Smoke signal: Suvarnabhumi sparks smoking rooms outrage

[snoop1130]

Picture courtesy of KhaoSod

 

By Bob Scott

 

Smoking row ignites as the Airports of Thailand (AoT) makes a shocking bid to reintroduce smoking rooms at Suvarnabhumi International Airport, pushing against the global trend towards smoke-free terminals. As the world gears up for 100% smoke-free airports, Thailand’s move has stirred up a storm of controversy.

 

Associate Professor Dr Naowarat Charoenkha from the Thai Health Promotion Institute, part of the National Health Foundation, dropped a bombshell.

 

Dr Naowarat revealed that insiders from the National Tobacco Product Control Board (TPB) are deeply worried about the AoT’s submission to the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB), set for tomorrow, Friday, February 7.

 

“The prospect of reversing the smoking ban, enforced in all Thai airports for the past seven years, is alarming.

 

“Changing the law to permit smoking rooms again could jeopardise Thailand’s standing on the global stage. It’s widely known that cigarette smoke harms not just smokers, but everyone in the vicinity.”

 

A dismal study from 2013 revealed that airports in Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang, Chiang Mai, and Phuket were inundated with dangerously high levels of PM2.5 particulate matter. The research showed staggering levels of pollution, putting both passengers and airport staff at risk.

 

 

Meanwhile, countries like China have shown leadership, with Beijing and other major airports banning smoking rooms. By 2017, nearly half of the world’s busiest airports were smoke-free, a trend set to continue, said Dr Naowarat.

 

“But Thailand is veering off course.”

 

The tobacco control advocate harked back to when smoking bans began on flights due to concerns over flight crews’ health.

 

“The US led the charge in 1990, initially banning smoking on flights under two hours. By 1996, Air Canada and others had followed suit, leading to a complete ban across the skies.”

 

In 1992, Thai Airways was commended by the WHO for its smoking ban on domestic flights, a trailblazing move leading to a ban on smoking areas in Thai airports by 2018, aligning with WHO’s Tobacco Control Convention.

 

Picture of smokers courtesy of KhaoSod

 

Dr Naowarat made an impassioned plea to the TPB, urging them to prioritise passenger health over reinstating smoking rooms.

 

“Our airports have proudly been documented as 100% smoke-free, let’s not dim that achievement.”

 

Will Thailand’s airports stay smoke-free havens or puff their way back to the past? Only time will tell.

 

Source: The Thaiger

-- 2025-02-06

 

 

[sammieuk1]

I don't smoke now for 11 years but if your a smoker banning it only makes the need greater and ways will be found 🤔

 

[BangkokReady]

2 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

“Changing the law to permit smoking rooms again could jeopardise Thailand’s standing on the global stage. It’s widely known that cigarette smoke harms not just smokers, but everyone in the vicinity.”

 

Who will be hanging around in the smoking rooms other than smokers?

[dinsdale]

2 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

It’s widely known that cigarette smoke harms not just smokers, but everyone in the vicinity.”

AKA smokers. @BangkokReady beat me to it. As for global trends, Changi airport, one of if not the best airport in the world has enclosed airconditioned smoking rooms and designated outside smoking areas. Indeed there are 18 places you can go and have a smoke.

[realfunster]

Thank you AOT.

 

I was pleasantly surprised to stumble across a smoking room in the new satellite terminal a few months back, not very well signposted at the time but it is there.

 

 

[steven100]

yes,  it's outrages    !!   Netizens speakup  !!   thai's should never allow this !   farang go home ...  haha 

[Ralf001]

transitting in  South Korea (Incheon) last year ... the smoking rooms were a welcome surprise.

 

Bring back smoking rooms at swampy has my vote.

[dinsdale]

31 minutes ago, steven100 said:

yes,  it's outrages    !!   Netizens speakup  !!   thai's should never allow this !   farang go home ...  haha 

Farang????????? Asians are way bigger smokers.

[Ralf001]

4 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

Farang????????? Asians are way bigger smokers.

 

the Asian ladies I frequent sure do love to smoke.

[soi3eddie]

I'm not a smoker, never have been, never intend to be and hate tobacco (and weed) smoke. Since at least 2007, I have been against the draconian anti-smoking laws where even designated smoking places were provided. If there is a segregated area, either in an airport, restaurant, hotel, pub or workplace, then why make smokers into pariahs? There is no need, they are only, potentially, harming themselves and others who choose to also smoke. Bringing back smoking rooms - in my opinion, why not?

