Airlines - New Rule Prohibiting Lighters

I have been on the phone this morning about the new rules about lighters on or as a carry on.
I called 3 airport's and they all told me the same thing. NO LIGHTER'S WHAT SO EVER. But you may carry on in a bookbage or carry on luggage 4 packs of matches.
All 3 airports I called was with Northwest and told me to call back right before our thanksgiving trip to Dallas because they might even change about MATCHES as a carry on.
YOU CAN NOT HAVE MATCHES ON YOU, LIKE IN POCKET, THEY HAVE TO BE IN YOUR CARRY ON BAG.

[ March 29, 2005, 07:01 PM: Message edited by: TiggTigg5 ]

Were you surprised? That seems reasonable to me.

It's really not the airlines fault. This actually came from the TSA.

Sounds reasonable to me too. I would have been greatly surprised to hear otherwise. I don't think you can even smoke in the airports anymore, so I shouldn't think not carrying a lighter on you would be that big a deal.

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Originally posted by Penni:
YOU CAN NOT HAVE MATCHES ON YOU, LIKE IN POCKET, THEY HAVE TO BE IN YOUR CARRY ON BAG.

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O.K. first off I don't think that there is a need for yelling. Secondly I would think that the matches would not be allowed in the carry on bag but only in checked luggage.

I have to ask you a question. There is no smoking on the planes and in most airports. Why would you need to keep matches or a lighter in your pocket or in your carry on bag?

Seth

I agree that this is not an unreasonable regulation, although matches won't set off metal detectors, so I wonder how well they'll be able to enforce this.

I'm very happy that no lighters & matches are allowed. You could do a lot of damage with these instruments, especially if you have the right chemicals stuffed in your shoe. It's for our safety. If you're a smoker, well, I guess you'll have to wait until you claim your baggage.

Okay, I understand the reason behind this, but if they ban match books from luggage altogether, they are going to have some logistics to work out. My sister is a smoker and one of the first things she does when she lands is find the smoking area outside and has a cigarette. If they ban match books from checked luggage, I imagine that you will be able to get a book of matches in one of the shops before the security checkpoint.

I guess I'm not getting what the big surpise of this is....in light of everything, this seems to be a reasonable request.

The shoe bomber tried to light his with a match and it wouldn't take. The TSA said that if he would have had a lighter he could have brought the plane down easily. The rule about checking lighters has been in effect for a while now; the rule about carry ons went into effect about a month or two ago. I personally feel safer knowing they aren't allowed, and I'm also a smoker. (I know, I know. You can stone me later).

Well I wouldn't say that smoking is banned in most airports ... I've been in about 8 different airports so far this year (Philly, San Francisco, Monterey, L.A., Detroit, Vegas ...) and I think every single one of them had at least one or two bars or walled off areas where you could smoke.

But that being said ... I think it's clearly an important safety issue the TSA is addressing. Frankly, smokers get no sympathy from me in regards to having to wait to have a cigarette ... you should be quitting anyway. Those things'll kill ya.

Originally posted by WDWacky:

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Frankly, smokers get no sympathy from me in regards to having to wait to have a cigarette ... you should be quitting anyway. Those things'll kill ya.

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I don't think there's a smoker walking today that doesn't know that he/she should quit and that its bad for you. I consider it the stupidest thing I've ever done in my life. Trust me, if I could snap my fingers and be rid of the addiction I'd do it in a heartbeat. But smoking lounges in airports definitely serve the purpose of preventing some major meltdowns. There is nothing quite so powerful as that addiction, at least nothing in my life. You don't want an airport full of smokers after flying for hours without a smoke. Five hundred denied smokers about ready to go nuts or snap would increase the confrontation rates dramatically. Its sad but its true.

Just FYI, I'm a former smoker ... I'll have quit 4 years ago this July ... and I do remember what that was like.

Nevertheless, as with most things related to cigarette smoking, I think the benefits to society outweigh the negatives to smokers here.

Frankly, I think the more inconvenient we keep making it to smoke the more quickly people will quit.

