Posted on 06/27/2006 8:51:34 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative
At risk of suspension, I'll give you a "Damn Right" bump.
>>I actually suspect that these senses - of smell and of taste - might be supressed by smoking.<<
I don't think so. I couldn't smell a thing for 15 years because of sinus problems. Finally got them cleaned out 6 months ago and almost gagged from the smoke smell the first time I walked into our house. The smell was horrible for the first month then it just faded, even though we still smoke. And my sniffer works just fine, I smelled a gas leak in our basement the other day.
I think what's happened is that when smoking was permitted anywhere, people got used to the smell to where they couldn't even tell. Now, with the smoking police out in force, one lit cigarette can be smelled a mile away.
I hope this airline makes it, maybe the trend will make it's way over here.
My college roommate and I had a nice little round table to ourselves where we played gin (and drank gin) and smoked unfiltered Camels for five hours.
Being treated like a king by TWA spoiled me for the cattle call that flying has become.
When there was smoking on planes, and they ran the appropriate air filtering, there were less colds, etc. being spread in the cabin and passengers weren't so dehydrated.
Atomize the waste water in the toilets?
Trust me; they won't be lacking for customers.
I think instead of Frequent Flyer Miles, for every 10,000 miles flown you get a carton or Marlboros.
If this is marketed adroitly, I think it could be successful. But I think it's going to take some clever work to hit that particular market segment.
Who cares? You aren't their target audience. Is everything about YOU?
I just don't understand your point. The poster declared he would not fly this smokers' airline. He did not declare that there should be no such airline, or that he felt he would be forced to fly it.
Several times it has been said on this thread that said poster doesn't understand the market. I think he understands it perfectly: he doesn't like the smoke so he'll fly one of the scores of non-smoking airlines. How that makes him an anti-smoking "nazi" is beyond me.
I agree.
What you say is interesting to me. When I quit smoking many years ago, I very much noticed that smell and taste were enhanced. At this point, though, my sense of smell is quite poor, but my sinuses sure give me a hard time. I'm of the mind that there may be something in our house that keeps them so messed up. Maybe I should seek out an ear, nose, throat doctor, or have the house checked for mold.
This man is a genius. All of the airlines are wringing their hands about how to bump their profits.
This guy is going to be able to charge a premium for every ticket - all because you can light up. Nothing fancy. He doesn't even have to serve peanuts.
It just makes me laugh. All the handwringers on this thread "What about the apholstery? What about the stink?" What about the passengers who'll pay a premium to smoke on a long flight?
The difference between the rich and the poor is the ability to see the market from somebody elses point of view. Congress taught us this lesson during the prohibition.
Let's see what happens in two years with these guys. I predict profits and happy customers. I also predict more crying from non-smokers about being 'forced' to fly on this airline 'because it was the only airline with a seat going to my destination, and I was MADE to sit there and have to ENDURE it.'
Now that's an airline that I want to fly. An armed passenger is a courteous passenger.
All airliners have the ability to completely exchange the air in the cabin to keep even the air in a cabin full of 200 smokers quite fresh. The air comes in from the massive compressors on the engines and from ports on the leading edge of the plane, and goes out through big outlet valve(s) in the back. The reason the air in cabins is normally stale is that it costs fuel to exchange the air, so the airlines get away with as little air exchange as possible, recirculating (and filtering) a lot of it.
OTOH, 100% recirculated air tends to get a bit dry, so it's a balance.
Does anyone else see a corelation here?
Another possible result of this new airline is that if they have success, and if the idea spreads, we might return to the days when passengers, and not the airlines dictated the terms.
BTW; I wouldn't mind taking a seat on one of those flights if I could receive better service, and none of the B-S commonly experienced these days.
"I most certainly do understand, and I will vote with my wallet and not fly on it."
Good.
"Why is it that The Land of the Free can't come up with something like this anymore?"
Because we are now the land of the PC whiners.
Great post!
Comfortable for who? It certainly wasn't comfortable for the non smokers. Back in those days we were out numbered (kinda like you are now) and we didn't say anything. I can remember being seated between 2 chain smoking men and taking 24 hours of my vacation to get over the headache. As we said when we were kids, "turn about is fair play". Now it's your turn to "suffer in silence".
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