 

[sherwood]

Open air smoking area's would be my preference, would cut down on the residual smoke stench.

I plan on quitting in the near future.

Again.

[soi3eddie]

Open air smoking? Even burning incense at a shrine in Benjakitti Park, Bangkok is no longer allowed (picture from Saturday 1st February 2025). What next? No more PM2.5 to ban smoking anywhere?

 

[dinsdale]

13 minutes ago, sherwood said:

Open air smoking area's would be my preference, would cut down on the residual smoke stench.

I plan on quitting in the near future.

Again.

Try vaping. Did it for me. I know vaping still isn't good but it's a damn side better than cigarettes. I'm around 9 mnths without a cig. Fancy one every now and again and I'm guessing I always will.

[Mr Meeseeks]

28 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

 

the Asian ladies I frequent sure do love to smoke.

Is yours small like a cigarette? 

[Ralf001]

2 minutes ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

Is yours small like a cigarette? 

 

They needs more than 2 fingers to smoke it.

[redwood1]

1 hour ago, Ralf001 said:

transitting in  South Korea (Incheon) last year ... the smoking rooms were a welcome surprise.

 

Bring back smoking rooms at swampy has my vote.

 

South Koreas smoking room are fantastic, the best I have ever experienced....Very nice, and very clean....With a top of the line air filter ventilation system...

 

Japans smoking rooms are kind of hard to find and they are so so....But they are good enough after a long flight.....

 

No reason in the world non smokers should be against smoking rooms in airports......Non smokers have a 0% chance of catching 2nd hand smoke...

[sqwakvfr]

Speaking of somking, yesterday I was on a Korean Air flight from ICN to LAX.  AT 37,000 feet and over the Pacific ocean a loud alarm went off in the cabin and then I saw two flight attendants running towards the front of the airplane.  Most of the passengers were sleeping and and  at that moment I thought "oh is this the big one?".  Five moments later an FA announced "smoking in the lavaroties will activate an alarm so please do not smoke in there".  Upon landing all passengers were told to remain seated so that "officials can remove someone".  I guess this became a federal case because two US Customs and Border Protection officers handucffed and removed the "smoker" off the flight.  "I guess when you need a smoke, you need a smoke". 10+ is a long time and for some nicorette gum or a patch just doesn't do it.  I have never smoked, having lived in CNX for years I get a lot of second hand smoke (both cigarettes and now cannabis) so I say "no mercy for smokers".  For the dude who is now in CPS custody "don't bend over to pickup the soap.  

[DLock]

I'm happy to let smokers have their space...but because the spaces are generally small, poorly ventilated and grim, they prop the door open to let some clean air...allowing all the smoke to escape.

 

I doubt it will happen.

[redwood1]

3 minutes ago, sqwakvfr said:

Speaking of somking, yesterday I was on a Korean Air flight from ICN to LAX.  AT 37,000 feet and over the Pacific ocean a loud alarm went off in the cabin and then I saw two flight attendants running towards the front of the airplane.  Most of the passengers were sleeping and and  at that moment I thought "oh is this the big one?".  Five moments later an FA announced "smoking in the lavaroties will activate an alarm so please do not smoke in there".  Upon landing all passengers were told to remain seated so that "officials can remove someone".  I guess this became a federal case because two US Customs and Border Protection officers handucffed and removed the "smoker" off the flight.  "I guess when you need a smoke, you need a smoke". 10+ is a long time and for some nicorette gum or a patch just doesn't do it.  I have never smoked, having lived in CNX for years I get a lot of second hand smoke (both cigarettes and now cannabis) so I say "no mercy for smokers".  For the dude who is now in CPS custody "don't bend over to pickup the soap.  

 

Ok we all know anyone who smokes on airplanes is a idiot......But thats very different from smoking rooms at airports....

[SunnyinBangrak]

Not a smoker any longer, but well remember the frustration at total non smoking airports. Give people smoking rooms, it doesn't affect anybody else. Nice move AOT.

Btw smoking planes would be good too for nicotine and vaping addicts. Maybe 1 flight a week.

