Taking a cue from the introduction of all-business class airlines like Maxjet and Eos, and supplementing that concept with some addiction-enabling, German entrepreneur Alexander Schoppmann is starting up an all-smoking luxury airline.
The BBC reports that Smintair, short for Smoker’s International Airline, hopes to launch flights between Dusseldorf and Tokyo using leased 747s configured with only 30 first class seats and 108 business class seats. No economy seats.
Trying to emulate a “grand hotel” atmosphere from the 1960s, smoking will be allowed throughout the plane, with the upper deck turned into a lounge.
While smokers might value the opportunity to light up on a long flight, the airline is bizarrely pitching itself to non-smokers as well:
Non-smokers will find the cabin air more refreshing than on any other flight with any other airline, as SMINTAIR adds fresh outside air to the conditioning system! This is more expensive, as it burns more fuel, but it is seen as an additional service to our guests.
Yeah, sure, nonsmokers will really love that tiny bit of outside air that’s mixed with 138 chain-smoking travelers. Hilarious!
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June 28th, 2006 at 10:41 am
So I am to understand that you disapprove of people having a personal choice in matter of smoking vs. non-smoking. All airlines except this one are non-smoking. It’s a good idea. Now you and boingboing really need to stop whining.
June 28th, 2006 at 11:01 am
Infer what you want, Raggi.
If smokers want their own airline, then so be it. Let the market decide.
But the “fresh air” appeal to nonsmokers is baloney. Second hand smoke kills.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-06-27-involuntary-smoking_x.htm?POE=NEWISVA
June 28th, 2006 at 11:02 am
What, smokers don’t ride in economy? Why should first class have all the fun?
June 28th, 2006 at 11:44 am
Second hand smoke kills when you are confined to the same house as a heavy smoker for years and years.
Smelling someone elses smoke isn’t going to give you cancer.
You have a better chance of getting cancer from eating McDonalds.
Although it is smelly, it’s not a cancer risk.
June 28th, 2006 at 11:59 am
If you had actually bothered to read either the article from USA Today or the original surgeon general’s report, it states quite clearly that second hand smoke is a serious health hazard at any level.
June 28th, 2006 at 1:12 pm
SMINTAIR? More like “needS-MINT AIR”…
Anyway, yeah, I’d never ride it, but as long as they could keep their smoke IN THE PLANE, more power to them.
I would also sanction an airline that doesn’t allow any flyers under 18 years old (or some other arbitrary age to keep kids, and especially babies, from flying.)
I’d even pay extra for those flights, when I have to fly on business and not take my family.
June 28th, 2006 at 2:19 pm
Link to old Smokers Express Airlines info circa 1993:
http://tobaccodocuments.org/landman/2024204411-4447.html?pattern=smokers+express#images
June 28th, 2006 at 2:21 pm
Okay, tinier link to Smokers Express docs:
http://tinyurl.com/qm59j
July 2nd, 2006 at 10:29 pm
Second hand smoke doesn’t kill, even if the surgeon general says it does. We have enormous numbers of elderly people who lived through being smoked over in cinemas, buses, pubs, offices, you name it.
July 3rd, 2006 at 12:31 am
10 out of 10 to Smintair for providing a service to people who are using a perfectly legal product. With state of the art ventilation the air inside this plane will be cleaner than the air you are breathing outside. There has not been one credible report that second hand smoke is dangerous and yet people blindly accept statements with no proof from people like the Surgeon General. If you want to live in this kind of society go and live in Russia or China. No one is forcing non smokers to use this service its called choice, which means freedom. Sadly we see this being removed daily in so called democratic countries.
July 3rd, 2006 at 9:48 am
Folks, play nice…
As for the recent visitors who deny the scientific merits of the surgeon general’s report: I’d point out that the tobacco industry itself *does not deny* the scientific validity of the report or its conclusions. See the USA Today article linked above in comments.
If smokers want their own airline, and can support it financially, I encourage them to do so. Celebrate that new airline. Even better: Invest in it, if you believe it.
I believe it’s well within smokers’ rights to smoke within the enclosed confines of their own space. Just don’t try to convince nonsmokers that everything on board will be peachy for them.
July 3rd, 2006 at 9:06 am
Dude, China and Russia allow smoking in a lot more public places than in the US, or the English speaking West. Maybe YOU should be the one to move to China. You might enjoy the smoky ambience!
July 3rd, 2006 at 11:16 am
Great idea for smoking-and non smoking partners who are not parnoid, the venomous ones on here will not be using it anyway, they already have lots of choice so I do not understand there problem. I have many non-smoking friends who do not have that attitude.
July 3rd, 2006 at 11:34 am
Why are all the smokers coming here with such anger? The original blog posting doesn’t say that Smintair should be banned or anything.
Like the blogger said, let the market decide. People who dislike smoke won’t fly the airline, people who like smoke MIGHT fly the airline. Basta!
Besides, how many of the smokers who are posting comments are actually ever going to be able to afford this airline, I don’t know. it’s all first and business class!
