Given that there at least three of us, it appears, who post on here who are addicted to the awful weed, I thought it might be helpful to post a thread re smoking facilities at airports.
This, of course, should also be useful to the non-smoking majority as a guide to how to avoid our noxious emissions.
Anyway, here's a start based on my recent experiences:
All UK Airports - no facilities at all within the building; smoking must be outside the terminal building, usually in a designated area, probably a few metres from the entrance.
Frankfurt and Munich: Smoking cabins distributed in many locations throughout the terminals. No smoker facilities actually within the LH Lounges themselves.
Helsinki: Bliss! Numerous smoking rooms and one located next to the baggage carousels in the Schengen area, so you can regain your nicotine levels whilst waiting for your bags.
Copenhagen: Used to be smoker-friendly but no longer. No smoking in SK Lounges; only one small smoking area tucked away up some stairs.
Stockholm: ditto as per CPH. Last time I was there the single smoking room was very small and tucked away behind a bar.
Zurich: Great for smokers. Smoking Lounges clearly signposted and liberally scattered throughout the building. Smoking in the Smokers' Bar of the Swiss Lounge in Terminal A.
AMS: The only smoking area I found was in the bowels of the Irish Pub.
BRU, DUB, SOF, WAW, ZAG, SJJ, DBV, GYD: Nothing - only outside the terminal.
IST: Ostensibly totally non-smoking. However, there is a single smoking room tucked away behind a cafe on the first floor near the OneWorld Lounge.
Tbilisi: Smoking terrace outside the Business Lounge.
Nagoya, Shanghai, Beijing: Limited smoking rooms within the terminal.
Can other addicts (or non-smokers even) add to this list?
Simon
PatJordan - 27/11/2010 22:57 GMT
Simon, thats marvelous!
In Ireland, the smoking ban is universal. I think it is the same in New York too.
How ironic that the only smoking area in AMS is the Irish pub!
Indeed, PJ!
I forgot OSL: no smoking facilities at all and a hell of a long walk to get outside if you are transiting (which I guess is true for most other places, too).
VNO - smoking rooms but not in cafes, bars or the Business Lounge.
KLIA - nothing that I could find, ditto Kuching.
BKK - smoking rooms (few and far between) but no smoking areas in the Thai Lounges.
In March there still was a smoking room within the Thai First Class Lounge in BKK.
Same applies to LH FC Terminal in FRA, there is a beautiful smoking room within the facility.
But then, FC lounges are just for a few people, thus the majority is oppressed by the nonsmokers.
Potakas - 28/11/2010 01:31 GMT
Nice threat indeed,
BCN: Has a terrace after security check, next to Mc Donalds. (I haven't be in a lounge there)
ATH: Had many smoking areas although since October the smoking has banned everywhere inside the airport, also on the smoking rooms that some lounges had.
I was last week on the Sky Team's lounge there, where the smoking room exist as it was but they have now put a non-smoking label, which i didn't see... I went straight there and i started smoking, until a very kind lady told me to stop otherwise she had to call the police...
The non-smoking rule know exist on all Greek airports.
There's always one going agaisnt the thread - and this time its me!
I simply dont understand why non smokers (in my case reformed, I have now gone 10 years and 11 months without a drag) should be forced to smell or worse still inhale smoke in passive format, whether through a leakage from a smoking area or having to endure the disgusting stink outside the airport terminals. There should be a universal ban on smoking in all public areas where there is any possibilty of non smokers having to endure the disgusting and filthy habit which is one of the primary casues of C A N C E R. Indeed most smokers are anti drug supporters and would be appalled at the thought of cannabis being smoked in airports, but the reality is that cannabis is probaly safer than tobacco.
Why do the airport authorities have to spend money on smokers being able to smoke. There should be an entry charge for smokers to go into smoking areas as the cost of providing this service should not have to be paid by the majority of people who are non smokers.
If people insist of smoking plants that turn their insides black and casue death, depriving families of loved ones, including being the casue of some children being bought up without parents, so be it, but please, go into some deep forest and indulge in your habit away from people who dont wish to suffer the disgusting smell and effects.
Walking down main city streets like Oxford Street in London, I am constantly having to dodge plumes of cancerous filled smoke wafting around.
Smoking should be banned and maybe the next generation will grow up in a healthier world.
So when I see a thread about "where to smoke in airports" you may as well start another thread called 100 ways to kill yourself!
ps - thanks for your contributions to the health service in tax, but the health service would be better off with free beds and not having to treat the cancerous effects of smokers.
Have a nice day everyone.
Dear, oh dear, Martyn. Had a tough day, have we?
