Travel: Airline Rage

U.S. lawmakers urge ban on e-cigarettes on airplanes
June 10, 2014
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – E-cigarette use should be banned on domestic flights and those to or from the United States, seven U.S. senators said on Tuesday in a letter urging the Department of Transportation to finalize rules proposed almost three years ago.
“While many major carriers have decided to prohibit the use of electronic cigarettes, federal regulations still allow these products to be used during flight,” the lawmakers, all Democrats, wrote to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.
Regulators first proposed a ban on “vaping” on U.S. flights in September 2011.
At the time, the DOT noted that releasing a “vapor that may contain harmful substances or respiratory irritants in a confined space, especially to those who are at a higher risk, is contrary to the purpose and intent of the statutory and regulatory ban on smoking aboard aircraft.”
In their letter to Foxx, the senators included examples of advertisements that feature or imply the use of electronic cigarettes on airplanes.
“Numerous electronic cigarette companies have marketed their products as offering the freedom to break the rules or smoke in places where traditional cigarettes are banned, such as airplanes,” the senators wrote.
Signing on to the letter were Barbara Boxer of California, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Edward Markey of Massachusetts.
Separately, the American Medical Association, the nation’s largest physician organization, adopted on Tuesday a new policy backing stricter limits on the sales and marketing practices used by the makers of electronic cigarettes.
In addition to restrictions on the sale and marketing of e-cigarettes to minors, the AMA said it supports child-proof and tamper-proof packaging and design, enhanced product labeling, and restrictions on flavors that appeal to minors, like tutti-frutti and chocolate.
It also backed prohibition of unsupported marketing claims that the products can be used as smoking cessation tools.
In April, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed rules that would ban the sale of e-cigarettes to people under the age of 18, but would not restrict flavored products, online sales or advertising.
FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said at the time that the proposals represented the first “foundational” step towards broader restrictions if scientific evidence shows they are needed to protect public health.

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Samoa Air charges passengers by their weight

April 2, 2013
By FoxNews

Amid a growing debate about how to price airline tickets for so-called passengers of size, an airline that’s become the world’s first airline to charge passengers by weight is defending its decision, saying it’s the system of the future.

Air Samoa, which flies in the Pacific region, including American Samoa, the Cook Islands and Tonga, says its pricing policy that it implemented in January is the fairest way to charge for a ticket.

Chris Langton, the airline’s CEO told ABC Radio about its controversial decision: “People have always travelled on the basis of their seat but as many airline operators, know airlines don’t run on seats – they run on weight,” he said. “We have worked out a figure per kilo. This is the fairest way of you travelling with your family or yourself. You can put your baggage on, there are no separate fees because of excess baggage – a kilo is a kilo is a kilo.”

He added that “the standard width and pitch of seats are changing as people are getting a bit bigger, wider and taller than they were 40 to 50 years ago”.

Rates start at $1 per kilo (about 2.2 pounds), which includes the weight of both the flyer and his or her baggage.? For longer routes, rates run as high as $4.16 per kilo.

A statement from Samoa Air said: “You are the master of your air ‘fair’, you decide how much (or little) your ticket will cost. No more exorbitant excess baggage fees or being charged for baggage you may not carry. Your weight plus your baggage items, is what you pay for. Simple.”

The company’s website says: “Booking a flight with us is as easy as inputting your approximate weight into our online booking engine (don’t worry, we will weigh you again at the airport) – you then can prepay your ‘guesstimate’, guaranteeing you that much weight is allocated to you for that flight … with Samoa Air, you are the master of how much (or little!) your air ticket will cost.”

Just last week Bharat P Bhatta, associate professor of economics at Sogn og Fjordane University College in Norway, recommended in the Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management that air ticket costs be calculated according to a passenger’s weight, sparking outrage among passengers.? Some charged that practice of charging by weight is discriminatory.

According to the World Health Organization 80 percent of those aged 15 and above in Samoa are considered obese.

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CDC: Hartsfield-Jackson is one of seven large airports that allow indoor smoking
November 18, 2010
By Kelly Yamanouchi
Out of 29 airports studied, the seven that allow indoor smoking include Atlanta’s airport, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Las Vegas McCarran, Charlotte Douglas, Washington Dulles and Salt Lake City.
Those airports make up about 22 percent of U.S. passenger boardings, the CDC said. The CDC last conducted a study of airport smoking policies back in 2002, and said there are now more airports that prohibit smoking.
Hartsfield-Jackson allows customers to light up in smoking areas and lounges on its concourses, but otherwise generally does not allow smoking in indoor public airport areas.
The CDC cited a Surgeon General’s report that said separating smokers from non-smokers cannot eliminate exposure to secondhand smoke. The agency also cited studies showing that about 46 million American adults smoke.

