Could it be the smell of fear, many of us experience on flights?

Is this really such a huge problem though, that warrants blowing £200k on and tying up otherwise-oh-so-busy researchers? I've never heard of anyone dying or feeling ill from fumes on a plane. So there's a "bit of a funny smell" on one in a thousand flights, damn. When I were a lad, if it weren't peeling your nasal hairs off, then we'd have to live with it.

Is it Friday yet?

"Passengers are reminded that farting can result in ejection from the aircraft."

I have had the misfortune to be on a plane when someone let rip. The blasted thing gets pumped round the whole cabin and you can watch the wave of horrified faces as it criculates round.

Not the best flight I ever had

The cabin fresh air is bled from the compressor section of the engines. It is then stepped down in pressure to control the temperature. The scope for contaminants to enter is small but still possible.

The problem is that airlines like to minimise fresh air flow as it detracts from the boost to the engines so more fuel is used. If there was loads of fresh then any contaminants would be very dilute indeed.

Clearly this is a green issue too. Do you want Hydrocarbons dumped into the atmosphere or not? If not then don't moan when they use the men's, women's and children's lungs to filter it out. ;o>

"I've never heard of anyone dying or feeling ill from fumes on a plane. So there's a "bit of a funny smell" on one in a thousand flights, damn."

Do you not remember Deep Vein Thrombosis which killed a fair few folk. This was apparently linked to air quality on aircraft and this is what this research aims to answer questions on.

I seem to remember reading several years ago that someone (scientific) had alleged that there was an issue with air quality on B737s and some planes that had originally been designed for military use, then commericialised.

Something to do with oils, vapours and exotic chemicals coming through from the engines into the cabin air supply. There was discussion about longterm exposure being particularly bad for health.

So maybe your once-a-year holiday-maker (if they still exist) is OK, but your frequent / business traveller could be at risk - in the same way that I don't mind the odd X-ray, but wouldn't want several per week.

Therefore this isn't new, but good that it's being investigated.

Tinfoil hat time:

http://opin.info/op_airback.php

Well, *I've* felt ill after breathing the air in a 747 for the 7plus hours it took to cross the Atlantic. More than once, and when you consider I've made the trip only about a dozen times, them's worrying stats.

Of course, some of the airports I've had to cool my heels in when flying point-to-point have made the air quality in the plane a secondary concern next to getting the hell out of <insert your own airport hell of choice>.

Generally on long haul flights after they feed the herd the policy is to cut back the o2 in the air so most people fall asleep. Any air hostitute, can confirm.

"Most of the pollution I experence is from you smokers who think it's alright to blow it around - even outside. God bless the smoking ban, and I hope it's extended to everywhere"

Are you one of those twits who can be walking down a busy city street - thus in a sea of car exhaust - and you see a smoker 10 feet away and do that little disapproving cough-cough?

Ever fly at the back of a plane.

Any time I'm in the back few rows on a flight I always smell fumes, stale air, fuel/exhaust smells.

I think it's about time this is done as we are only going to fly more.

I've heard that for long haul flights the ground crew face the other way when they open the doors due to the blast of stale, rank air that blasts out of the plane. (anybody able to confirm)

The air on planes is bad and only gettingn worse.

Actually I agree with you that it is not always pleasant to be near a smoker (I'm a smoker and try to be considerate) - it's the neurotic little creatures who react to someone far enough away that get me going - I've had it happen even when I'm just fiddling with an unlit cig.

Otherwise fully approve of banning smoking in enclosed spaces - even if it would sometimes be nice with coffee etc. ...sigh.

Also agree with "NO s*it " that air quality on planes seems to have dropped since the ban. What the hell's up with that?

@ Mister Cheese: fantastic, £200,000 worth of research grant neatly circumvented in one simple statement.

@ British Airways: Will you theiving phuktards be helping these scientists by offering them cheaper seats cause £200,000 ain't gonna go far after the next rise in fares and the re-introduction of baggage charges.

After the Smoking Ban: I too hated it when people would light up as I began my starter. And I too am a smoker. I feel persecuted by this draconian law. What was wrong with having "designated" smoking areas?... a particular table, a corner of a room, a seperate room, a seperate pub or restaurant even... why oh why did it have to be a total ban? - it's stupid, it's demeaning, it's cruel and unusual in the punishment of people who are otherwise exactly the same as everyone else. It is also a breach of Article 5 (of the good old widely ignored UK ratified document of humane reasoning... see therefore also Articles 6,7,8,9 and 29(2)). I've listened to barmaids outside pubs apologising over their fag to their smoking regulars because we are all standing out in the pissing rain - whilst the entire downstairs bar is completely empty (YES, this pub had two distinct bars, each with it's own door). I have also found myself unable to walk along a pavement (that's a 'sidewalk' guys) because the bulk of a pubs clientelle have taken over the frontage.

And since I began smoking BEFORE the smoking ban, can I be found guilty for lighting up in a place in which it was legal for me to smoke prior to the ban? - see Article 11(2).

I am a smoker. I express myself by smoking - See Article 19. Big_Boomer, is presumably a petomaine and, expresses himself with a more rudimentary release of gas.