[sqwakvfr]

3 hours ago, redwood1 said:

 

Ok we all know anyone who smokes on airplanes is a idiot......But thats very different from smoking rooms at airports....

Yes but we did leave from ICN which has great smoking rooms.  I guess for this idiot the great smoking rooms were not enough. 

[vmack153]

I'm so thankful that most, if not all airports in China and SE Asia have well ventilated smoking rooms that cause no harm or inconvenience to non-smokers. I already have them mapped out before landing after 14+ hours in the air before boarding the final leg to Bangkok. Hopefully Thailand reinstates them as well!!  Most of us smokers would love to be able to quit. Some can & some can't but we are all paying customers and human beings. Addiction or not. 

[Zack61]

I have no issue with properly ventilated smoking rooms. I do recall Singapore has them and as an ex-smoker I have used them. I even remember when Thailand had them but they weren't well ventilated. When the rooms were full the smoke used to build up quite a bit but was contained to the room itself.

The problem I would now have is that anyone who had used this facility and was seated next to me in a plane would smell like an ashtray. It's the smell I would find offensive. Smoke would cling to their clothes like sh!t and I'd have to put up with it.

[Spock]

11 minutes ago, Zack61 said:

I have no issue with properly ventilated smoking rooms. I do recall Singapore has them and as an ex-smoker I have used them. I even remember when Thailand had them but they weren't well ventilated. When the rooms were full the smoke used to build up quite a bit but was contained to the room itself.

The problem I would now have is that anyone who had used this facility and was seated next to me in a plane would smell like an ashtray. It's the smell I would find offensive. Smoke would cling to their clothes like sh!t and I'd have to put up with it.

Yes it needs to be well ventilated, like the planes were back in the days when smoking was allowed. I understand that the cabin air was cleared far more frequently then. I smoked for years and was a teacher, taking a drag on a cigarette or two at every minor and major break in the day.

 

'You stink!' students would cry when I entered the classroom, perhaps trailing the vaguest whiff of smoke in the air behind me.

 

Now that I am a non smoker, cigarettes can be clearly smelled on clothes and breath. Somehow the smoke needs to be removed almost as soon as exhaled.

[baansgr]

Why not...the EU parliament has smoking rooms even though they have banned smoking everywhere else..a bit of don't do as I do, do as I say..a few restos in Thailand have tried this to their own deteiment....thing is, non smokers are selfish, you have a whole resto none smoking and smoking allowed outside...where do the non smokers want to sit..outside, unbelievable 

[Kerryd]

Undoubtably this has to do with the vast amount of Chinese tourists passing through the airports.

I too am a former smoker and I remember getting off a plane and zipping to the nearest smoking room for a butt before zipping to the Immigration lanes.

Canada was actually one of the first countries to ban smoking on Domestic flights. And then they told airlines that smoking would be banned on any flight departing from Canada or landing in Canada. That was in the very early 90s. Some airlines even threatened to reroute flights to US airports instead so Canada softened the rule to flights that were less than 2 hours in duration. By the mid-90s though the ban was again on all flights.

I remember flying on a charter 747 when we deployed to Croatia in Sept '92. Once we were airborne and out of Canadian airspace the smoking light was on. That deployment was also when I took my first flight to Thailand. Flew Lufthansa from Zagreb to Frankfurt to Bangkok. 
The plane took off from Frankfurt and you could hear the wheels retract and "clunk" into place and bingo ! The smoking light was on. I waited until I'd seen half a dozen other people lit up before I did myself.

But when our rotation was over in Croatia in Apr '93 and we were flying back to Canada, the chalk commander declared it was a no smoking flight. We landed in Ireland for refueling and they let everyone off the plane. There was a mass rush for the smoking room and it was way too small. The chalk commander relented and allowed smoking only in the rear 8 rows of the plane. 
I swear that 747 flew tail down/nose up all the way to the West Coast of Canada after that because of how many people were crowded into the back of the plane so they could smoke.

But when I took my 2nd trip to Thailand ('97) there was no smoking on pretty much any commercial airline

And yeah, in SOME airports they have (or had) very nice smoking rooms. The Emirates Business Class lounge smoking area was a huge, well ventilated area above the main lounge area so the smoke never went into the rest of the lounge.
The smoking rooms in the Taiwan airport were nice as well - when they weren't busy. But there was literally one room for the entire International terminal and one for the Domestic terminal and if you arrived at a busy time they'd usually be very crowded.

