Smoking Break

Non-smokers won a small but satisfying victory last week. Pan American World Airways announced that smoking will be banned in three rows of first-class seats and four rows of economy seats aboard its 747 superjets. Unless the aircraft is full, non-smokers will be separated from smokers by a couple of buffer rows. Though it would seem more logical for the smokers to have to seek out special seats, Pan Am's decision at least represented the first recognition of nonsmokers' rights in the air.

The idea may be catching, and other airlines are looking into it. The Federal Aviation Administration, under pressure from Consumer Advocates Ralph Nader and John Banzhaf III, is considering a ruling that would require the lines to separate smokers and nonsmokers. Not only does cigarette smoke befoul cabin air, which is pressurized at the equivalent of 2,500 ft.-3,500 ft. and is thinner than air at ground level, but tobacco tars have been known to gum up sensitive gyros on aircraft instrument panels.

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