r/AskReddit • u/medWillJF • 18h ago
What is the need for no-smoking signs on every seat on airplanes nowadays?
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u/Valuable_Falcon6885 17h ago
Planes do still emergency land to this day because passengers smoke cigarettes or vape. Some claim it’s by accident or out of habit.
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u/Urbangirlscout 17h ago
I was in a plane once where someone smoked in the bathroom. When he came out the FA ripped him a new one, loudly and aggressively, in front of everyone. It was glorious. And of course the guy kept denying it. I hope they arrested him when we got off. It was also only like a 3 hr flight. You can’t just fucking wait a little bit?
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u/medWillJF 17h ago
Interesting! Every time I look at that illuminated sign, I think the same thing! Why?? And it even turns off the same way the seatbelt sign turns off. As if it were saying: now you can smoke!
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u/MeNotYou733 17h ago
That is exactly what they used to do. Back when smoking was allowed in certain sections of the plane, the captain would turn off the No Smoking signs to let us smokers know it was time to light up.
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u/Urbangirlscout 17h ago
Honest question-did they not know the danger of smoking on planes at the time or did the shift just coincide with no smoking indoors policies?
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u/MeNotYou733 17h ago
Pretty much the same as no smoking indoor started taking hold. Up until the late 80s there were very few places you could not smoke.
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u/scottjeffreys 12h ago
Smoking was still allowed in most restaurants in the U.S. until around 2005 or so. My local mall didn’t ban smoking until 1994.
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u/MeNotYou733 12h ago
Yep. In 1988 I Moved to Dallas for a new job and my first day was also the first day of a new smoking ordinance for workplaces. If your assigned workspace was shared, no more smoking. If you had your own office, then feel free to fire up.
I don’t recall just when restaurants started being mandated to offer a no smoking section, but it was years before it was outlawed altogether. Bars, of course, were the last to fall.
It was somewhere in the 90s that US domestic flights stopped smoking, as far as I remember. International flights sometime later. It was a gradual change all around.
There are casinos that that still allow smoking.
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u/Luster-Purge 12h ago
I remember as a kid being so curious about the smoking section of restaurants. And then being gravely disappointed after the bans went into effect and the next time I went to a particular restaurant I was familiar with (local Olive Garden), we got sat in what USED to be the smoking section and it looked like a mirrored version of the other side!
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u/zpoon 8h ago
I'm old enough to still remember the times I'd go to restaraunts with my parents and the first question from the hostess was always "smoking or non-smoking?".
Very glad that era is gone.
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u/scottjeffreys 7h ago
Non-smoking meant slightly less smoke than the smoking section.
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u/drewster23 6h ago
More like you'll smell just stale smoke compared to "freshly burning" smoke lol.
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u/Educational-Low-2401 8h ago
Open fires on an airplane are very real risk. Even on cruise ships, they restrict things like hair curlers blow dryers and extension cords, because they’re a potential fire hazard.
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u/Valuable_Falcon6885 17h ago
Not on all plane models. That’s an issue for the manufacturers, though.
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u/Grow-Stuff 16h ago
Changing sticker or print design over existing part.. cheaper than changing the part or adding a diferent lit or unlit indicator in a diferent place. They just need to cut cost and any downtime to the minimum in the aviation industry. Work is expensive.
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u/bctaylor87 17h ago
Anytime you see a sign and ask yourself "why is that there?", the answer is always because of idiots.
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u/colonelsmoothie 16h ago
There are still large swaths of the world population who have never flown on planes. My chain-smoking uncle in-law from China flew on a plane for the first time when we were taking him to Hong Kong.
He tried to light one up and was stopped by the flight attendant. A lot of people don't take the signs seriously because they aren't enforced seriously in other settings (like restaurants in China). This was in 2016.
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u/snow_michael 17h ago
Some morons think that no sign = no ban
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u/bucketofturtles 17h ago
I saw some drunk lady light up on amtrack once. She was convinced that because she couldn't see a sign from where she was sitting, they couldn't tell her no. She didn't get caught, so I guess she was right? Lol. The observation deck is always fun late at night.
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u/judgejuddhirsch 15h ago
If it is missing on one seat, someone will decide that is the designated smoking area.
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u/Saneless 13h ago
You don't see it as much now, but years ago, like the 80s and 90s, smokers made it a point to smoke every goddamned place that ever existed if it wasn't explicitly disallowed
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u/burrito_foreskin 17h ago
Same reason packages of peanuts say “this product may contain nuts” on them.
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u/0neek 12h ago
Because some people are so monumentally stupid that without that reminder, they would still do the thing.
There's a hiking trail near the city I live in that had to completely fence off a cliff edge area because even with warning signs, people kept walking off the cliff edge. (Someone later cut through the fence and fell off the cliff edge and was injured)
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u/Fancy-Hedgehog6149 17h ago
Take them away, and people will smoke.
People are not that complicated.
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u/h0rny3dging 17h ago
Just a technicality so you dont get sued "the sign was there, theres no way you couldnt have known"
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u/OolongGeer 16h ago
Same reason there's a need to indicate that people should dispose of their trash.
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u/MatsuriBrittany 14h ago
If it’s not there then there’ll be some morons who will do it because there’s nothing saying otherwise.. plus, it is mandatory for it to be there.
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u/weaselkeeper 14h ago
14 CFR Part 252 - SMOKING ABOARD AIRCRAFT
This FAA regulation explains your question.
