Question for the smokers . . .
 

Hi everyone,

My parents will be taking an 8 hour flight soon. My mom is about a pack a day smoker, and I'm looking for some hints from smokers out there on how to get through the long flight. Do people tend to use the nicotine patch? Are there any negative side effects? I'm not a smoker, so not terribly knowledgeable about options.

Please save the posts about how smoking should be illegal or that she should quit. I know and agree, but am just looking for some ways to make her more comfortable.

thanks

Hi in,

It's really not that awful.

Mom can bring some sugarless gum, sugarless cough drops, etc.

Watch the TV, play video games, go to sleep.

Remember, no butane lighters in checked luggage or in carryon.

Matches are allowed.

((I))

When I smoked, what got me through long trans-Atlantic flights VERY easily (and I smoked 3 1/2-4 packs a day) were Nicorette inhalers.

I had gotten them over the counter at Boots in London & they worked amazingly well. In the States you need a prescription. They worked so well, that 1 1/2 years ago I used them to quit smoking.

Tell them (if they're in the US) to get their doctor to write a prescription. They're plastic, sort of cigarette-holder looking things that you put these cartridges in. When you get an urge you inhale on them.

I would suggest the nicotine gum. I have not smoked for 10 years, but if someone is a confirmed smoker, being able to control when she/he gets the nicotine helps control the urges better. (The gum helped me quit.)

There are no side effects as far as I am aware (just don't over-do it). SIf your mother wants to use these, I would also suggest she try them out before her trip.

I understand her concern. I am also a smoker, but for some reason when on a transatlantic or even a transcon flight my smoking craving is next to non-existant.

I just returned from PHL-MUC-PHL flights of 8-1/2 and 9 1/4 hrs (respectively) and did not have any urges at all.

I am a 2 pack a day smoker.

Before I quit smoking I found that the flight was not a problem simply because I knew that I could not smoke until I arrived. I used that knowledge to fight the urges during the flight. Going without for that amount of time should not be a major issue. Remember that you go that long without a smoke every night. Also try to get in the habit of not having a smoke in the morning until 30 to 60 minutes after waking up. It makes going without a lot easier.
From my own experience I would not recommend patches. I would prefer using the Commit lozenges. It gives you something to put in your mouth and this is actually what I used to quit smoking. I just don't like gum so I don't know about using it.
Don't try using the lozenge/patch/gum while still smoking. I did that with patches and started getting significant skin reactions from the patches.
I quit smoking because it is becoming harder and harder to find an acceptable place to smoke. Hopefully the religious terrorists will never learn tactics from the anti-smoking fanatics. If that happens we are all doomed.

I, too, am a smoker and always carry Nicorette gum. I've never needed it.I'm like lydialikestotravel, I never crave a cigarette while in flight. Now sitting around the Terminal - that's another story:)

I too am a smoker and had the same concerns for my 1st transatlantic crossing. I agree that I didn't have any problem because knowing you can't smoke you just manage to not worry about it. Getting off the plane to light up was serious though.

I look at it like this. I don't smoke in my sleep for 7 to 8 hrs, so the overnight flights are supposed to be time to sleep. Even if I don't sleep on the plane, my body knows how to shut down the cravings for the 7-8 hrs.

Chew lots of gum, especially spearmint, or anything else that is minty, that helps me. Altoids would work too. Drink LOTS of water! Watch the movies or read occupy your mind, and pretty sooon you will arrive. Hope you're going to Spain cause they have smoking areas in the airports!!

When I used to smoke (two packs of Lucky Strikes a day) I made sure I had a good supply of "tic tacs" with me. And I usually skipped alcoholic drinks because they increased the craving.

I still carry a good supply of tic tacs.

My wife and I are both smokers, but on the long flights it isn't a problem at all. In fact, I guess I kind of prefer not smoking on planes any more. I remember the old days when it would get so cloudy you couldn't breathe.

I guess it is like the previous people that posted, since you know you can't smoke, then you just ignore it. The return trips, during the day, I bring DVDs to watch on the laptop.

Now, when we land, LOOK OUT, time for a nice, refreshing (hack-cough-cough) smoke. :-)

Dave

Just a side note. I have a friend who was an "aggressive smoker". Back in the days when non smoking flights were first starting, she refused to take one for her twice annual visits to her parents in the UK. She managed to find a flight to Paris she could still smoke on and then take the train. When that flight also became non smoking, she didn't go for a whole year, but finally decided she had to. She took this non smoking flight, expecting the worst -- but it didn't bother her. She actually decided on that trip that if she could NOT smoke for 8 hours, then maybe she could give it up after all. She quit smoking cold turkey on that trip.
So there is a tiny ray of hope. . .?

I love it when the smokers make the point that sometimes it's "too smokey".

A dear friend uses Nicorette gum for flights and other non-smoking situations.

Supposedly true story from FA site:

A passenger gets a carton of duty-free cigarettes delivered on board, and promptly lights up. A FA comes down and advises him that smoking is prohibited on board.

"I bought them here, so why can't I smoke them here?"
"Well, they sell condoms at Boots..."

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. My mom doesn't seems worried about it at all, to be honest. My dad, on the other hand, who is a non-smoker, is panicked on her behalf. I'll pass along everyone's good advice to him!

Of course he is. He has to deal with a deprived nicotine addict (which I once was, so I speak with authority).

There was only one thing worse than my girlfriend without her ciggies - and that was when it happened at a specific spot in the lunar cycle...

Not that it needs to be repeated, but I am also a smoker. I always take Nicorette gum with me for "just in case" and have found I have never needed it. Calculating waiting times at the airport and trans-Atlantic flight times, I am usually 10-12 hours without smoking and it has never been a problem. It really doesn't even cross my mind. Like someone previously stated, you don't smoke in your sleep and it's kind of like that since I usually book an evening flight to Europe.

Tell your Dad and Mom not to worry. The excitement of the trip will have her mind elsewhere.

I smoke and never had a problem on flights or long train rides :) It's not that bad, really.

I sometimes travel with a smoking friend who just tells me she becomes a "zen samurai" during the periods of interdiction, whether they be on transatlantic flights, Asian bus trips, or on trains. She also does not mind the fact that I send her outside of the hotel room to smoke. Smokers are actually becoming quite reasonable after years of domination.

I am a smoker and take a 10-14 hour flight to Asia every year. According to my husband, if I don´t have the before-mentioned inhalator, I become way too jittery to sit next to. I wriggle and twist and my leg starts to make this little quick up-down movement. And then I start to become irritated and get angry about everything. Nicotine gum and patches don´t help, but the inhalator really does. It looks stupid but I don´t care.