Passengers who have passed through Ben Gurion Airport in recent days are complaining about a strong smell of cigarettes that penetrates from the smoking rooms into the passenger area. According to them, the door that separates the smoking rooms from the rest of the space is opened very frequently, and thus the smoke and smell are dispersed in the area where families and children are also waiting.
“I’m waiting here with the children and suddenly my daughter says to me: ‘Mom, someone is smoking here,'” says Mila, a passenger who was waiting there. “I look left and right and suddenly realize that the space where they are supposed to smoke is open. The smell just comes out.’
Noa, who was waiting in the area, also says that the smell affected her waiting experience. “It’s just terrible. Whoever wants to smoke should smoke, but why do I have to suffer from it? I came to enjoy myself,’ she says.
Nissim, who stopped smoking a few years ago, says that for him it was hard to miss the smell of cigarettes. “I’m really sensitive to the subject. You can’t ignore the smell here. You come on vacation and usually it’s very pleasant in Netav. This time it was both smelly and really hot here, as if they had never heard of an air conditioner. It’s a shame that tourists from abroad experience such a dubious pleasure.’
Beyond the nuisance of the smell, the penetration of cigarette smoke into spaces where non-smokers are also raises a health issue. Environmental cigarette smoke contains harmful substances, so the recommendation is to avoid exposure to it as much as possible – certainly when it comes to children, who are considered more sensitive to its effects.
Closed smoking rooms should allow smokers to smoke in a designated area, while reducing the exposure of other passengers to smoke. However, when the door is repeatedly opened and the smell is felt outside the room, the passengers claim that the actual separation is not sufficient.
We headed to Ben Gurion Airport and she has not yet been received.