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Smoker’s Club,
I know I have said this before, and you have posted different messages to make sure we CALL AND EMAIL our thoughts and displeasure on no smoking sections and rules.
Below is a e-mail response I got back from writing a comment card to the Jacksonville, FL airport. They have gotten 4 letters/e-mails in two years saying people wanted a smoking section. They should be getting 4 a week, at least. Can I suggest you put at the top of every newsletter and the home page something like:
“Have you sent a letter or made a call this week to tell someone you want smoking sections or smokers rights? If YOU don’t call, the anti smokers will speak for you!”
I also spoke with the CEO of our State Fair last week regarding their no smoking rules. He told me the same thing – people are calling saying they don’t want smoking but no one is calling saying they won’t come if they can’t smoke. That is what he based his decision on.
Keep up the great work,
Robert Deitz
CA
————- Forwarded Message ————
From: BLong@jaa.aero
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 11:43:16 -0400
Subject: Thank you for your comments
?
Mr. Deitz,

Thank you for letting us know how we are doing and how we can improve.? The number of requests for smoking beyond security is so low, it doesn’t justify the expense of building a secure enclosed smoking area there. We have received about 4 requests such as yours in over two years.?

It may be that our airport is small and easy to get through, so customers who smoke don’t mind going outside, even if they have to pass back through security.

We hope you will continue to use us for your travel needs and keep letting us know how we can make your experience better.

Sincerely,

Bryan Long, SPHR
Customer Service Manager
Jacksonville Aviation Authority
904.741.3563 (office)
904.887.9987 (cell)
blong@jaa.aero
**Please note that under Florida’s very broad public records law, e-mail communication to and from the Jacksonville Aviation Authority is subject to public disclosure. **

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Passenger lights cigarette, punches flight attendant and diverts flight to Denver

by Grant Martin??
Jun 18th 2008

We may have a new contender for worst passenger on an aircraft ever, ladies and gentlemen. Sorry Kyla and girls who think they’re prettier than the rest of the plane, you may have met your match.

On a Jetblue flight between San Francisco and New York this past Tuesday, Christina Szele just couldn’t wait any any longer for a smoke and decided to light up in the cabin. Obviously this has been outlawed on planes for years, so a flight attendant went back to ask her to put it out.

In response to the request, Szele instead verbally abused the flight attendant with racist remarks, provoking further concern from the crew. After further agitation, several employees decided to restrain her and were able to secure her well enough to apply flexible handcuffs.

Until she broke out of them. And punched the flight attendant that she was earlier harrasing in the face. Great idea.

Things got so far out of hand that the pilot had to divert the flight into Denver and have the woman removed from the aircraft and arrested. Now she faces 20 years in prison and up to 250,000 in fines.

I think that they should have just thrown her out of the plane with a parachute.

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Smoker on plane had panic attack
April 4, 2007
JENNIFER BAKER AND EILEEN KELLEY

A Delta flight from Cincinnati to Honolulu made an unscheduled stop in San Francisco Tuesday to treat a woman who suffered a panic attack and was smoking on board the aircraft.

Medical personnel were waiting for the unidentified woman when the plane landed in San Francisco.

She was taken for treatment and will not be cited, said Mike McCarron, a spokesman for the San Francisco airport.

Gina Laughlin, a Delta spokeswoman, said the woman did not respond to crew members’ instructions when she was told to quit smoking in the restroom about five or six hours into the nine-hour flight.

“It is a rare occurrence,” she said.

The Boeing 767 – which was already 45 minutes past San Francisco – went back to the city and landed at the San Francisco International Airport.

Barry Phelps, spokesman for the Transportation Safety Administration, said the woman was taken to a hospital for evaluation.

“Beyond that, I don’t know what happened to her,” he said today.

The plane, which left Cincinnati at 9:30 a.m. and holds about 275 passengers, was at the San Francisco airport about an hour before taking off again and completing the flight, Laughlin said.

Since 2000, federal law has banned all smoking on all flights to and from the U.S. From 1990 to 2000, federal law banned smoking on flights except domestic flights of over six hours (such as those to Hawaii and Alaska).

Delta banned smoking on all of its domestic and international flights in 1995.

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Thwarted male smokers identified as the archetypal air rage passengers

8 Oct 2006
MURDO MACLEOD

THE typical plane passenger who carries out air rage is a male in his 30s who is angry at not being allowed to smoke, according to a new study.

