i think it's a great idea...a GREAT cash-cow for the airlines...charge smokers twice to three times as much for tickets...charge a fee for seperate airport terminal care (cigs could easily burn seats)...charge an airport terminal fee for airplane terminals that sits in county free from smoking zone...charge a health insurance fee for passengers that die or get ill during a trip, especially, for children's...i'd say go for it!!!!

The non-smokers, who proclaimed the baloney about second hand smoke, will be sneaking on the smoker flights to get in on the goodies, "Charming and beautiful flight attendants." Not to mention the glory days of air travel by providing elegant meals and attentive service.

Hello everybody,

thank you very much for the controverse discussion here at ABC's bog spot. Please do go to our web site and read all information provided. You'll see, that there are answers to many questions and loads of information to the one who seeks to know more.

With kind regards,
Alexander W. Schoppmann
(MD - SMINTAIR LTD)

Is it not true that almost all airlines are smoke-free? what the hell are you anti smokers moaning about! If you don't want to go on an airline where smoking is allowed then don't book at seat on it! Its as simple as that so stop whining and go get angry about something worth getting annoyed about like global warming or starving children!

Well Done Smintair!!

I wish you every success and I will most certainly be a future passenger. I will happily spend my money with Smintair and not as I do just now, i.e. grudgingly spending it with BA, Virgin and Continental.

Mr Schoppmann is a hero to the smoking passenger. Thank you Mr S!

I watched a city's council hearings on whether to ban smoking in restaurants. What struck me as deplorable was that the non-smokers weren't content to allow restaurant owners to choose whether or not to allow smoking in their own restaurants; they demanded that no restaurants allow smoking. No compromise. Reformers that demand that all must live their way. They won. Freedom lost. Perhaps we should demand that no one be allowed to drink alcohol or consume meat or sugar. Lets ban sex for any but married couples, or for people under 25, or in certain states (Check out the Center for Disease Control STD statistics.). There is so much that I don’t do that I could demand noone else be allowed to do.

Point of reference ... the air doen't have to be recycled 100 percent, and it wasn't in the earlier days. Fresh air is drawn in from the front and stale air is exhausted toward the rear of the main cabin. That's why smoking was always in rear rows. Flight crews did -- and still do -- have control over the air flow. However, cutting down on fresh air intake saves appreciable fuel. Early smoking bans coincided with a jump in the cost of jet fuel. (note: Since less fresh air is circulated nowadays, the air is probably overall staler now than in earlier times.)

I believe that this has been tried before -- an airline allowing cigarette smoking on board. What a novel idea! But those airlines go out of business. Why? Because somewhat fewer than a quarter of adults smoke. The vast majority do not. so despite the sanctimonious claims of smokers, they are the ones on the losing end of this argument. Obviously, any nonsmoker would be a complete idiot to book a flight on this airline. And they really are not idiot. The nonsmokers, I mean. and so they won't be booking this airline. And there are simply not enough smokers, or those who are willing to sit on a plane full of smokers, for this to succeed.

So have fun, all of you who are addicted to tobacco and think it's cool or charming or a moderate vice that shouldn't bother any of the rest of us. I have no sympathy for any of you who took up the habit after the Surgeon General's report in 1964, a mere 43 years ago. That was when it was not merely understood but publicized that smoking was Very Bad for you. If you missed the report then, too bad. It's not as if this is hidden information. So smoke yourselves to death. I don't care. Just understand that you cannot do it in public places, in restaurants or bars or on board airplanes (with apparently a few exceptions). You are all aged by smoking, and die young. sigh. What a loss.

To Sheila and other anti-smokers: You're all living in a dream world. Yes it was 43 years ago the surgeon general warned that smoking was hazardous to your health and thousands of people quit smoking and yet here we are 43 years later with cancer, heart disease and asthma at epidemic proportions. Wake up world it's not the cigarette smoker that causes problems it's our industry, cars, and agriculture that pollute our air, water and food. The air we breathe, the food we eat and the water we drink are all poisoning us all, so enjoy a cigarette it actually increases the eosoniphils in our blood that fight viruses. Wish a North American airline would start service for smokers.