The smoking room in the Bahrain terminal (Departure side) was terrible. A tiny room barely 4 meters by 4 meters with almost no ventilation. Whenever the door opened a huge cloud of smoke would fill the corridor. And it too was so crowded that people just started smoking in the corridor. I pitied the people who had to walk past there to get to the bathrooms.

Swampy was a bit better - mostly because the smoking rooms were hard to find if you didn't know where they were already.

But regardless of how nice or uncrowded the room is - you will still stink of smoke afterwards and your breath will still smell horrid.

After I quit (13 years ago) I was shocked when I suddenly started noticing what other smokers actually smelled like after they'd had a cigarette and then I realized that I used to smell exactly like that as well.

Then I thought of all the times I sat in a smoking room right up until my flight started boarding. I imagined a cloud of smoke following me all the way to my seat and hovering over me the whole flight.

And then I imagined what my breath must have smelt like whenever I spoke to anyone just after having a cigarette.

Not pleasant at all.

And no, the smoke does not stay in the rooms because every time the door opens and people enter/leave, clouds of smoke usually escape. I remember finding smoking rooms in airports literally by smell. I could smell the stale 2nd hand smoke in a corridor and knew there had to be a smoking room nearby.

And of course - the people who have to clean those rooms get exposed to the smoke as well. People getting cancer from 2nd hand smoke is what led to smoking bans in bars and restaurants in the 90s as well.

But - there are 10s of millions of smoke-happy Chinese arriving every year and if they don't give them a place to smoke - you know they'll be doing it somewhere.

 

[chricha]

Interesting discussion. So Smoke Free rooms should return at BKK.

There used to be one at about Gate 30 on departure and halfway in on arrival.

I was a non smoker until I was 28 in 1982 when I met a smoking gal in Munich. Then I married a heavy smoker 10 years later.

I gave up again last year in May, mainly due to the cost of $30+ (or about 600B) for 20 cigs, after travelling to Japan for a ski holiday.

 

Smoking rooms such as in Taiwan in transit and all throughout Japan both at airports and rail stations, are a great boon for the smokers and avoid passive smoking. There is even one at Niseko ski resort! Even better is the outdoor areas such as at Changi.

There's even one in Sydney tucked away at near aisle one but not once through security. 

Nobody mentioned that at Suvarnabhumi every smokes just outside the terminal even where it says No Smoking 5000B fine!

Not sure where the 100% SmokeFree label came from other than AOT and TAT - like so many things in the Land of Smokers!

 

Sure Smoke Rooms will cause some to smell like an ashtray but can't see much difference between smoking before security and after for that smell to be evident. It takes hours to dissipate.

[hotchilli]

11 hours ago, dinsdale said:

Indeed there are 18 places you can go and have a smoke.

Thailand has thousands.

[Kwausie]

9 hours ago, sqwakvfr said:

Speaking of somking, yesterday I was on a Korean Air flight from ICN to LAX.  AT 37,000 feet and over the Pacific ocean a loud alarm went off in the cabin and then I saw two flight attendants running towards the front of the airplane.  Most of the passengers were sleeping and and  at that moment I thought "oh is this the big one?".  Five moments later an FA announced "smoking in the lavaroties will activate an alarm so please do not smoke in there".  Upon landing all passengers were told to remain seated so that "officials can remove someone".  I guess this became a federal case because two US Customs and Border Protection officers handucffed and removed the "smoker" off the flight.  "I guess when you need a smoke, you need a smoke". 10+ is a long time and for some nicorette gum or a patch just doesn't do it.  I have never smoked, having lived in CNX for years I get a lot of second hand smoke (both cigarettes and now cannabis) so I say "no mercy for smokers".  For the dude who is now in CPS custody "don't bend over to pickup the soap.  

Recently returning to Thailand was waiting for push back at terminal and lady was caught smoking in toilet, i was in front seat and saw her crying and apologising profusely and lucky chief pilot let her go, i guess we were now slightly delayed and pilot didnt want drama of arrest and finding her bags causing much further delay so she was one very lucky lady and would hope she learned a lesson. 

[dinsdale]

14 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Thailand has thousands.

We are talking about airports in Thailand aren't we?. Get through immigration and there are thousands of places you can go for smoke?