Posted on 06/27/2006 4:38:32 AM PDT by SheLion
A German businessman has founded an airline dedicated to smokers.
Smintair, or Smokers' International Airways, aims to cater for smokers who feel excluded in an age when all major airlines have banned the habit.
A Dusseldorf-Tokyo service is due to begin in October and is expected to serve mainly Japanese businessmen.
Smintair's founder, Alexander Schoppmann, a 30-a-day man, said: "There are no laws banning smoking on board. The airlines have made these rules themselves because no-smoking planes are cheaper. It means you don't have to change the air filter system so regularly."
Which has proven to be un true. People are getting sicker on more planes today then ever before. The filters aren't changed as often and the passengers are breathing in the same old sick air.
I hate those flights back and forth across The Pond with no ciggies.
Heck! I hated that 2.5 hour flight just from Boston to DC!!!!!!!!!! ugh
They served breakfast, then I had to just sit there with my coffee until we landed. Felt like I was in a reform school!
As sure as I sit here, this airline will make huge $$$$$.
I know my hubby would fly it.
It would be wonderful if more millionaires would invest in a smoking airline. They would make TONS of money!!!! I have no doubt!!!
Maybe we should buy shares...
Is it publicly traded?
holy moly! You two were just posting this idea on a restaurant thread last week!
I think that this may actually be a turning point.
All we ever see is Non-smoking businesses. When this takes off, businessmen WILL look. Smoking businesses will pop up.
And whether I'm with smokers or not, I will go there just to support our freedoms!!!!
Fly-Rights continued...
Smoking
On U.S. airlines, you are guaranteed a no-smoking seat worldwide.
Under U.S. government rules, smoking is prohibited on all domestic
scheduled-service flights except for flights over six hours to or from
Alaska or Hawaii. This ban applies to domestic segments of international
flights, on both U.S. and foreign airlines (e.g., the Chicago / New York
leg of a flight that operates Chicago/ New York / London). The ban does
not apply to nonstop international flights, even during the time that
they are in U.S. airspace (e.g., a Chicago / London flight). The
prohibition applies in the passenger cabin and lavatories, but not in
the cockpit.
Smoking is also banned on other scheduled-service flights by U.S.
airlines that are operated with planes seating fewer than 30 passengers
(e.g., certain commuter flights to Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean).
Cigar and pipe smoking is banned on all U.S.-carrier flights (scheduled
and charter, domestic and international).
The following rules apply to U.S. airlines on flights where smoking is
not banned (e.g. international flights, domestic charter flights). These
regulations do not apply to foreign airlines; however, most of them
provide non-smoking sections (although they may not guarantee seating
there or expand the section).
The airline must provide a seat in a non-smoking section to every
passenger who asks for one, as long as the passenger complies with the
carrier's seat assignment deadline and procedures. (Standby passengers
do not have this right.)
If necessary, the airline must expand the non- smoking section to
accommodate the passengers described above.
The airline does not have to provide a non-smoking seat of the
passenger's choice. It doesn't have to seat you with your traveling
companion, and you don't have the right to specify a window or aisle
non- smoking seat. Also, the airline is not required by this rule to
provide advance seat assignments before the flight date in the
non-smoking section, as long as they get you into the non-smoking
section on the day of your flight.
The flight crew must act to keep passengers from smoking in the
non-smoking sections. However, smoke that drifts from the smoking
section into the non-smoking section does not constitute a violation.
No smoking is allowed while an aircraft is on the ground or when the
ventilation system is not fully functioning.
Carriers are not required to have a smoking section. An airline is free
to ban smoking on a particular flight, or on all of its flights.
None of the regulations described in this chapter apply to charter
flights performed with small aircraft by on-demand air taxi operators.
You're a smart one, you are!
Anyone who chooses an airline because it allows smokers is an idiot. What about price, on-time arrival, safety etc.?
I hope it's a success. The free market should handle these issues, not the government.
hehe 
Aw, screw it. My "commute" between home and work is about 23 hours. I want a smoke every now and then on that long commute.
Watch this poster take me dead seriously. ;-)
And you my FReeper Friend, are a sweetheart with common sense!
LOL! And what about the same thing for the hundreds of private jets parked in the hangers? hehe!
How about asking this question of all the private jet owners? heh??? THEY sure have no problems, DO they!
I hope it's a success. The free market should handle these issues, not the government.
Amen!
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