Seems like you've had a very uncharacteristic sense of humour bypass today.
Simon
PS most smokers wish they could stop, so we don't need the bleedin' obvious quoting at us re the risks. We know that, Martyn. Also, this thread isn't supposed to be about whether smoking is a good or bad thing, and it's also supposed to be semi tongue-in-cheek. Non smokers have got their pubs and restaurants back in most of Europe (and rightly so), but those sad gits amongst us, like me, who don't find quitting easy, still need places to smoke. And noone forces non-smokers into smoking cabins.
By the way, Martyn, it's telling that you know it's precisely 10 years and 11 months since you quit. That detail shows that you appreciate how hard it is to quit.
Regards, Simon
PS
Getting back on thread
TLL - no facilities within the aiport.
I have learnt that there is no such thing as a 'former smoker' - I am just inbetween the weed!
My comments though Simon were serious and not a lack of humour As a smoker, the smell of smoke would not bother you as much as it does me. Currently in Asia where smoking in hotels is common and quite frankly it is really ****ing me off.
On an even more serious note, I will be more than happy to counsel anyone free of charge about giving up smoking and what to expect. Your comment "most smokers wish they could give up" is so true and most think it is a case of buying their way out. The reality is that it is cheaper and easier than you think.
I managed it 10 years and 11 months ago and am more than happy to guide people - the only condition being that they honestly want to give up and are not just thinking about it tomorrow.
My email is mailto:martynsinclair@hotmail.com">martynsinclair@hotmail.com
ps - having been at the bedside of a smoker when they took there last breath would make the hardiest of smokers give up. I am aware of the thread title - but as the Asda advert says - EVERY LITTLE HELPS (in this case encouragement to give up).
Inquisitive - 28/11/2010 04:51 GMT
Tokyo Narita, Hong Kong and Singapore Changi has smoker's room. I gave up smoking long ago and felt good when almost all airlines banned smoking on board. However smoker's facility shall be made available at airports. It is individual choice. If we are so much health consious, then we shall work towards banning more than 2 round of alcoholic drinks on board or fast food outlets from airports.
starflyer - 28/11/2010 10:17 GMT
Little known smoking facility in DUB T1: after security turn right, walk through the shopping area called The Loop (towards the 200s and 100s gates), go upstairs to the Garden Terrace Bar with its outdoor smoking area.
Great thread. Thanks for the info re DUB, never knew that. There is still a smoking room in the Aegean lounge in ATH. In IST there is an outside smoking area landside whch is on the first floor behind the really expensive bars, restaurants. Airside, as Simon pointed out, there is an outside area behind the truly awful Millenium lounge. MAD has smoking booths all through the airport, even by the gates which is great before a long haul. BCN only has the smoking area in T1. There is another smoking area in AMS which is in the casino, it is a small glass booth and if you are lucky, up to 3 people can fit it there! Simon, as you are a Swiss expert, I am doing ZRH-MIA J in January and believe it is the old configuration. Will I have an enjoyable flight? Thanks.
starflyer - 28/11/2010 11:46 GMT
SimonRowberry is the CPH info still correct? I have a short stop over there in January before longhaul and it might be a bit too tight to do the SK lounge and nip out to have a smoke and go back in through security (even with the priority lane)
Martyn Sinclair wrote:
"I managed it 10 years and 11 months ago and am more than happy to guide people - the only condition being that they honestly want to give up and are not just thinking about it tomorrow.
My email is mailto:mailto:martynsinclair@hotmail.com">mailto:martynsinclair@hotmail.com"
ps - having been at the bedside of a smoker when they took there last breath would make the hardiest of smokers give up. I am aware of the thread title - but as the Asda advert says - EVERY LITTLE HELPS (in this case encouragement to give up)."
My comment:
A man on a mission makes me smile, sometimes, reminds me of the Christian missionaries in the jungles trying to convince the natives with sword and flame...
PS: I do actually like smoking and don't WANT TO give up the habit.
Folks, please don't let's fall out over this. I posted the thread partly as a humorous topic and partly as a genuine information exchange for smokers.
I knew that there was risk that non-smokers would take issue with it (almost certainly ex-smokers, and they seem more evangelistic than those who've never smoked). Just for the record, I agree 100% with the pub and restaurant smoking ban as I've never believed that non-smokers should inhale our muck. However, this thread is about accepting that situation and pointing out to other addicts at which airports we can or cannot indulge our (acceptedly) filthy habit. No-one forces non-smokers to come to these areas. Indeed, I cannot think of any airport off the top of my head where there is a general permission to smoke - it is always in a designated (and usually glass-walled or otherwise closed) area, to protect (rightly) non-smokers, even where smoking is allowed adjacent to a bar.
