By Glen Johnson
Associated Press Writer
Friday, July 24, 1998; 5:23 p.m. EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- With smoking banned on flights within U.S. borders, the Senate is now trying to prohibit it on international flights, upsetting foreign airlines.

``This is good politics in the United States because there is a strong anti-smoking lobby,'' Wanda Potrykus, spokeswoman for the Montreal-based International Air Transport Association, said Friday. ``However, there is an equally virulent pro-smoking lobby in Asia and France.''

In a late-night voice vote Thursday, the Senate added an amendment to a $47.1 billion transportation spending bill that would ban smoking on international flights arriving and departing at U.S. airports. The amendment's sponsor, Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., was 14 when his chain-smoking father died of lung cancer.

Durbin said he was reacting to complaints from airline passengers who had embraced the domestic ban and were wondering why they had to tolerate smoky cabin air on lengthier overseas flights.

Smoking, under attack in the United States, remains an integral part of cultures in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Durbin said he expected a challenge from foreign carriers and tobacco groups when differences are resolved between the Senate bill and a House measure still under consideration.

``We have an authority to establish safety standards for flights taking off and landing in the United States,'' the senator said in an interview. ``We think it includes health issues as well.''

Potrykus' association, which represents foreign air carriers, said that while the United States has the power to institute such a ban, it risks triggering an international confrontation.

``If the U.S. starts requiring this, France could turn around and say all carriers flying into France must have smoking flights for their passengers,'' she said.

``We're the flag carrier of Italy,'' Alitalia spokeswoman Marta Lotti said. ``I was under the impression that the laws governing us were the ones of the Italian transport offices.''

Foreign carriers have mixed policies on the issue. British Airways banned smoking on its worldwide route system March 29. Lotti said Alitalia offers a smoke-free flight between Rome and New York and another on which smoking is allowed. Flights to Rome from Boston, Chicago and Miami have smoking sections, she said.

In 1987, Durbin, then a member of the House, successfully lobbied Congress to pass a law banning smoking on U.S. domestic flights of two hours or less. In 1989, the ban was extended to all domestic flights and trips to Alaska or Hawaii lasting six hours or less.

In response, most airlines simply banned smoking on all U.S. flights. Many U.S. carriers do the same on their international flights.

Durbin's latest measure would give the transportation secretary four months to require all air carriers to ban smoking on flights ``between a place in the United States and a place outside the United States.''

If a foreign carrier believes that is an illegal extension of U.S. law, the measure would authorize the transportation secretary to negotiate a waiver and enforce ``an alternative smoking prohibition.''

Durbin said he thinks carriers will be reluctant to seek waivers because some of their competitors are bound to accept the law.

``When we started establishing the standard of smoke-free flights, people found that if they didn't go smoke-free, people would go somewhere else,'' he said.

Mike Stanton, a banker from Chicago, recalled his surprise when he boarded a Royal Jordanian Airlines flight from Chicago to Amsterdam two years ago and was assigned a seat immediately ahead of the smoking section.

``It was the most miserable flight,'' Stanton said. ``As soon as the smoking sign went off, the open seats behind us were filled with smokers who continually rotated in and out. On a night flight when you're trying to get some snooze, it's awful.''