Airports, Airport Security, and Smokers:

I recently flew through Chicago’s O’Hare airport. I was surprised when I overheard a fellow traveler ask an airport security guard where he could smoke and guard said that he would need leave the building and go outside to smoke. As a non-smoker, I normally would have said “Sucks for him!”, but we no longer live in normal times. As I thought about this more I realized that this was a really bad policy, even for non-smokers!

If every smoker that flies through O’Hare decides that he or she wants to smoke, then that means they will be required to go outside and then re-enter the secure area of the airport! Security lines at airports have gotten long enough in some cities that they have made the national news. I really don’t think that forcing a segment of the flying population to leave the building only to return back through the security lines will help shorten those lines, especially when other airports have had a policy of segregating smokers into smoking sections of the secure portion of the airport. I can think of a few major airports that do not have policies like this, but I truly wonder how many airports have policies just like O’Hare.