Ryanair - smokeless cigarettes on flights - trial run..

September 23, 2009 - On August 3, 2009 we reported that ¹Ryanair is allowing passengers to puff on "smokeless" cigarettes during flights.

Ryanair, the budget airline has returned to the days of puffing away on flights by allowing passengers to get their nicotine fix from smokeless cigarettes. Nicotine-loaded cigarettes that are apparently odourless and smokeless will be available from duty-free on board most planes as part of a month-long trial.

The substitutes look and feel like a real cigarette and deliver small amounts of nicotine through inhalation.

However, smoker Andrea Russell, 38, was not impressed by the substitutes saying it didn't give her the same feeling as smoking a real cigarette, although she agreed it could be comforting to hold the smokeless cigarette in her hands during a flight.

Iwana Falkiewecz, 28, agreed, saying she couldn't feel the usual rush from the substitute but it could be good enough if you were desperate for nicotine. 'It tastes quite weird but I guess it could be more pleasurable than other cigarettes as you are not actually inhaling all that smoke.'

When asked if she would consider buying a packet to smoke on board Ms Falkiewecz said: 'Why not? I guess if I was on a really long flight I might feel like I need a smoke, but as long as they are not too expensive.'

Ryanair ran a survey to see how many of its passengers would like to smoke on flights and Similar Smokeless Cigarettes are a direct response to 24,000 who said they would.

Chris Parsons, director of Similar Smokeless Cigarettes said he was delighted the airline was selling his product on board.

In another matter, Michael O'Leary, chief executive of Ryanair - Europe's largest budget carrier, insists that it will cost passengers for the use of toilets on his airplanes within two years. O'Leary also said the airline would also generate extra revenues by removing two out of the three toilets on its Boeing 737-800 jets and filling the space with up to six seats. Ryanair's Michael O'Leary defends pay-per-pee fee, Guardian.co.uk, 6/2/2009)

Reference: Ryanair introduces smokeless cigarettes on its flights by Sarah Gordon, DailyMail.co.uk, 9/22/2009.

¹Ryanair operates a low-fares, scheduled passenger airline serving short-haul, point-to-point routes in Europe and Morocco.