When you think about unruly passengers, the first things that probably come to mind are drunken brawls, passengers trying to open aircraft doors, and flight attendants receiving physical and verbal abuse. Whether you\u2019ve traveled with them or simply read about them, those types of passengers truly leave a lasting and dreadful impression.<\/p>\n
However, there\u2019s one type of unruly passenger behavior that doesn\u2019t generate as much commotion, yet still causes disruption and safety risks to flights: in-flight smoking, which is categorized as an unruly passenger non-compliance incident.<\/p>\n
According to an International Air Transport Association (IATA) safety report<\/a> published in 2023, the smoking of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, vapes and puff devices in the cabin or lavatories is one of the most common unruly passenger incident types under non-compliance.<\/p>\n Unlike other forms of unruly passenger behavior, though, smoking on flights was once allowed, even encouraged. So why do people still try to smoke inside planes despite the act being prohibited on all commercial flights since 2000? And why do new aircraft still have ashtrays?<\/p>\n Let\u2019s first take a look at the history of in-flight smoking to see how this act, once considered glamorous, became prohibited, and why, despite regulations, it remains irresistible to some.\u00a0<\/p>\n From the 1920s all the way through to the 50s, smoking was mistakenly thought to have almost no negative consequences on health. When mass production of pre-rolled cigarettes arrived during the last quarter of the 19th Century, a number of anti-tobacco campaigns discovered that smoking caused stunted growth in children and was harmful to pregnant women.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n At the same time, major tobacco companies actively engaged with physicians to use them in marketing and counter these negative discoveries being made about smoking.<\/p>\n American brand Lucky Strike was one of the pioneering cigarette companies of the 1920s and one of the first to engage doctors to promote cigarettes, along with physician-backed claims that smoking protected the throat from irritation.<\/p>\n\n Traditionally, doctors held authority, and patients trusted their expertise. As cigarette health concerns arose, tobacco companies strategically used the powerful phrase “doctors recommend” from the 1930s to the 1950s, associating it with cigarettes. Despite cigarettes causing\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/8ZhEo7YnFM<\/a><\/p>\nSmoking in flights<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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