That article was not very well written in general. And when was this? Continental was bought by United some time ago and doesn't even exist anymore to my knowledge. The article mentions no dates and no specifics and is really vague on a whole lot of things.
Anyway, it is hugely frustrating to me that e-cigarettes are increasingly getting banned in a number of places. The only reasonable rationale that I could think of is that it looks like smoking, so people might think it is smoking and/or security/staff/flight attendants/whoever (depending on the venue) don't want to be bothered with trying to determine from a distance whether someone is smoking a cigarette or vaping an e-cigarette.
As for the rationale that e-cigs might "bother" some people or that some liquids give off a slight odour (usually something sweet or like candy, fruit, etc) it's not valid IMO because there are plenty of comparable things that never get banned (nor should something be banned solely because some people might not like it, what kind of society are we living in?). Just because something might bother some people who are mis-informed, judgmental or extremely sensitive does not get anything else banned. I am thinking most people who are "bothered" by vaping are uneducated about it and bothered by imagined fears or associations with smoking, which, while invalid, is still going to be a legitimate problem for vapers to deal with until vaping becomes more widely known. Airlines, restaurants, etc care more about their non-vaping customers than their vaping customers as there are more of them.
There may be a category of some people who just don't like the possibility of some of the stronger-flavoured vapes causing a mild odour if someone was vaping right next to them for an extended period of time, but many much-stronger smelling things are not banned: think of perfume, cologne, various foods, body odour, hairspray, baby diapers, etc etc. If perfume/cologne are not banned somewhere they can hardly ban vaping on the rationale that it gives off a scent.
So, what can we do? Hiding our vaping is not helping to educate and familiarize the public, but doing it blatantly in places where smoking is banned without asking for permission or explaining what it is, or doing it when one has been told not to are definitely not going to help. Anyone have any ideas (besides being polite and trying to educate those around us) on what we can do for vaper-advocacy and to try to get some of these bans lifted and prevent more from being enacted??
One of the big problems with bans is that once something is banned it is much less likely to ever get un-banned.
I totally agree.
