On most commercial flights, smoking effectively stopped in the late 1980s–1990s, with complete worldwide bans taking hold by around 2000 on major airlines.

Quick timeline

  • In the United States , smoking was first banned on domestic flights under two hours in 1988, then extended to flights up to six hours in 1990. By about 2000, smoking was banned on all U.S. domestic and international flights.
  • In Europe , a major step came in 1997 when the European Union banned smoking on flights within member states, paving the way for a full no‑smoking standard on EU routes.
  • Many airlines phased it out earlier or later: for example, Delta banned smoking on all its flights worldwide by the mid‑1990s, while British Airways went fully smoke‑free on all routes in 1998.

Why there isn’t a single date

  • Different countries and airlines set their own rules, so the “last day” you could legally smoke on a plane depended on where you were flying and with whom.
  • In general, by the late 1990s smoking sections were rare, and by the early 2000s commercial passenger flights worldwide were effectively non‑smoking.

So if you’re wondering “when did they stop smoking on planes?”, the practical answer is: late 1980s start of bans, 1990s for most routes, and by around 2000, smoking on mainstream commercial flights was essentially over.

TL;DR:

  • First big bans: 1988 (short U.S. domestic flights).
  • Broad national/airline bans: early–mid 1990s.
  • Almost universal airline no‑smoking policy: by about 2000.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.