July 3rd, 2006 at 1:48 pm
Second hand smoke is not a proven killer- people have been conned into believing so. The reason why we are angry is a backlash against the propaganda. yes the free market should decide- the airline is private- people sensitive to smoke should fly with another airline. There’s plenty!! Antismokers are simply hysterical and do need some psychiatric help or should perhaps move in time to nazi germany. Allowing an owner to decide his/her smoking policy is called freedom and democracy, you understand.
July 4th, 2006 at 4:01 pm
bbum – how arrogant to assume people have not done their homework! Fortunately I do not base my beliefs round America Today being gospel! The surgeon general is a surgeon not an expert in medical studies/evaluating figures/medical research, he only deals with problems not discover how they were caused! He is also government appointed and has been in the army. I have no doubt he is a very clever man but then again so is Richard Doll. Heard of him bbum? he was the man who has carried out extensive studies on smoking over many years and was the first to connect lung cancer with smoking. He also quoted that second hand smoke was negligent and was not a medical problem. This was the verdict he reached after many years of studying the effects of smoking on third parties. Also the WHO found after extensive studies that children of smokers had a 22% lower case of lung cancer in later life. I think Mr bbum that you should do your research a little bit better or keep your mouth shut.
July 6th, 2006 at 4:47 pm
Wow. Gotta love all the hate from the smoking crowd. Feeling a wee bit testy, are we? Maybe step outstide and have a smoke to calm those nerves.
As far as quotes like these:
“Second hand smoke doesn’t kill, even if the surgeon general says it does.”
Well, let the rest of us know when you want to join the reality-based conversations, ok?
“Does too…”
“Does not…”
“Does too…”
*sigh*
Oh, and the airline is a fine idea – if smokers can support it in the market, and it is not subsidized by goverment dollars, more power to it.
February 19th, 2007 at 10:00 am
[...] Related: – Marriott hotels to eliminate smoking in all its North American brands – Smoking prohibitions: Hurdles and tradeoffs – The captain has turned on the smoke-’em-if-you-got-’em sign – Smoking chimpanzee can’t kick cigarette habit (CBS News) – Comfort Suites (aff) – Poll: Will a Passengers’ Bill of Rights become law? JetBlue to impose financial penalties on itself [...]
March 11th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
[...] I also don’t think there will be an all-smoking hotel chain coming down the pike, like the all-smoking airlines that have been proposed. Consider that 85 to 90 percent of hotel rooms at mid- to upscale chains [...]
March 24th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
[...] Smokers’ inflight nicotine fix Stuck on a long flight (and not flying all-smoking Smintair), or sitting inside a smoke-free Westin or Marriott? Crack open an ice-cold NicLite — the [...]
May 19th, 2007 at 7:19 pm
[...] up my life Smokers are no longer a security threat (though you may want to give them their own airline): TSA officials recommend that lighters be allowed back on board. Maybe they’re just tired of [...]
July 23rd, 2007 at 10:35 am
[...] Sounds like a big step forward in the expansion plans of all-smoking airline Smintair! [...]
July 29th, 2007 at 4:45 am
[...] drinks (LOL). At least Yu Hu Stewardess would not like to work in that environment. You can see an interesting picture about how it probably would look on a flight with [...]
October 5th, 2007 at 10:29 am
Yeh, and if you had actually read the 2006 surgeon genenral’s report it actually says all the observed risk can alternately be explained by misclassification of ex smokers as never smokers.
March 14th, 2008 at 5:49 am
The bitter truth for non smokers is that they usually stay indoors without caring for fresh air. Smokers open windows more often or in countries where a general smoking ban is in force go for a stroll outside.
Non smokers will soon succumb to diseases linked to stale air; remember radon for example.
February 10th, 2009 at 7:09 am
[...] Feb 2009 Will electronic cigarettes be permitted on planes?Posted by: Mark Ashley Forget Smintair, the (still-grounded) airline for smokers. An electronic cigarette alternative called SuperSmoker, [...]
April 21st, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Well if you read it in USA Today or the Surgeon General’s report, then it must be true! HA! Wake up smoking nazis! Johnson & Johnson’s political arm has been a huge influence in increasing smoking taxes and instituting smoking bans around the country. Why? Because it benefits their bottom line … They sell more of the nicotine patches – DUH! My father and many others have smoked their entire lives with no negative impact on their health. Seems they should be researching why some people get sick from cigs and others do not. Same as how some people get fat from eating junk food and others can eat all they want and never gain weight. LIVE AND LET LIVE!
FORCES.ORG
April 22nd, 2009 at 9:26 am
Sherry –
“Live and let live” ? That’s exactly what those opposed to smoking in public spaces are in favor of. They’d like to live, and not be subjected to the smell of smoke from others.
It’s the difference between “freedom to” and “freedom from.” In the case of smoking, the trend in society is to give preference to the “freedom from smoke,” rather than the “freedom to smoke.” Your freedom to smoke is unfettered on your private property. Just not in the cramped public confines of an airplane. Sorry.