Gizmo,
Whilst I am with you on the pisspoor standards of United and the US airline industry these days, and I am also with you on calling Phx on his obtuse, cherry picking red herrings.... this smoking thing you keep bringing up is a load of old tosh.
In the UK, loads of local pubs have closed over the last five years, and these closures appear to co-incide with the introduction of the smoking ban. Immediately, smokers, who seem to feel their rights are more important than the risk to the health of others, began to highlight this and argue that the smoking ban was destroying people's livelihoods.. the end of the world is nigh. Then someone decided to do some actual research... and lo and behold, we find that pubs which are directly run and owned by either a company or individual in fact were thriving. Those pubs which were "tied houses" linked to pub companies which had a monopoly on providing the beer were failing. This was due to the excessive prices charged by the beer suppliers who controlled the supply to the "tied houses". It had nothing to do with the smoking ban.
I bet you that in Spokane, 100 restaurants have closed because the economy has tanked... and that the link with smoking is tenuous..but if you have any evidence for your assertion, feel free to PM me..! Smoking is dangerous and something you should do in private.
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