Posted 07.14.2006 at 4:36 pm
16 Comments
I sometimes find myself longing for the golden days of air travel, when it was a luxurious experience and not just a bunch of sweaty businessmen crammed seven-abreast into 25-year-old planes. To be fair, I'm only in my twenties, so I've never actually experienced this golden era, but I have seen it in the movies: attractive, well-dressed sophisticates sat in comfy chairs with enough room to cross their legs while they read international editions of newspapers, drank coffee out of delicate china mugs, and ... SMOKED.
Smoking has been illegal on U.S. flights since 1987, and most other countries followed suit shortly thereafter. But if you find yourself longing for the good old days—particularly the smoking aspect—-check out SMINTAIR (stands for Smokers International Air). SMINTAIR is a new luxury airline based around bringing luxury to flying. And by luxury, I mean smoking. Here's an excerpt from the company's Web site, smintair.com (which could use a copy editor’s touch):
SMINTAIR will treat its passengers like the guest of an international Grand Hotel. It is an obligation to SMINTAIR to bring back the exclusivity in flying encountered in the 1960s and dearly missed by so many. The classic ambience paired with today's technology will make flying SMINTAIR a unique experience. Presentations of luxurious goods with all due countenance, Telephone, TV, DVD, MP3, Internet, are just some of the many envisioned tools and aspects of in-flight entertainment...Allowing our guests to smoke is one of the freedoms we are happily prepared to grant. 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.
There are no flights scheduled yet, but let's assume a ticket on SMINTAIR costs about the same as a normal biz-class ticket. Would you pay more to smoke your way to your destination? Tell us in the comments section. -Joe Brown
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I might be tempted to start flying again... hehe
It will never fly. You'll never get 400+ smokers paying over $2500 a ticket so they can smoke on a flight. This is either a major scam or some brainless people have no business sense.
i think this is another one of them stupid american scams , the plane will explode and have tons of problems , they will make no money period.
smoking cancer sticks isn't a luxury , unless u plan on getting buried anytime soon in a fancy casket.
smokers are jokers
It's definitely not a stupid American scam. It's an Eastern block scam. Did you get a load of the funny grammar?
Oh come on! pple used to smoke on airlines all the time. Wad makes you think there would be explosions? We arnt using hydrogen to lift our "airships" no more.
And as if indugence was never a luxury, think fubu in japan, sky diving, sub orbital travel,
toxic laced cavier(not mentioned on the can of course). Wad makes smoking that different?
This is obviously an extravagant publicity stunt by Smint mints to try to publicize their mints' ability to knock out Smoker's Breath.
Clever, Smint, but not clever enough.
Insulting a smoker because of your personal choice not to smoke is juvinile and pointless. calling smokers "jokers" is like calling a girl a "poopy head". Calling them "cancer sticks" isn't any more clever. Smokers can choose to use this airline just as you can choose not to smoke. And the conspiracy theorists with their "scams" are also ridiculus. If it isn't real they won't get an airplane off the ground. They aren't asking for money in advance
I would totally fly SMINTAIR to get away from people who call cigarettes "cancer sticks," and who look down at me because I am a helpless victim of Big Tobacco's ruthless ad campaigns. And because I am optimistic about the possibility of once-again hot stewardesses, er, flight attendants. Now THAT'S luxury, and I hope the brilliant minds behinnd SMINTAIR have taken that into account. Have fun on Jet Blues with your soggy ala carte sandwiches, my friends.
You callin bad grammar unamerican? F you, commie..
Why not? If people want to pay more to be able to smoke in the air, they have every right too, just as those of us who don't smoke have every right to pay for non-smoking flights. If it's not affecting me, I don't have a problem with it.
Although djohn makes a nice point that it is quite possibly just an elaborate publicity stunt that everyone is falling for.
Foolish Foolish smokers.... first off blaming your habits on 'Big Tobacco' producers campaigns is extremely juvenile (you control your habits not them) secondly.... the reason some call them 'cancer sticks' is.. uhhmm because they're proven to cause cancer! Finally to clear up why there is a backlash on smokers... it's because when you smoke with many around you - you've stepped out of the personal into the public, you affect the public and are then brought into their scrutiny. So pucker up, control your habits, and live a positive life without those damn cancer sticks...they've caused enough pain to us all...
You know why SMINTAIR is a good idea? So I don't have to be trapped in a metal box for several hours with Shab, who obviously hates me because I'm a smoker, and look so cool as I slowly inhale my eventual killer. Hell, I could die in a plane crash, and then I would have spent my final hours with Shab, who hates me for because, as a child, I had no positive role models and considered the Marlboro Man a father figure. He never lied to me, so I went to where the flavor is. I will probably die here, if I live through that next plane crash.
In answer to the question would I pay more to smoke on board, the answer is a definate YES.
With regard to Smintair, although I wish them every possible success, I do seriously wonder at the profitablilty of a 747 with no economy cabin. I assume they have some guranteed Japanese coroprate business ... if not I think they may well be in trouble.
I would actually like to see an economy cabin introduced, possibly with higher fares and an 'old fashoned' economy service marketed as the smokers alternative to the far east.
Only if you include cigars.
Don
oh man, I despise smoking... hey as long if you smoke and you dont disturb others with your smoke, thats fine with me...
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