Tempers of Passengers Ignited Over No-Smoking Regulations on Airlines

Amid all the furor surrounding the long overdue rebellion of majority nonsmokers against being subjected to cancer against their will, a bottom-line, hard, cold fact appeared in the front-page article regarding the Trans World Airlines flight hassle--”Pilot Turns Off Smoking Lamp; Tempers Ignite” (Jan. 1).

TWA spokesman Robert Blattner is quoted as saying there were so many requests from nonsmokers that it exhausted all the nonsmoking seats on the airplane.

To astute marketing people, this would be a clear signal of a need crying to be met. But apparently a few airlines haven’t gotten the message and are still fighting a smoking ban.

I am looking forward to a scenario that should be reported sometimes in the near future. This will occur when some airline, having told passengers there will be no smoking on a flight, reverses itself in midair, and is subsequently hit with a massive class-action lawsuit for endangering the health of those who cannot “leave the room” at 40,000 feet.

FRANK W. HEISER

Riverside