Originally posted by WDWacky:

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Frankly, I think the more inconvenient we keep making it to smoke the more quickly people will quit.

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Forced withdrawal is not effective, it only leads to frustration and anxiety. As you are already aware a person first must possess the desire to quit for it to be successful. The more smokers get inconvenienced the worse the attitudes become and the more they will try to smoke illegally. When I'm on a plane I'm usually ok because I know ahead of time its illegal, although I still get cravings. But I have to have one when it lands, either in a lounge or outside. btw, I start hypnosis therapy in about three weeks when we get back from WDW so lets hope for the best. At this point I'm ready to try anything.

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Originally posted by RazdOnDis:
Originally posted by WDWacky:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr /> Frankly, I think the more inconvenient we keep making it to smoke the more quickly people will quit.

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Forced withdrawal is not effective, it only leads to frustration and anxiety. As you are already aware a person first must possess the desire to quit for it to be successful. The more smokers get inconvenienced the worse the attitudes become and the more they will try to smoke illegally. When I'm on a plane I'm usually ok because I know ahead of time its illegal, although I still get cravings. But I have to have one when it lands, either in a lounge or outside. btw, I start hypnosis therapy in about three weeks when we get back from WDW so lets hope for the best. At this point I'm ready to try anything. </font>[/QUOTE]Gotta agree here. Not a smoker, but I come from a family of them. The range of excuses and justifications for not quitting have always blown me away. I'd really someone just say "its hard and I don't want to". But that's another story.

To get back to the point, last year my aunt was on a cruise - she's a heavy smoker - and she was limited to smoking only in certain areas of the ship or on deck. Also her lighter ran out early in the trip and there were none available in any of the shops. She willingly huddled w/ the other smokers in the few areas where smoking was banned and bummed lights from wherever she could. After a week of being somewhat forced to cut way back, you might think she'd start seeing some sense in quitting. Nope. Still smokes like a chimney.

Oh, and we've had heart attacks, strokes, lung cancer ... you name it, in the family. That hasn't done it either.

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Originally posted by RazdOnDis:
btw, I start hypnosis therapy in about three weeks when we get back from WDW so lets hope for the best. At this point I'm ready to try anything.

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Well good for you! I sincerely hope you're successful. Quitting was the best thing I ever did and trust me when I tell you it is worth all the suffering you go through to get there.

Truth be told, it wasn't hard for me at all once I decided to put them down. I just went cold turkey.

Originally posted by WDWacky:

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Truth be told, it wasn't hard for me at all once I decided to put them down. I just went cold turkey.

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Wow, that's great that you could do that. I've tried many times before and stopped for a couple of months once. I say stopped because you don't quit until you actually don't smoke anymore. I love it when someone says "I quit for _______." I tell them they didn't quit, they only paused for awhile.

I am a very considerate smoker though. I feel that no one else should be forced to breathe my smoke just because I was stupid. I can't control the wind but I'll try to stand so that none of my smoke blows toward any non-smokers. I don't even like to breathe my own second hand smoke and I hate it in my face. I never smoke around kids and I have one room in my house that I use and its ventilated and has an Oreck air cleaner in it.

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Originally posted by goofyfanatic:
Secondly I would think that the matches would not be allowed in the carry on bag but only in checked luggage.

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Major clarification needed here:

Matches and lighters have ALWAYS been banned in your checked luggage (the bags that go in the belly of the plane). Accidental ignition inside a bag in the baggage hold, which is inaccessible from inside the plane, while in flight could be disastrous.

"Torch" style lighters have been banned on aircraft for the last three years or so. The new rule, effective April 14th, now extends that to include ALL types of lighters. Passengers will be permitted to carry 4 packs or fewer of normal book-type matches either on their person or in their carry-on bags. As stated earlier, there is a distinct possibility that matches will also be banned in the foreseeable future.

For more information, see the press release on the TSA website.

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Originally posted by WDWacky:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by RazdOnDis:
btw, I start hypnosis therapy in about three weeks when we get back from WDW so lets hope for the best. At this point I'm ready to try anything.

