look at pictures of airliners taken prior to 1990, you might see brown stains around the outflow valve [the cabin air exhaust, replaced by fresh pressurized air from the engine bleed air]. The stains are from **tobacco smoke**. Airlines were thrilled when the industry banned smoking. Tar and nicotine gummed up valves, instruments, and sensors causing thousands of dollars a year in damage. Tobacco is **really** nasty stuff. I love seeing old oil paintings that people bring into the Antiques Roadshow, and the appraisers tell them how the colors should really be quite different, but the tobacco smoke has gunked them all up. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-smoking-sections-on-airplanes/941974/40 "2021-05-13T21:07:04Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Ahh! The good old days. You could smoke at the movies and in hospitals too. My sister worked in a hospital. She said there were patients smoking in their rooms…with oxygen!!! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-smoking-sections-on-airplanes/941974.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-smoking-sections-on-airplanes/941974.md?page=3)