Why are there ashtrays in the bathrooms on nonsmoking flights?
Airplane bathroom:
- Why are there ashtrays in the bathrooms on nonsmoking flights?
Best Answer
Having worked for a Government contractor, I can tell you first hand that it is very expensive to make a design change, even a trivial one like removing ashtrays that are no longer needed. I cannot tell you how many times I've seen piping being re-routed around obstructions that no longer exist. The reason was that the cost of reworking all of the drawings, re-engineering the design, and getting all necessary approvals costs far more than just continuing with the unnecessary work. Generally, material is far cheaper than labor.
The "just in case someone decides to smoke" explanation seems plausible, but sounds more like an afterthought to me. I think the likely reason, like most everything else, is money. The cost of installing an unnecessary ashtray in a new airplane is orders of magnitude cheaper than paying all of those people to remove it from the airplane's design. This does not even consider the cost incurred by the FAA to update all of their regulations.
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Why do airplanes have ashtrays in the bathroom?
The United States Federal Aviation Administration said the \u201crequirement for the presence of an ashtray on or near the lavatory door provides a convenient disposal location for cigarettes (or other smoking material) and thereby ensures that there is a place to dispose of such material in the event that the 'no smoking' ...Are there ashtrays in airplane bathrooms?
Still putting ashtrays in the bathroomMost aircraft flying today have a small ashtray placed in the bathroom, usually built into the sidewall near the door.When were ashtrays removed from airplanes?
By the end of 1990 it was prohibited on all domestic flights under six hours in duration, according to CNN. And since 2000 the smoking ban has been pretty much ubiquitous internationally.Do planes have to have ashtrays?
So why do aircraft still have ashtrays? The answer is because people will and do still ignore the rules. And so, just in case passengers are absent-minded and place an aircraft's safety in danger by smoking in the lavatories, it remains a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requirement to have an ashtray.Why Airplanes Still Have Ashtrays In The Bathroom
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