Someone on a closed Facebook group that I subscribe to noticed that the lavatory of a new plane they were on had ash trays. That made no sense, all US aircraft are non-smoking! And they asked what was up.
This was a domestic flight, and the US banned smoking on domestic flights in the 90s. You don’t even see no smoking signs lighting up on aircraft anymore (in which case it’s printed), there isn’t a smoking time and a no smoking time, there are announcements about no smoking — including in the lavatory.
Very few airlines around the world permit onboard smoking any longer.
And yet ashtrays are mandated in the lavatory — part of the minimum equipment list, that a plane is not permitted to fly more than a few days without. I never noticed this, but the ashtrays are there.
The reason, it turns out, is that if someone does smoke inflight despite the ban, they need to have a place to put it out — rather than just putting it in the trash where there’s a chance of causing a fire.
Who knew?
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My understanding is that ashtrays on commercial airplanes DO get used. When they charter, for example, for sports teams, the players like smoking cigars and are generally permitted per their contracts.
As you said … who knew. I did rather wonder about this, as I have noticed them.
No Gary. If it were on the minimum equipment list, then the plane could fly without it being in working order.
Only if something is NOT on the MEL is the plane grounded. Not in a few days, but immediately.
As long as we — humans — treat uneducated muscleboys as privileged semi-gods, who can smoke aboard the airplane, rape girls and call that a misunderstanding etc, there is not much going for the future of humanity.
NO ONE — and I do mean NO ONE, icluding the queen of Britain and a dozen and a half Commonwealth countries — should have privileges, let alone “sports teams”.
Despicable.
@Tony Roberts that’s consistent with what I wrote, the plane CAN fly without it for a limited period of time.
Just like they say in the Geico commercial, “everybody knows that”……………….Gary here is another fun fact you didn’t know…up until about 1979 f/a crew members (at least at TWA) working a 747-100 over the ocean were trained the following safety procedure for an over-water anticipated (time to prepare) ditching. The F/A’s sitting at the #5 doors (last door left and right) were trained to find a pax sitting adjacent to the #3 overwing doors and switch places with them. Meaning pax were now sitting in the back doors f/a jumpseats for the ditching and the f/a’s moved to the #3 overwing seats. Why? To help with overwing evac, yes partly, but it was at that time felt that there was a possibility that the 747-100 tail of the would break off in a water ditching. The crew member would be lost and unable to assist. True story.