4 ms·
> Smoking was authorised on Air France flights until 2000. I'm sorry, what? The first flight I took which I recall in detail was in 1995 and even back then the
by Tade0 1mo ago
> Smoking was authorised on Air France flights until 2000.
I'm sorry, what? The first flight I took which I recall in detail was in 1995 and even back then the "no smoking sign" seemed redundant.
Guess it wasn't.
- gwbas1c 1mo agoA couple of things: From what I remember as a kid in the 1990s in the US, smoking was allowed on international flights. It was one of those grey areas that happen when traveling between countries with different laws. I've also seen a lot of jokes about French culture being waaay more "pro smoking" than US culture. Thus smoking beling allowed on Air France until 2000 doesn't surprise me.
- azepoi 1mo agoUp until 2004 you had to book a non-smoking rail-car in France. I remember having to book a seat in the smoking section because the non-smoking cars were full. Smoking was only being phased-out in high-school yards (for 15-18 yo highschoolers not only the staff)
- gwbas1c 1mo agoYikes! I always thought the jokes about French kids smoking were just jokes and exgaggerations!
- CGMthrowaway 1mo agoSmoking on flights is less dangerous than lithium batteries. At least a cigarette fire can be seen and put out. A lithium battery in thermal runaway can explode and is not possible to extinguish as it is self-perpetuating.
- infecto 1mo agoLots of Europe especially France is packed with smokers. One of those things you take for granted living in the US and once you travel abroad you realize how much of the world still burns tobacco and it’s everywhere.
- Tade0 1mo agoI'm not American though and while smokers are everywhere here, I don't recall ever being on a flight where smoking was allowed, even though the one mentioned was a connecting flight through Paris.
- dralley 1mo agoThey've mostly switched to vapes now. It's still annoying, but at least it doesn't leave trash all over the streets. Seeing the sidewalks / parks outside of the main train station in Prague covered in cigarette butts as an American tourist in 2019 was certainly something.
- 1-more 1mo agoI smoked less in Prague than in the US. I was addicted to nicotine, sure, but I was also addicted to taking a little vacation outside whatever venue, and in Prague (in 2008) you could smoke just about anywhere.
- happyopossum 1mo ago> but at least it doesn't leave trash all over the streets Last time I was in London I saw enough disposable vapes on the sidewalk to build a home-sized backup battery...
- dgellow 1mo agoI really believe disposable vapes should be banned
- globular-toast 1mo agoThey are banned in the UK since 2025. I still see vapes littered around in places but not sure if they are from before or technically non-disposable models that people have cast off regardless.
- ot 1mo agoIndeed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy-wFixuRVU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy-wFixuRVU
- Pompidou 1mo ago"loi Évin", from 1991, do not allow people to smoke in transportation. I used to travel air France and air Inter plane from 1990 to 2000. I never see anybody smoking in a plane.
- Marsymars 1mo agoBy some weird overlap of times/policies, as far as I can tell, Air France never flew a Concorde flight where smoking wasn't allowed. (British Airways banned smoking on their Concorde flights in 1997.)