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Well good for you! I sincerely hope you're successful. Quitting was the best thing I ever did and trust me when I tell you it is worth all the suffering you go through to get there.

Truth be told, it wasn't hard for me at all once I decided to put them down. I just went cold turkey. </font>[/QUOTE]Funny how hard it is for some and how others just walk away...10 plus years for me (hmm strange how I have a 9 and a bit year old let) I think more people quit now for someone than themselves and that's a big factor.

But to the topic at hand I had no idea you could still take flamable objects in your carry on. Although I see a smokers point I really can't say these are objets I want on planes with me.

I have to ask you a question. There is no smoking on the planes and in most airports. Why would you need to keep matches or a lighter in your pocket or in your carry on bag?

Well I am a smoker and I would like a match box or a lighter in my purse or pocket so I would have it when I step out side.

I do not smoke around people that don't. I never have and never will.

But the most part of the posting about this is all WRONG. Like I said in the begining I called 3 airports today where me and my family will be traveling to (NorthWest) from Michigan to Memphis to MCO and they all told me that I am only aloud to have up to 4 matches in a box or pack and I can not have them in my pocket they have to be in my backpack and I can not put them in my luggage. NO MACHES OR LIGHTERS CAN BE CHECKED WHEN YOU FIRST COME TO THE AIRPORT.
But again for the ones that smoke - YOU CAN HAVE UP TO 4 PACKS OF MATCHES IN BOOKBAG ON THE AIRPLAIN.

Penni -

I have taken the liberty of altering the topic name to make it easier for interested parties to find the thread.

Also, since this affects a lot of people planning their vacations and other airline trips, I'm going to move it to the Vacation Planning forum.

I smoke and I understand the rule. I don't like it because it's an inconvienience to me - but I'm not complaining because I understand it's for the greater good. I imgaine I'll be able to buy a lighter at the airport once I get off the plane.

As for whether or not you can smoke in aiports - I've found that there are still many airports where you CAN smoke. Atlanta, GA has smoking lounges in each of the councourses. At the Pittsburgh airport, you can smoke in any of the bars or sit down dining establishments (they have separate smoking areas).

As to why it's a big deal for people who smoke, after a long flight without a cigarette, one of the first things on your mind is having one because of the nicotine addiction and I know that I'm usually outside having one before I'm looking for my luggage.

I do wish people would stop being so judgemental about smoking. I fully understand that it's bad for me but I don't want to quit right now. That's my personal choice and I'm allowed to make it. I won't sue the tobacco companies if something happens to me and I would understand if my health insurance carrier would not pay for benefits related to illnesses that I caused. I realize that the benefits to smoking outweigh the reasons to keep smoking by a long shot, but I'm just don't care right now and I'm allowed not to care. I'm considerate of other people when I smoke and obey all the rules, but I still do have the right to smoke. I just don't appreciate all the holier than thou comments from folks and being made to feel like some kind of inferior person. I don't go around telling people that they shouldn't eat that donut because they're fat and it's bad for them, so why do people feel they have the right to tell me that I shouldn't smoke? It's cool that people don't like the smell of cigarettes or wouldn't want to smoke, but can you just lay off on all the judgemental attitude about it?

[ March 30, 2005, 05:53 AM: Message edited by: hope2survive ]

Mike -

I don't smoke...I think it's disgusting and I don't like being around smokers because of the odor and I get all congested, but if you want to smoke and acknowledge the risks and realize that if something happens it's your choice to smoke not the fault of the tobacco compaines...fine, I have no problem with you smoking.

But back to the thread at hand...I guess I don't understand why this rule should have come as a surprise or shock to anyone. There are so many things that you can't bring on airplanes now that you could in the past, you can't smoke on an airplane and smoking has been severely cut back in the airports...why would anyone think that you could bring a lighter on board?

OK, we are not going to change the rules so smokers will have to adjust. (I am one!)

I think there should be a bin that you toss your lighter into and get a token. Then when you get to the next airport. drop in your token and grab another lighter! LOL Kinda like the quarter in the shopping cart thing.

Well........its an idea anyway!

Nanc