For those who love the smell of passive cigarette smoke and might even be addicted, you should try out Zurich airport.

There's a fantastic situation outside Arrival 2 (Ankunft 2) where all the smokers are BOTH sides of the doors to the terminal because of all the construction work going on. If you are waiting for friends or family off a flight and its delayed you might want to go outside to get some fresh air, problem is you might need to walk about 100m (up towards the runway) as it is also really smoking on the other side to for the main building entry doors, bear in mind arrival 2 area (outside) is covered so you really get the smoke hanging for quite a while outside too.
The only drawback when Arrival 2 is really busy is that you will have to scrape through the smoking crowd blocking your way in/out and could even (like me once) pick up a flailing fag-end which will burn a hole in your clothes.
Lets be positive, its only going to be another 1-2 years before the construction work is finished after 3 years...look forward to to that.

if you wait for arriving passengers do so INSIDE. construction around Terminal B has gone on since 1968, so what

What if I don't want to?

THEN you have to accept that smoking is permitted OUTDOORS (but not indoors)

Other countries manage to get round that problem by having smoking bans within, for example, four metres of a building entranced.

Actually, they've recently imposed that sort of rule at the entrances to our local hospital here so it is possible here.

Other countries maybe but clearly NOT Germany. A train is NOT a hospital. What you mention about your local hospital also is the case at Uni-Spital Zürich and many shops have issued similar rules (example: LIDL Kloten)

There are still problems with smoking on hospital grounds. One kantonsspital has some of the smoking spots built right next to the windows and air vents and wafts of smoke go in the building through them when smokers use them. WTF were they really thinking when they chose these smoking places? There you sit patiently in the (windowless) basement for your MRI, and all of a sudden start choking because the air is filled with cigarette smoke. Same with the openable windows on the first floor (EG or parter in CH) - the smokers shelters are placed right next to them.

And why in the world would those disgusting ashtrays be placed at the entrances of buildings? Is stale cigarette aroma a thing here?

LIDL is not a hospital either.

That's an easy one. Cos otherwise all those considerate smokers will simply chuck their butts on the ground.


As we all know, fag ends don't appear to qualify as littering.

Out if interest do the smoking laws apply to the outdoor areas of stores? Does anybody know?

I was in Jumbo on Saturday in their outdoor plants and soil section which has a roof over a part of it but is open in the other part. Two women were standing puffing away on their cigarettes and blowing smoke everywhere whilst blocking the aisle with their trollies. I politely said 'excuse me' (in French) as I wanted to get through but they ignored me (they were speaking French to each other) so I moved their trollies myself and passed by. Walking through a huge cloud of smoke was unpleasant but that wasn't really what annoyed me the most, it was their rudeness.( they moved their trollies back across to block the aisle after I'd passed).

I thought it was forbidden to smoke in stores. I would have asked a member of staff but there was nobody around at the time.

But the manageress there makes it clear that there is a 10 meter minimum distance

Do I also have to accept that smokers get preference in a situation like I have mentioned? If there is building works stop the smokers smoking outside altogether.. In Zurich smokers IMO always get preference...

No they don`t. Everywhere indoors is for non-smokers. Now you are asking for the smoking areas too? I do hope that in winter-time you are also so passionate about standing around outdoors.

We have lots of nice modern keep-off-the-rain-and-snow, keep-out-of-the-biting-wind bus shelters which are very convenient for smokers and non-smokers alike. I am a non smoker. Sometimes I land up out in the rain, snow, wind. Not passionate about standing around outdoors, but practiced.

Isn't that called "Standing in ski-lift queues?"

Re: Belgianmum, I can't imagine that shopkeepers would want people to smoke around their items, mainly because of the possibility of damage (burns, etc) to their merchandise. But who knows?

I think the whole smoking issue in general is also a matter of what one is used to. Coming from the US rather recently, where smoking is basically banned everywhere and the public service announcements have drilled it into our heads over and over that smoking is dirty/bad for health/only poorly educated people do it/etc., it was jarring to come to a country where people look upon smoking as a basic human right. That's just how it was for me, but obviously, it is a different society with a different outlook, and I've accepted that now. I also have the feeling that the tobacco lobby is quite strong here (and in Austria), and that they kind of gave up on the American market.

On a side note, I was surprised that the US was one of the first non-smoking adopters on the basis of the secondhand smoke hazard to servers, bartenders, and so on, compared to Austria where smoking is still mostly allowed in restaurants and bars!

I remember when they banned smoking in bars and clubs in the US: I actually started going out more.

Smoking is forbidden by federal law in all publicly accessible rooms, and in rooms that serve more than one persone as working place. Restaurants with less than 80m2 may allow smoking if they get an approval by the Kanton. Since many Kantons know no such exception, the smoking ban in restaurants is absolute in some but not in all Kantons.

So smoking outside the Jumbo smoking isn't forbidden by the law, but as it's private property the owner/tenant may of course add rules of his own. Actually, I'm very much surprised what you describe isn't acted upon - in case of a fire perhaps insurance may refuse to pay.

With that said, the core of your issue has nothing to do with non-smoking, it's about im/politeness.

My personal main outdoor smoking gripe. In queues you really can't avoid them and bloody annoying when you want some clean mountain air.

There's a certain amount of arrogance with people who smoke in places where it's pretty obvious that they shouldn't.

It was outside in the sense that it was where they sell their outdoor plants etc but it is only accessible via the store so is clearly part of the shop premises so as such to me it just seemed totally wrong.
Maybe a member of staff did come along to stop them but I didn't hang around to find out. I'd be surprised if nobody noticed them as they were surrounded by a fog of smoke.