The study also found that many of the incidents involve passengers travelling alone, with only a minority involving rowdy groups on board aircraft.

Research by Britain’s air watchdog, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), analysed over 3,600 air rage incidents since 2001 to find the typical profile of an air rage incident.

The main findings included:

• More than three-quarters (78%) of incidents involved male passengers.

• The largest single age group involved in offences were travellers in their 30s – accounting for 35% of incidents.

• About a third of examples involved people travelling on their own.

• Four out of 10 incidents involved passengers being banned from smoking.

• More than four in five smoking-related incidents involved smoking in the aircraft’s toilet, often including an attempt to sabotage the smoke-detector there.

• Two-fifths of air rage incidents were connected to alcohol abuse, with a third of such events resulting from passengers bringing their own drink on the plane.

• Only 1% of occurrences happened in business or first class seating.

A British Airways source said: “The study turns the conventional image of air rage somewhat on its head. The idea that they are all groups of drunks is quite wrong; smoking is actually just as significant as a cause of air rage incidents.”

The doctors, who were attending an International Civil Aviation Organisation conference on the health risks of international travel, heard that increasing numbers of passengers felt anxious about flying since the September 11, 2001 terror attacks and were drinking more on board as a result.

Excessive alcohol consumption has also been linked by many scientists to an increased risk of deep vein thrombosis, or DVT, triggered by potentially fatal blood clots caused by long periods of immobility. In some cases, DVT can be fatal.

In 2001, British Airways warned passengers that they faced being banned from flights for air rage. Passengers who are rude or aggressive to airport staff will be banned from boarding British Airways flights under new measures.

The airline’s conditions of carriage were rewritten to warn customers that they would not be allowed to board their flights if they used “threatening, abusive or insulting words to ground staff or the crew”.

In August, two Scottish tourists were held in a Greek prison after being arrested for an alleged drunken incident on a flight from Glasgow to Zakynthos. Graham McDonnell and Pieter Mienen, both from Renfrewshire, were arrested on charges of “endangering civil aviation”.

Greek police said the men became rowdy and lashed out after being refused drink by flight attendants.

Last January, a British airliner flying from Cancun in Mexico to Manchester had to make a forced landing in Florida when a passenger allegedly became violent and abusive.

The Thomsonfly plane was diverted to Sanford Airport in Orlando following the disturbance on board.

In 2004, a drunk and abusive passenger received a nasty shock when he found his flight included members of the British police rugby league team on their way to New Zealand.

Cabin crew on the Singapore Airlines plane to New Zealand turned to the police contingent to deal with the man.

The drunk passenger was met by local police when the flight landed, but no charges were levelled against him.

In the same year, a Swansea businessman – Michael Jones – lit a cigarette and swore at flight crew. He also scuffled with fellow passengers aboard a 747 from Bangkok in Thailand and had to be handcuffed and strapped into his seat. Jones was jailed for six weeks.

In 2003, footballer turned actor Vinnie Jones was sentenced to community service and ordered to pay ?1,100 for air rage offences.

The former Wimbledon midfielder became angry when fellow passenger Stephen Driscoll told him he was being “annoying” – sparking a tirade of “frightening” threats from the star.

Jones was given 80 hours’ community service after admitting assault and using threatening words or behaviour towards members of an air crew.

In 2002, a number of leading doctors called for a ban on alcohol on board aircraft in order to stem air rage.

A spokesman for the British Air Transport Association said: “Air rage is an issue which the whole industry takes seriously, but it is important to get these incidents in context.

“They only affect a tiny minority of the flights in and out of the UK every year.”

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Also Read: Smokers called Animals In A Zoo

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Smoking on a plane the hard way doesn’t fly

August 29, 2006

CHICAGO — A 41-year-old man on a flight from Poland to Chicago last week has been charged with interfering with the duties of flight attendants after demanding that an exit door be opened so he could smoke while the plane was in the air.

Tomas Soltys, a Polish national, had to be restrained after striking another passenger on a flight that arrived at O’Hare International Airport at 3:15 p.m. on Friday, according to an FBI agent’s affidavit in the case.

Soltys approached flight attendants near the cockpit four hours into the flight from Warsaw and demanded that they open the exit door, court records show. After he was escorted to his seat, he allegedly threatened another flight attendant with a bottle of vodka.

The plane’s pilot helped restrain Soltys using seat belts. Soltys is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Chicago on Friday, authorities said.