Where to smoke at U.S. airports

— -- These days, you can shop, eat, drink, and get an internet connection at pretty much every U.S. airport. At many airports, you can also get a massage, a manicure, a haircut, a pint of micro-brewed beer or a glass of fine wine. But to the dismay of some, and the delight of others, there are fewer and fewer airports where you can smoke a cigarette without being forced to exit security and stand outside on the curb.

That's as it should be, says Bronson Frick of the non-profit Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights group: "Smoke-free air is now the norm in most airports and people expect it." But to frequent travelers like Rebecca Argenti, it's a pain in the butt: "I respect non-smokers and I don't think it's right or fair for them to be subjected to my cigarette smoke. However, I do wish airports would designate an 'outside' smoking area, past security but near the departure gates, so that persons who wish to smoke don't have to go all the way to the front of the terminal in order to go outside and smoke."

Argenti would have appreciated the post-security outdoor patios that Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) used to have in two of its terminals. But an amendment to the anti-smoking laws in California a few years back forced the airport to close the patios and the enclosed smoking area at the Tom Bradley International Terminal. However, there are still more than a dozen U.S. airports that have post-security smoking spots. Argenti and others just need to sniff them out.

Airports with smoking lounges

The nation's busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, has two smoking lounges on every concourse except Concourse E, where smoking is permitted in Sojourner's Restaurant. Smoking is also permitted in the Budweiser Brewhouse on Concourse A and in the Georgia Juke Joint on Concourse D. As part of a recent $67 million airport renovation project, five of the six lounges have been upgraded with new ventilation systems, new seating, new windows and new flooring. Airport spokesperson Al Snedeker says the specially-ventilated lounges now even have doors.

At Washington Dulles International Airport, smoking is permitted in four smoking lounges beyond the main terminal, including two lounges in Concourse B, one in Concourse C and one in Concourse D. For hungry smokers, Max & Erma's Restaurant, by Gate B72, delivers food to a few tables in the adjacent airport smoking lounge.

Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport maintains smoking lounges in Terminals 1, 2 and 3 and in Concourses A and B. The airport also allows smoking inside four restaurants that have specially-ventilated smoking areas: Max & Erma's, Wolfgang Puck, Outback and Sam Adams. According to airport spokesperson Barb Schempf, the airport has received both positive and negative comments from travelers about the smoking lounges, but there are currently no plans to make a change. "We feel it's a customer service amenity, especially for passengers coming in on international flights."

There are five post-security smoking lounges at Salt Lake City International Airport and, over at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, seven smoking lounges that airport spokesperson Jeff Lea says are all well used. "We're offering a place where smokers can smoke and are making sure their smoke does not impact those that choose not to."

In Florida, the bustling Miami International Airport has one outdoor smoking enclosure, located post-security on Concourse D, while Tampa International Airport has a series of caged outdoor patios ("Observation Decks") at Airsides A, C, E and F complete with benches, ashtrays and electric lighters. At Orlando Sanford International Airport, there are two smoking areas, both in the international departure area. One is open to all departing passengers, while the other is available only to travelers with access to the Royal Palm Lounge. No smoking is allowed inside Pensacola Gulf Coast Regional Airport, but there is an enclosed, vented smoking room in front of the terminal.

At Charlotte Douglas International Airport, no smoking is allowed anywhere inside the airport, but for some reason that doesn't include the airline club rooms which, according to the airport website, "are considered non-public areas." Similarly, Denver International Airport is technically a no-smoking airport, but there are four lounges were smoking is permitted with purchase: the Aviator's Club (Jeppesen Terminal and Concourse B), Mesa Verde (Concourse A), and Smokin' Bear (Concourse C).

"Prior to providing a place for smokers to go," says Detroit Metropolitan Airport spokesperson Brian Lassaline, "our Public Safety Division was frequently responding to door alarms. Customers arriving on international flights connecting to domestic flights, many of whom cannot read English, would push the bars on emergency exit doors on the concourses, thinking they could go 'outside' for a smoke." Lassaline says some desperate smokers would also light up in the family restrooms, but now that there are three airports bars where people can smoke, this is no longer a problem.

Memphis International Airport offers one post-security spot where passengers can smoke. For now. A law prohibiting smoking in enclosed public places in Tennessee went into effect October 1, 2007, but airport officials have been trying to get exemptions for two airport restaurants, the pre-security Maggie O'Shea's and the post-security Blue Note Café. Maggie O'Shea's went no-smoking on January 1, 2009, but Hugh Atkins, director of General Environmental Health for the Tennessee Department of Health says if the Blue Note Café doesn't follow-suit, his agency will start levying daily fines.

No smoking: Good for health but bad for the bottom line

Until the passage of the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act in November 2006, McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas had smoking areas in many post-security bars and in a string of ventilated lounges outfitted with banks of slot machines. Now that the airport is entirely smoke-free, says Randall H. Walker, the Clark County Director of Aviation, "We've found that many travelers now try to sneak a smoke, often in companion care restrooms or other areas where smoking is off limits." Walker says the smoking ban is also having a negative impact on the airport's bottom line. The airport's slot machine revenue, which can total more than $40 million a year, has decreased since the smoking ban took effect. Walker attributes that to the fact that "many smokers are now lingering outside prior to their flight rather than playing the slot machines in the former smoking lounges located near the gates."

There are other problems caused when travelers to go outside to smoke. At Charleston International Airport (CHS), it's dirt. Public affairs director Becky Beaman says "many smokers just don't respect non-smokers' rights. They will walk right up to the door and take that last drag. We provide ash cans and benches on the front curb in the smoking areas so that smokers can be comfortable, but many smokers just throw their butts down and stamp them out which creates a nasty, stinky mess!"

To smoke or not to smoke: you'll need to do some homework

Smoking lounges exist at some other U.S. airports, including Gulfport Biloxi International Airport and Greensboro's Piedmont Triad International Airport, and there other airports where smoking may be permitted in airline club lounges or other "non-public places," so if you want to smoke when you touch down, it's a good idea to check the website of any airport you intend to visit. Better yet, call ahead. In researching this column, I discovered several officially smoke-free airports that had an unofficial smoking area on-site. And because city and state laws are constantly changing, don't assume an airport that once allowed smoking will continue to do so. Also, while the list of 100% Smokefree U.S. airports put together by Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights was recently updated, I could find no comprehensive online list of airports where smoking is allowed.

Then again, you could always follow the lead of Danny Tolentino, a systems analyst from Columbia, S.C.Tolentino has memorized the best spots to smoke at many of the country's busiest airports and says that Atlanta is pretty good and "at DFW it's pretty easy to run outside for a smoke. There are plenty of exits and entrances and it doesn't take long to go through security." Tolentino knows where to smoke, but no longer needs this information. "I am smoke-free (as of Jan. 1, 2009) so I won't have to worry about it anymore (hopefully)."

Smokers, have we missed any places? Share your other smoking spots at airports below.

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Harriet Baskas writes about travel etiquette for MSNBC.com and is the author of the airport guidebook Stuck at the Airport and a blog of the same name.