People are just realizing why there are still ashtrays in airplane bathrooms
If you've ever noticed an ashtray in an airplane bathroom and wondered why it's still there despite the no smoking signs lighting up all around you - you're not alone.
Even though smoking has been banned on all US flights for more than two decades since 2000, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) still requires ashtrays to be present near airplane lavatories.
The reason? Some passengers still just can't resist lighting up at 35,000 feet.
The FAA says people still try to smoke onboard and airlines need a safe way for them to take the light out.
'The installation of an ashtray on or near the lavatory door will ensure that uninformed persons who find themselves with lighted smoking materials on the airplane will have an obvious location to dispose of smoking materials before entering the lavatory,' the FAA explains.
The FAA believe it's better to have a designated place to extinguish a cigarette than risk a smoker tossing it into a trash bin full of paper towels and flammable waste.
A European flight attendant, who previously worked for a major US airline, told Marketplace she has personally caught multiple passengers trying to sneak a smoke mid-flight.
'What people don't understand is that a fire on board is one of the most scary things to have,' she told the outlet.
The FAA regularly investigates 'unruly passenger' reports and lighting up on the flight is included.
In 2021, the FAA proposed a whopping $16,700 fine against one Allegiant Air passenger who was caught smoking in the bathroom.
Although the FAA itself can't press criminal charges, it can refer extreme cases to the FBI.
The agency also can impose civil penalties of up to $37,000 per violation.
Also in 2021, a woman on a Spirit Airlines flight to Fort Lauderdale was walked off by police after lighting up a cigarette on the tarmac, drawing scorn from fellow passengers.
The unnamed woman pulled out a cigarette after the plane took more than an hour to make its way to the terminal after it arrived at the Florida airport from Detroit. It is not clear why it took that long to taxi.
Alexa Majdalawi, 31, who was sitting behind her and has asthma, told Fox News at the time: 'She literally took out a cigarette and just started smoking.'
Majdalawi said the woman 'turned around' and blew it in her face.
And just this April, a brazen business-class passenger was caught on camera vaping on a flight - with footage showing the premium flyer sneakily tucking the device beneath a cushion between each inhale.
The incident, which involved a male passenger seated in executive class, took place on a Garuda Indonesia flight from Jakarta to Medan, Indonesia, on March 27.
A shocking clip shows the passenger, who had been filmed by a fellow flyer, subtly lifting the e-cigarettes to his lips from under a red cushion placed on his lap.
A former flight attendant who worked on planes in the 1970s previously revealed to Daily Mail that the cigarette smoke on planes used to be so thick her makeup would drip down her face.
Mary Mckenna recalled her memories of working on American Airlines from 1976 to 2010.
While her career had many highlights, the now-outlawed act of smoking during flights posed various concerns for her.
She recalled: 'The smoke was so intense on the plane that my eye makeup would be dripping down my face, I couldn't breathe.'
