Yes, you can smoke at Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR) in the designated outdoor areas on the terminal curb. The airport’s Rules and Regulations set every designated area at least 20 feet back from a building entrance or exit, and both terminal buildings are smoke-free inside, so a departing smoker steps out to the curb and clears the checkpoint again to get back to the gates.
How Hollywood Burbank Airport Is Laid Out
BUR runs from two connected terminal buildings, Terminal A and Terminal B, with 14 gates between them — nine in Terminal A and five in Terminal B. Each terminal has its own TSA security checkpoint and its own baggage claim, so there is no airside walkway between them. The building has two levels plus a basement across about 232,000 square feet, and parts of it date back to the airport’s opening in 1930.
The Air Service page lists Southwest, American, Delta and Breeze in Terminal A, and Alaska, United, Frontier and Allegiant in Terminal B. The airport handled about 6.2 million passengers in 2025.
Two things about BUR work in a smoker’s favor. The terminal is small and the curb is a few steps from either baggage claim, so getting to a smoking area takes a minute rather than a hike. And aircraft are boarded from the ramp at ground level, front and rear doors, rather than through jet bridges — a walk in the open air that tempts people to light up. That walk crosses an active aircraft apron, and the Rules and Regulations prohibit smoking anywhere on airport property outside a designated area, with a separate ban on open flame near fueling operations.
Designated Smoking Areas
The airport’s Rules and Regulations are explicit: “Smoking is prohibited on Airport property other than in designated smoking areas,” and the Airport Director is authorized to designate those areas “at least 20 ft. from any building entrance/exit point.” That 20-foot figure matches California’s own baseline setback for the entrances of public buildings.
In practice that puts the smoking areas out on the curb in front of Terminal A and Terminal B, past the buffer at the doors and clear of the ticketing and baggage-claim entrances. BUR does not publish the exact spots on its website, so watch for the posted signage and the standing ashtrays as you come out of the building. The terminal frontage is compact, and the short-term parking structure and the pickup lanes sit directly opposite, so you are never far from one.
After Security
Every smoking area at BUR is landside. The gate areas past both checkpoints are smoke-free, and there is no smoking room or lounge airside. To smoke once you are through security you exit the secure area, use the curbside area outside your terminal, and screen again.
The screening lines here are famously short — the airport recommends arriving an hour before departure, or two at peak holiday periods — so the round trip is usually 20 to 30 minutes. Remember that Terminal A and Terminal B are screened separately: return through the checkpoint for the terminal your flight leaves from, not whichever door you happened to walk out of.
The Replacement Terminal
BUR is building a replacement passenger terminal, branded Elevate BUR, in the northeast quadrant of the airfield. It is a 355,000-square-foot, 14-gate building on two levels plus a basement, and the project’s official site states that it “is scheduled to open in October 2026.” Until that switchover happens, Terminals A and B remain the terminals you fly from and the curbside smoking areas outside them are where smoking is allowed. The new building falls under the same Airport Rules and Regulations, so smoking there will again be outdoors, at designated areas at least 20 feet from an entrance or exit.
E-Cigarettes and Vaping
The Rules and Regulations define smoking to include “the use of an electronic smoking device that creates an aerosol or vapor, in any manner or in any form,” along with any oral smoking device used to get around the rule. Vapes and heated-tobacco devices therefore follow the cigarette rule exactly: outdoor designated areas only, nothing inside the terminals or at the gates. TSA rules allow vape devices and spare batteries in carry-on baggage; they are not permitted in checked bags.
Summary
| Area | Smoking Allowed | Location Details |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal A interior | No | Smoke-free, including all nine gates past security |
| Terminal B interior | No | Smoke-free, including all five gates past security |
| Aircraft apron / ramp walk | No | Active fuelling area; smoking prohibited outside designated areas |
| Terminal curb, landside | Yes | Designated outdoor areas, at least 20 ft from entrances |
| Restaurants and shops | No | All enclosed areas smoke-free |
| Vaping / e-cigarettes | Outdoor only | Treated as smoking under the airport rules |
Connecting through the bigger LA airport instead? See our guide to smoking at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), and our guide to smoking during layovers for the exit-and-rescreen timing.
For USA airport smoking rules, state vape rules, lighter rules at TSA, and other federal/state info, see our USA smoking guide.