Polish Airline Lot Snuffs Smoking In Business Class

Sun., Sept. 10, 1995

From Wire Reports

LOT, the Polish airline, recently eliminated smoking in business class on its Boeing 767s that fly between Warsaw and New York, Toronto, Beijing and Bangkok.

That’s a radical step for the airline of a former communist country, where smoking is as prevalent as industrial smog. But it’s a sign of the times - and good news for non-smoking business travelers faced with long trans-Atlantic flights and even longer hauls across the Pacific.

Bit by bit, airlines are quietly adding non-smoking flights on international routes - traditionally holdouts against smoking bans - in the wake of domestic prohibitions.

Singapore Airlines, for example, already has smokeless flights worldwide except for those serving Japan - a country of dedicated smokers.

Actually, the “no smoking” sign is going up largely because of a United Nations resolution, passed in 1992, that bans smoking on international flights starting in July 1996. Even the Japanese will have to comply.

Airport buses

Take the train to the bus - to the airport - in New York, with Amtrak’s new bus service to La Guardia and JFK airports.

Amtrak passengers pick up a Carey Airport Express shuttle at Penn Station to Grand Central, where they catch the bus to the airport - and back - leaving hourly from the station, to either La Guardia for $10 or JFK for $13, one way.

The service from Penn Station is for Amtrak passengers only, and they can purchase bus tickets when they buy train tickets. For information: (800) 872-7245.

Judy’s place

Somewhere over the rainbow - in Grand Rapids, Minn., to be exact - the Judy Garland Birthplace is now open as a museum. Fans of Dorothy and Toto will want to see where Garland - then, still plain old Frances Gumm - lived until she was 4-1/2 and before she hit California, Oz and the big time.

Donations are accepted as admission to the museum, at 2727 U.S. Highway 169 South. And there’s another exhibit on Garland’s life and career at the Central School building downtown. Information: (800) 664-5839.