Mary also explained that she would have to take extra caution to watch out for passengers falling asleep with lit cigarettes in their hands due to the fire risk.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE I used to be a flight attendant - here's why I think business class passengers are the WORST
From international travel to discounted plane tickets and snazzy uniforms, life as a flight attendant might look pretty appealing. But while it might appear as though they live the high life, there's another side to a career as cabin crew. Jane Hawkes, a former flight attendant, has lifted the lid on the reality of the job in an exclusive interview with MailOnline Travel. The consumer expert and blogger ( also reveals why she found business class passengers to be the most demanding group of travellers. 'Everyone thinks it's glamorous, don't they?' says Jane. 'But the industry has changed an awful lot. It used to be silver service. Now you're going down the aisle with a bin, putting everyone's rubbish in it, picking up sick bags.' And as the plane's crew aren't often able to do a full clean in between a tight and demanding schedule, Jane says: 'You're very much aware of how disgusting the aircraft is. I never ever go anywhere without my antiseptic wipes.' With antisocial behaviour in the air on the rise, flight attendants are also often on the front line. Jane reveals: 'I think people end up with different personalities and as different people [when they fly]. Something happens to people when they go through an airport, where little things become massive things. 'People do explode. And to be able to defuse situations like that can be quite difficult, and you have to do restraint training. I didn't have [to do it for real] but if someone is being a disruptive passenger you are within your rights to restrain them.' Crew are also trained to handle a whole range of emergencies, but passengers often don't appreciate the challenges of the role, adds Jane. 'I think people see air crew and cabin crew as being glorified waitresses in the sky,' she claims. 'But it's so much more than that, because you are judge, jury, police and medic. Flight attendants are there primarily for your safety. 'I think we all need to remind ourselves of that and listen to the crew because they don't perhaps get the same respect as if the captain came down to talk to someone.' And as surprising as it might sound, it's business class passengers that get the red card for bad behaviour from Jane. She reveals: 'Business passengers are sometimes the worst because a lot of them have companies paying for it. They just want everything, left, right and centre. They want everything they can possibly have from that experience. A bit like going to an all-inclusive and just devouring everything. 'First class passengers pay for a certain standard. They've got the privacy. They're not paying for the service, they're paying for privacy. So they might not even eat anything. 'Then economy passengers can be quite fun because sometimes they're going on an adventure, visiting people and they have stories to tell.' Although you might assume that flight attendants fly with the same group all the time, Jane explains that your plane's crew might not have ever met before. She says: 'Often you don't know anybody. You get a briefing before you go on a flight and by the end of the flight, you're pretty much bosom buddies, believe it or not. Although you might assume that flight attendants fly with the same group all the time, Jane explains that your plane's crew might not have ever met before. 'Once crew, always crew. You need to gel very quickly because you have to work as a team.' And while short-haul cabin crew also face early starts and long hours, it's long-haul attendants who have the toughest deal, says Jane. 'I was short haul and I always say short haul is a job, but long haul it's your lifestyle,' explains Jane. 'Everything revolves around that long haul because you'll come back jet lagged. 'And actually as the years have progressed, the trips have changed because you don't get as much time down the road. Going from east to west is horrendous. Your body clock is stuffed. 'It's very different from the glory days of crew jollies. People don't have as much time. The hotels used to be better. Cutbacks have come in. It can be lonely, you can end up on your own for quite long periods of time if there aren't any opportunities to meet up with other crew. 'If some of your fellow crew have brought someone with them on the trip (a staff travel "clingon") or they have relatives or friends at the layover destination, they may not be staying at the hotel and other crew might not have anyone to chum up with for dinner.' But while life in the skies might not be quite the glamorous lifestyle that people think it is, Jane reveals that there is one fantastic upside. 'Being crew means you get to meet lots of lovely people across the world and make lifelong friends. There's no other job like it.'