The only semi-exceptions to this are Tbilisi, where the business lounge terrace is a group of seats on the mezzanine and Helsinki, where the area by the Schengen reclaim is not wholly walled-in.
Martyn - I will email you.
FCW - if it's an A330, then it may well be the new product (check the seating plan); if it's a A340, then probably not. It seems that the A340 fit is going more slowly than they originally anticipated.
Starflyer - I've just checked the website and it seems that smoking is no longer permitted. However, CPH is one of the few airports where it is comparatively easy to go outside for a smoke. If you go through the arrivals hall and customs, you can smoke outside, to the right of the ticket desk for Danish Railways. You obviously have to go through security on the way back, but that's generally not too bad at CPH (unless anyone has more recent info - I've not used CPH since January).
Cheers, Simon
@millionsofmiles and Inquisitive - unlike drinking and fast food outets, smokers do have an effect on non smokers - its called passive smoking and if you are in any doubt walk down any high street or pass any building and you can not help but walk into a cloud of cancer ridden smoke.
Am I on a mission - absolutely I am. By all means go and smoke I am pleased to hear that you enjoy it. However, just becasue you like the effects doesnt mean that those around you have to suffer as well.
The title of the thread is "A Smokers Guide to Airports" - I agree that smokers should be allowed to enjoy their habit, but not when the non smoking fraternity have to suffer the effects of the smell and the effects.
Your comparison to Chrisitan missionaries in the jungles is interesting, becasue in my mind that is the best place for smokers, well away from the general public.
When you have seen first hand the effects of cancer casued by smoking, including a facial features eaten away, bodies being torn apart internaly and externally, maybe the smokers among you will treat us non smokers a little kinder and ensure that we do not have to suffer from your "enjoyable" habit.
By all means smoke, just find a place away from the non smokers.
Thank you and Amen!
Martyn - fair points, well made. I actually don't think many smokers would wish to pollute the air of those who don't.
One reason I support the ban is pure self-interest as well - it has cut my smoking my at least a third. What would help, though is consistency in law. For example, Austria and Germany have thresholds in terms of bar floorspace at which a ban comes into force (70 m2 seems common). Finland had a transition period, which meant that you could smoke in some bars (irrespective of size - the bar that is, not the customer) but not in others, even though they were ostensibly very similar - some owners embraced the ban at the outset; others didn't.
Croatia was an odd one. On my first visit, one couldn't smoke in bars etc. On my second visit, one could, because the ban had been over turned because of its unpopularity. When I went back this year, one couldn't smoke, because the ban had been reintroduced.....
I had never been to Switzerland until about 5 years ago. Of all countries, I expected them to have a blanket ban. However, until this year you could wander through Basel Railway Station with a cigarette on. Indeed, you can still smoke on railway station platforms there, covered or not. Consistency across the EU and EEA would be helpful!
Starflyer - I was amazed by your revelation about DUB. I remember that they used to (and may well still do) have a big "No smoking" symbol painted on the ground outside the main doors to Terminal 1. This was at least 2 metres square. However, there was a large metal ashtray provided at the exact centre of this symbol.....
Going to Bosnia this year reminded me how things were until recently. One could smoke everywhere, without restriction. It was pretty horrible, I must admit, especially in places like lifts, toilets and hotel lobbies. My son, in particular, hated it as he (at the age of 11) is an absolutely passionate anti-smoker. Ironically, you couldn't smoke at Sarajevo Airport, apart from outside.
And one correction to my list - at Baku you can't smoke when departing but, for some reason, you can in the arrivals hall. However, the Azeri idea of segregation seems to be to tape no-smoking signs to a few pillars in the arrivals area and let you smoke everywhere else in the room, which must be unpleasant for those who don't smoke.
Simon
PatJordan - 28/11/2010 14:19 GMT
Martyn,
you made some very profound points, and no doubt got us thinking.
I am lucky in that I only smoke an occasional cigar, but do not like to inflict it on others.
In an ideal world there would be enclosed areas with air extractors (in deference to those who have to work there). However, as we all know the world if far from ideal! But its the only one we have so lets make the best of it.
Potakas - 28/11/2010 14:29 GMT
FirstClassWannabe, when was the last time you've been in Aegean's lounge at ATH?
Because since October in Greece we have total ban of smoking on all public buildings and i believe that they don't allow it as i said from my experience on SkyTeams's lounge.
Regards,
Potakas
Agreed PJ.
I think you make a very important point about the fact that smoking bans are intended to protect the workforce, NOT the smoker!
Regards, Simon
