TRANSITING through New Delhi's shiny new Terminal 3 recently, I was struck by the presence of a facility that has all but disappeared from Europe's airports: a smoking room. With a nine-hour journey behind me, a fair few hours until I reached my destination and only an interrogation by immigration officials to break the tedium, the lounge was a most welcome sight. Yes, smoking is bad for you. But if you are a smoker, a civilised cigarette makes all the difference between being an irritable passenger itching to burst out of the terminal doors and a calm, considerate sort who makes room for his fellow travellers.

Heathrow used to have little glass cubicles that could take six or seven people hunched over their cigarettes, much to the amusement of passers-by. But Britain's airport smoking rooms fell victim to a 2006 ban on lighting up in public places. Other countries on the continent soon followed. Berlin Tegel, Milan Malpensa, Copenhagen Kastrup and Paris Charles de Gaulle no longer offer facilities for the inhalation of cancer sticks. Even tiny little Malta International and Sardinia-Olbia are now smoke-free.

The reasoning behind this escapes me. Airports are dire enough places as it is. Nobody really wants to be there, stuck between a stag party and a set of screeching babies as the expected time of departure recedes further into the evening. Or standing in the interminable queue for passport control all the while thinking about a cigarette. For travellers transiting between long-haul flights the agony is even worse.

Smokers don't ask much. Put a designated smoking zone (Moscow Sheremetyevo's is pictured) in the shoddiest corner of the terminal and they will trek to it, thanking the authorities with every carcinogenic breath. It would make economic sense too: Heathrow worries about losing its place as Europe's foremost hub for international air traffic now that plans for the airport's expansion have been shelved. But why waste money on a third runway when you can build a little smoking room and watch travellers flood in? Singapore Changi and Dubai International have built strong reputations as long-haul hubs for flights between Asia and the rest of the world. Both offer facilities for smokers. New Delhi's Terminal 3 aims to compete with its better-established Asian peers. It has the facilities to match them—and many more smoking rooms. If only they'd do something about the carpet.