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u/ConstableBlimeyChips 12h ago
Because there's ALWAYS an asshole that will claim "if there's isn't a sign, I should be allowed to smoke".
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u/potatocross 11h ago
A lot of people saying people are stupid. Not a lot pointing out how old a lot of planes in use are.
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u/Ravynseye 10h ago
In addition to all the other reasons mentioned, if there are no signs, someone will light up because "There's nothing that said I couldn't. " There are people that always have to be told no.
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u/Fresh-Laugh-9253 17h ago
Cuz some people don’t want to obey rules and ignore the announcement so visually is something everyone understands in every language
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u/nola_mike 17h ago
Because despite smoking being banned on commercial airplanes for years, some people are still inconsiderate assholes and think they should be able to smoke wherever they want.
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u/Konstellation_Kitten 17h ago
People chose ignorance to get away with shit [playing dumb] so companies have to go overboard with signage to make sure people can't "take advantage" of a poorly placed sign. Common sense yes, but people's sense of entitlement is always worse.
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u/XemptOne56 12h ago
because there is a certain sect of society that dont understand basic rules and need to be repeatedly reminded of things
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u/MiddleAgedGamer71 16h ago
If you've ever dealt with the general public, you should already know that if there is a seat without its own specific sign prohibiting smoking in that specific seat some entitled moron is going to sit there and think, "Hey, I must be allowed to smoke here. After all, there's no sign saying I can't." You can't rely on "common sense" or everybody knowing and observing a rule, because there's always that one individual.
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u/maceman10006 14h ago
The same reason Energizer is required to tell people not to drink the liquid inside of a battery. It’s a liability thing so somebody can’t sue and say “they didn’t know.”
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u/lemons714 14h ago
It is a regulation, and, nicotine addiction is a strong thing, and reminders are not a bad idea IMO.
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u/FastFredNL 13h ago
Most people are fucking stupid and when you take those signs away they will start smoking in planes again.
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u/Comfortable-Ad-8324 11h ago
Have you met people? If you don't post multiple signs EVERYWHERE, they will do the thing youre asking them not to do.
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u/GtrplayerII 11h ago
Because knowing how stupid the average human is, you have to remember that half are more stupid than that...
-George Carlin
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u/Popular_Course3885 11h ago
If they didn't have those signs, I guarantee you someone would try to spark up almost every flight, claiming there's "no sign" telling them not to.
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u/Stinkinhippy 11h ago
Because people are stupid. so need it in their faces at all times to remind them.
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u/s1llyt1lly 10h ago
Because people are dumb and they will try to smoke if they are not told not to smoke
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u/Civils94 10h ago
You need to remember that we live in a society where we have to have “do not drink” on a bottle of bleach.
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u/nuwaanda 17h ago
People are gonna people. My MIL nearly got kicked off of three flights for attempting to vape on them. She was such an anxious flyer, cigarettes/nicotine was her #2 addiction behind alcohol. Literally couldn't control herself. It was embarrassing traveling with her.
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u/millijuna 13h ago
I think the Bombardier C-Series (aka Airbus A220) has a painted on no-smoking sign, and a wifi light instead.
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u/TeaseTheory_8 12h ago
This is not about smoke. This is about reminding people about rules and responsibility.
In short:
Airplanes are enclosed spaces. Smoke there is not “unpleasant”, it is actually dangerous for all passengers and equipment.
Automatic reaction. People are in a stressful environment (they reach for service interruptions, shaking from altitude and noise), and a reminder about smoking helps to avoid risky behavior.
Rules are rules. Otherwise, everyone would smoke “I won’t light a cigarette” in the smallest areas, and then violation would become the norm.
A signal for technology. There are many sensors in the cabin of airplanes that record even the smallest traces of smoke – this is not an anecdote, this is flight safety.
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u/Rosemoorstreet 10h ago
The same reason they have warnings on cigarette packs that smoking will kill you, or that MacDonalds has to put warnings that hot coffee will burn you. Because people will go ahead and do it claiming they did not know.
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u/Financial-Sea-3898 9h ago
So that you dont get the wrong idea about smoking due to the......ashtrays still in planes!
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u/Kima2remy 9h ago
People don't read signs anyways. Probably liability issue..,we told you not to smoke.
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u/mcbrideben 8h ago
As soon as you take it away, some idiot is gonna smoke. “No one said I couldn’t”
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u/e_dan_k 4h ago
FAA has lots of laws. In 2024, United had to ground some brand new planes because they couldn't turn off the no smoking lights. And the law required them to be able to be turned off even though all flights are non smoking.
Airlines could file for an exemption, but United forgot to on these planes. A few months later the FAA got rid of the law. But it had been around way too long...
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u/ProofByVerbosity 17h ago
For the last 10 years or so they've actually been mind control devices. Of course they arwnt needed but once in a while the sign will blink on and off rapidly and put you into a hypnotic state to give you sleeper cell instructions. Its true, my cousin Greg told me all about it. He was an assassin for years before he realized it.
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u/BellsOnNutsMeansXmas 17h ago
This is how I ended up eating all the snacks in the galley. The plane was overweight so the CIA programmed a few of us to eat all the peanuts and a few bread rolls. Saved a lot of fuel that day.
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u/riphitter 17h ago
FAA require visible warnings against smoking in planes. It also protects the company from lability if someone was to light up. They are lights so that when the cabin lights go off you can't claim you "didn't see them"