The Independent
3 hours ago
- The Independent
Flightpath shuffle: how conflict in the Middle East has reshaped air routes
What a difference a week makes. Last Saturday night, a void opened up on the live map of flights in progress on the tracking service Flightradar24. As US bombers struck targets in Iran, the skies over Iran and Iraq cleared. One British Airways plane, having flown from London Heathrow almost all the way to Dubai, turned around and sped back to Europe – landing in Zurich because the fuel and the crew's hours were running low. Then on Monday night, the airspace of Qatar suddenly shut as Iranian missiles targeted an American base in the Gulf nation. At the time, more than 100 planes were converging on Doha. Diversions began at once, coordinated by air-traffic controllers in Bahrain. The first plane to be diverted was a Qatar Airways Boeing 787 Dreamliner from London Gatwick, which was well into its descent into Doha when it was turned away and flew to the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Those passengers were relatively lucky, compared with the thousands who had already spent hours in the air and were simply flown back to where they started. The most extreme example was Qantas flight 33 from Perth to Paris. The pilots of the ultra-long-haul aircraft were 300 miles off the west coast of India when they were alerted to the unfolding threat. Faced with rerouting to evade multiple threats, the crew turned the 787 around and finally touched down in the Western Australian capital after a 15-hour flight to nowhere. Within six hours, the skies over Qatar opened again and the painstaking business of recovering the operation began. As Jane Kinninmont, chief executive of UNA-UK and all-round Middle East expert has been telling The Independen t's daily travel podcast, the Iranian attack was strictly a performative, face-saving move. Global aviation and tourism, she said, could actually help to make a ceasefire stick. 'The wealthy Gulf countries have been trying to play a role as mediators, precisely because they have really important tourism sectors,' Ms Kinninmont says. 'They have now some of the biggest, best, flashiest airports in the whole world, and they just feel they cannot afford to let conflict put those things at risk.' Qatar and the UAE also have vast fleets of planes that they want to shuttle between their home hubs, western Europe and North America – connecting these lucrative markets with points east and south. And that hasn't been easy this week. The most direct route between Dubai and New York, for example, goes over Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Ukraine before reaching less stressed airspace over Poland, Denmark and Scotland. Ukraine is off the sky map for the foreseeable future, which means planes track along the northern shore of Turkey before resuming a northwestward path over the Black Sea. Usually aircraft from the Gulf to Europe and beyond fly over either Iran or Iraq. Those nations' shared border parallels the optimum flight routes. For most of the week, though, airlines have studiously avoided Iran and Iraq – switching to a southerly route over Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The detour can add an hour or more to journey times – and also means entanglement with all the holiday flights linking the UK with Italy, Croatia and the Greek islands. Yet as from Friday, Baghdad is back astride the intercontinental freeway once again. As I write, the Emirates flights from Manchester and Newcastle to Dubai are heading for the Iraqi capital, while another Emirates Airbus A380 has just crossed into Iraq from Syria on its path from Rome to Dubai. Most other airlines, including British Airways, are sticking to the southern route over Saudi Arabia for now. But I predict that by the start of July they will be returning to the skies over Iraq. Iranian airspace is far emptier – but some flights are coming back. Qatar Airways has just dispatched what I believe is its first flight over Iran for a week, on its way to Tashkent in Uzbekistan. FlyDubai, the short-haul sister airline to Emirates, is also operating across the eastern third of Iran to Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan. And Aeroflot is back, en route from Abu Dhabi to Moscow. These are currently among the 'most tracked' flights on Flightradar24. I imagine some of the eyes on the skies belong to rival airlines, sizing up the prospect of returning to Iran. Aviation abhors an airspace vacuum. As the long-suffering route planners get back to work, a final word from Middle East guru Jane Kinninmont: 'Travel is one of the greatest ways to learn about people and the world. 'Much better than reading about geopolitics is going to interesting, different and beautiful places. Also seeing what makes people different around the world, but what makes people the same. And remembering that the world is mostly not about politics.' Simon Calder, also known as The Man Who Pays His Way, has been writing about travel for The Independent since 1994. In his weekly opinion column, he explores a key travel issue – and what it means for you.
