(26) Quit Smoking
What was the effect of the lobbying efforts of the flight attendants union on the rules about smoking on airlines?
The lobbying efforts of the flight attendants had a major impact on the relationship between the airline industry and the tobacco industry.
Airlines changed the rules for smoking to nonsmoking on flights and in airports except in designated places.
Airplanes can be thought of as the epitome of an enclosed space, and they became the focus of debate during the late sixties. In 1971, the flight attendants complained about their working conditions because they were exposed to secondhand smoke while on their jobs.
They lobbied the airline industry to ban smoking on airplanes. Both the airline industry and the tobacco industry resisted changing their policies because they feared that they would lose customers.
Initially, the Civil Aeronautics Board made nonsmoking sections a requirement on all commercial flights in response to the flight attendant’s demands. In 1986, the National Academy of Sciences reported that the air quality on planes was in violation of the environmental requirements for building codes and other indoor environments.
Following that study, the airline industry banned all smoking on commercial flights.
