Smoking Banned on More Flights

Smokers are in for some long flights. Beginning today, Continental Airlines Inc. is expanding a no-smoking policy to all flights from the U.S. to Latin America and part of the Caribbean. The Houston-based carrier said it was responding to customer demand in imposing the ban on an additional 530 flights a week.

Last Sunday, Finnair banned smoking on all flights to the United States, Canada, China, Thailand, Singapore, eastern and central Europe, and plans to be totally smoke-free next year, a spokesman said.

TWA has added smoke-free flights to all its destination cities in Great Britain, France and Germany. And starting May 1, British Airways will offer only nonsmoking service from all Caribbean gateways and all U.S. gateways with one daily flight, while reducing smoking-permitted flights to just one daily from U.S. cities with multiple departures, including Los Angeles.