Smoking onboard has been illegal on flights for decades. But frequent or “the sharp eyed” passengers may notice a relic from an earlier age on every flight – ashtray in the toilet. So, the question: why is the humble ashtray in the toilet still needed on planes?
Airlines don’t trust passengers, so they put ashtrays in the toilets just in case. Airlines fear smokers could panic and not dispose of their illicit cigarette properly, by dropping it in the sink or down the paper towel dispenser. Rather than risking a fire or alarming other passengers, it was judged to be better that planes have a safe disposal method in place.
Smoking onboard in US was banned in 1988, with most airlines around the world following suit by the end of the 1990s. This ban is usually rigorously enforced, with repeated warnings on the overhead speakers and illuminated no smoking signs.
In 2009, a British Airways Boeing 747 flight to Mexico City was briefly grounded after it was revealed the plane did not have an ashtray. The flight could only take off when one could be sourced from another plane.
“It is a legal requirement, under air navigation orders, to have ashtrays because while smoking is not permitted on flights, if someone were to light a cigarette on board there must be somewhere to safely extinguish it,” says a British Airways spokesperson. “We apologise to customers for the inconvenience but their safety is always our overriding priority.”
The ashtray rule may seem pedantic but it was born from tragedy. In 1973, 123 people died when a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris had to make an emergency landing due to smoke in the cabin.
The smoke is thought to have been caused by a lit cigarette being thrown into a lavatory waste paper basket. Many passengers on the flight died of smoke inhalation before the impact of the crash.
The US’ Code of Federal Regulation states: ‘Regardless of whether smoking is allowed in any other part of the airplane, lavatories must have self-contained, removable ashtrays located conspicuously on or near the entry side of each lavatory door…’
The European Aviation Safety Agency has similar guidelines in place, with one ashtray on the inside of each aircraft toilet fitted by law.
This requirement is part of the minimum master equipment list, which stipulates the equipment each aircraft must have in order to fly.
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