First of all: why airplane toilets called bathrooms?
Why airplane bathrooms have ashtrays
91–100 of 147 posts
Re: Why airplane bathrooms have ashtrays
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, but I live in a country where this is how it works. Drivers here in sweden are responsible for cleaning the bus during the day (with a more thorough cleaning at the garage that the driver isn't responsible for, afaik), and he has enough authority to eject people off the bus if they are violating rules, or to not let them on if they would violate rules.
I like Sweden. But this has to be one of the most bureaucratic approaches to solving the problem. And it's ripe for abuse.
As I understand it, aside from the cleaning, it's the same in America. But if a driver pulled over in the middle of rush hour traffic to kick someone off a bus because they put down an empty can of soda, they'd be torn to shreds before they made it back to the driver's seat.
Re: Why airplane bathrooms have ashtrays
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
The solution to that is to make the driver responsible for cleaning his bus, and also to give him the right to eject people that doesn't follow the rules.
Drivers are not conductors and I doing one job is hard enough, now you think they should have 3? It's probably cheaper to have a trashcan onboard than an armed driver. Yes, when you threaten people with ejection sometimes they threaten you right back.
Drivers always have the authority to eject passengers. If they get resistance, they call the cops.
I'm not sure when they would clean a bus though. I'd rather have my bus driver drive than stop to pick up rubbish.
Re: Why airplane bathrooms have ashtrays
#94Then the bleeding-heart liberals attacked in 1988, complaining about their “filthy air” and their “lung cancer”. This was, of course, the thin end of the wedge. In 2000, the FAA banned smoking on commercial planes altogether. Talk about a bunch of buzz-kills. Really? Does anyone actually think this was a bad idea? Forget the "filthy air" or "lung cancer", exposure to smoke can seriously aggravate asthmatics and other…
And Poe's Law strikes again. On the other hand, yeah, there are people who honestly think that those regulations are a bad idea that bring us farther down the Road to Serfdom and the ultimate death of Western Culture.
I always forget the name of Poe's Law, thank you.
Re: Why airplane bathrooms have ashtrays
#95I think the author gives the federal government too much credit. Which is more likely: the government out-witted people by thinking ahead and foreseeing people would break the law, so they write a law to counter it; or, they left the law on the books from when smoking was legal and never amended it? I think the latter.
The "federal government" as in the the FAA knows quite a bit about regulating airline safety. The probability that the FAA left a regulation in there because they just forgot to change it is pretty much 0.
I think you give them too much credit. When I was training to be a pilot some 10 years ago, I remember asking why a lot of regs were in the books. The answer was usually a shrug, or some anecdote about a corner case from the pioneer days of flying.
Re: Why airplane bathrooms have ashtrays
#96I was thinking about this same idea earlier today: Buses in Philadelphia have a bunch of "No Eating and Drinking" signs and consequently no trash cans. The result is that the back of the bus is covered in trash. If they had just 1 or two trash cans it would be a much more pleasant ride.
I have never seen a city bus with a trash can.
In London too
Re: Why airplane bathrooms have ashtrays
#97Then the bleeding-heart liberals attacked in 1988, complaining about their “filthy air” and their “lung cancer”. This was, of course, the thin end of the wedge. In 2000, the FAA banned smoking on commercial planes altogether. Talk about a bunch of buzz-kills. Really? Does anyone actually think this was a bad idea? Forget the "filthy air" or "lung cancer", exposure to smoke can seriously aggravate asthmatics and other…
I assure you, it was sarcasm.
Re: Why airplane bathrooms have ashtrays
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wrong: http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/features_julieshealt...
Setting aside the fact that this source is a random person blogging and quoting a pilot (his job is flying, not dealing with air-con), the fact that airplane air "isn't as disgusting as you think" doesn't mean it isn't more disgusting now than it was when smoking was allowed. I don't have a source and am too lazy to find one, but it was stated on QI which is a show with a team of good researchers, they can on occasio…
That's not what you claimed - you claimed that it was a) recirculated less and as a direct result b) more airborne germs are prevalent and c) cost is saved.
Sorry - it's my fault for not giving more background on Mr. Smith - Patrick Smith has been a Delta Air Lines pilot for about 10 years, written two books on airlines, before that flying cargo, and I've met him more than once, so I'll trust him and the other pilots I've met when they tell me how their airplanes work.
Here's more of his articles on the subject: http://www.salon.com/2009/09/25/askthepilot335/ http://www.askthepilot.com/questions-and-answers/#cX-q9
and another article here: http://airlinesafety.com/articles/FSFCabinAir.htm
I'll allow that it's certainly possible that manufacturers have tweaked the circulation post-smoking, but even if so, it wasn't done with some nefarious intent or to the detriment of passengers. The air we breathe (as I'm about to get on a flight) is incredibly clean, cleaner than in my office.
Re: Why airplane bathrooms have ashtrays
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
Setting aside the fact that this source is a random person blogging and quoting a pilot (his job is flying, not dealing with air-con), the fact that airplane air "isn't as disgusting as you think" doesn't mean it isn't more disgusting now than it was when smoking was allowed. I don't have a source and am too lazy to find one, but it was stated on QI which is a show with a team of good researchers, they can on occasio…
That's not what you claimed - you claimed that it was a) recirculated less and as a direct result b) more airborne germs are prevalent and c) cost is saved. Sorry - it's my fault for not giving more background on Mr. Smith - Patrick Smith has been a Delta Air Lines pilot for about 10 years, written two books on airlines, before that flying cargo, and I've met him more than once, so I'll trust him and the other pilots…
That's not what I claimed because I didn't claim anything at all.
Your sources are all (I think?) about the fact that the way they deal with air is good, and you may well be right that it's cleaner than in your office. That doesn't mean that it's not less clean than when smoking was allowed - it may well be that in order to get rid of the smell of smoke they needed to clean the air way more than technically necessary, and that therefore after the smoking ban it could be lowered without being "some nefarious intent".
Re: Why airplane bathrooms have ashtrays
#100First of all: why airplane toilets called bathrooms?
Delicate sensibilities. What is that phrase, civilization can be measured by how far we remove ourselves from our sewage? We're so darn civilized now we can't even indirectly refer to shit in polite company.