Tobacco Documents Online

C HORACE R. KORNEGAV 1875 1 STREET, NOAtMWE5• WASHINGTON, D.C.2OO06 RO2) 451-4830 December 5, 1979 Mr. Frank Borman President, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer Eastern Airlines, Inc. Miami International Airport Miami, Florida 33148 Dear Mr. Borman: C On November 1, I wrote to inform you of recent experiences I have had aboard Eastern Airlines flights that suggested to me that your company was pursuing a policy of discrimination against passengers who smoke. I received a reply from Mr. Richard P. Magurno, an attorney in your New York office, that was legalistic, technical, and in general unresponsive to the genuine problem of customer service that my letter indentified. My letter explained that I requested a seat in the "smoking" section on a recent Eastern Airlines flight but was initially informed by your employees that the "smoking" section was full and that "government policy" did not permit the airline to expand it, even though there were many empty seats in the "no smoking" section. Although I eventually obtained a seat in the "smoking" section, your employees did not expand that section (as Mr. Magurno's letter suggests), and they indicated to me that it was your company's policy not to do so. Had I failed to stand up for my rights, or been unfamiliar with the Civil Aeronautics Board's regulations, I would have been consigned to the "no smoking" section even though there were many empty seats on the flight. I am sure this regularly happens to other persons who wish to smoke aboard your airplanes. Mr. Magurno's letter admits that the CAB regulations permit the "smoking" section to be expanded when there are sufficient empty seats in the "no smoking" section. But it offers no word of apology for the rudeness with which Eastern Airlines has treated me and other smoking passengers, nor does it give any indication that Eastern is considering taking any action in response to my complaint.

Mr. Frank Borman Page Two My letter also suggested that Eastern consider longitudinal seating arrangements as a means of providing more nearly equal treatment to smokers and nonsmokers. Mr. Magurno's letter makes no effort to consider the merits of this proposal, which was subscribed to by more than 130,000 airline passengers in a petition submitted to the CAB by The Tobacco Institute in 1977. He contends that the CAB has "found" that this practice does not comply with its smoking regulations. I know of no such "finding" and I urge you to consider the question on its merits. As my earlier letter indicated, I had hoped, and continue to hope, that his matter can be resolved without resort to a formal complaint to the CAB. The Board has already injected itself too deeply into management functions of airline operations, including the question of smoking aboard commercial aircraft, which should be resolved by the exercise of common courtesy and good judgment by airline passengers and the persons who manage the airlines. If you will not consider my complaint seriously and respond to it directly, however, I may be left reluctantly with no other choice but to resort to the legal process. Sincerely yours, Horace R. Kornegay -1 4NW=-.

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