Daily Mail
8 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Grand Teton Tourist Dives Headfirst Through Open Car Window To Avoid Grizzly
A tourist dove through an open car window to escape a possible attack from a massive grizzly bear in a Wyoming national park. The heart-stopping image was captured on the winding roads of Grand Teton National Park - a nearly 310,000-acre expanse with 40 miles of rugged Rocky Mountain peaks. Traffic had suddenly came to a standstill in what park regulars dubbed a 'very large animal jam.' More than 50 people stood frozen on a hillside with binoculars and high-powered cameras in hand to witness a very large bear from afar. But one tourist suddenly came face-to-face with the beast - and in a split-second decision, hurled himself through his car window, narrowly escaping unscathed. 'When the bear emerged from the trees, it was right in line with his taillights,' Molly Hagan told Cowboy State Daily. 'He did not hear the crowd yelling at him to get in his car.' 'He dove into his car window and tucked his feet just as the bear came around the driver's side and crossed the street,' she added. On June 3, Hagan, social media coordinator for Backcountry Safaris Jackson Hole, was spending the day in Grand Teton. But while on the road, she witnessed a saturation of vehicles - all stopped and lining the road - in what she immediately recognized as an 'animal jam.' 'With the level of traffic present, and having already seen plenty of elk that day, I figured it had to be a bear,' Hagan told Cowboy State Daily. Spotting nearly five dozen people gathered on a hillside, using scopes and high-powered cameras to peer across the road, Hagan pulled over and got her camera ready to capture whatever had everyone on edge. Assuming the wildlife was far off, she wandered to a better vantage point - but saw nothing in the open field. It wasn't until Hagan hurried toward the growing crowd that she realized what had captured everyone's full attention. 'When I finally got to the crowd, I saw what they did: A huge grizzly, standing 10 feet off the left-hand side of the road,' Hagan told the outlet. 'And it was on the move.' But this wasn't just a charming, nature-documentary-style bear sighting - this bear, it was later discovered, was on a mission: to mate with an awaiting bear in a picturesque meadow just across the road. With her background in wildlife, Hagan quickly recognized the potential danger and put distance between herself and the bear, weaving her way to the back of the crowd. At the same moment, wildlife guides recognized that the huffing, puffing bear could strike at any moment - and swiftly sprang into action. 'Three wildlife guides, all armed with bear spray, put themselves between the bear and the crowd,' Hagan told Cowboy State Daily. 'The bear was huffing, looked at the crowd multiple times, but stayed at least 10 feet off the road,' she added. However, curiosity seemed to get the best of those stuck in the animal-related jam, as they began stepping out of their cars - unaware that the bear was close enough to strike at any moment. 'At this point, the wildlife guides were yelling, telling everyone to stay in their vehicle,' Hagan explained to the outlet. 'The bear continued north, and the crowd slowly moved south.' But urgent warnings from tour guides didn't seem to register with everyone - including one unsuspecting tourist who stepped out of their vehicle just as the bear briefly disappeared behind two trees along the road. The bear reemerged from behind the trees in an instant - right in line with the unidentified tourist's taillights - and began moving toward the passenger door. Unaware of the danger creeping up behind him and the frantic screams urging him back, he fully stepped out of the car, closing the driver's side door just as the huffing bear drew nearer. Just seconds later, he spotted the bear and realized the danger he'd naively walked into. His first instinct: get back inside the car. But the door was locked. His next move was to dive for his life through the open window of his black Kia, bearing Florida license plates - a heart-stopping moment perfectly captured by Hagan. In the photo, the tourist's peril is unmistakable: his outstretched legs, caught mid-jump and fully sideways, hang out of the open driver's side window. Just feet away, the muscular, huffing grizzly stalked closer - but fortunately, it showed little interest in the tourist's dangling feet and continued its intimidating march across the road. Thankfully, both bear and man escaped unscathed - the man safely back in his car, and the bear free to continue its journey to join in on Grand Teton's peak mating season. 'The photos tell the story better than any words can,' Hagan told Cowboy State Daily. While exploring Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, the National Park Service urges visitors to maintain a safe distance of at least 100 yards from bears roaming the natural surroundings. Most rangers and ecologists in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem agree that bear spray is essential for anyone traveling in grizzly country, according to the outlet. If you unexpectedly come face-to-face with a grizzly at close range, the best course of action is to 'play dead' - though the safest defense is to avoid these furry bears altogether. 'The best tool you have is your own situational awareness and both mental and physical preparedness when in grizzly bear occupied areas,' Dan Thompson, bear expert and large carnivore biologist with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, previously told Cowboy State Daily. 'The reason we promote the use of bear spray is that it's been shown time and again to effectively stop a bear attack,' he added.
