Virgin may hand out nicotine patches on flights (fwd)

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

Virgin may hand out nicotine patches on flights
Date: Monday, 6/7/99
(sorry, no clear source for this one)

VIRGIN ATLANTIC is considering offering nicotine patches to smokers on
long-haul flights.

 The airline, which has banned smoking on all its flights since 1997, said
the scheme was to help passengers cope with being deprived of a cigarette.
It is looking at whether it would be able to hand out patches or nicotine
chewing gum. It denied that it was an attempt to tackle air rage.

 A spokesman said: "We accept that a very small percentage of our
passengers find not smoking frustrating. We have not had any incidents
where that frustration has turned into anything serious or violent."

 A British Airways spokesman, Iain Burns, said it had already rejected the
idea as being too expensive because a pharmacist would have to be present.