I use the lavatory actually less than I used to, since there used to be a policy, for all I know still is, of not gathering around the lavatory entrance if it’s toward the front. So I only use the lavatory if I need to and I can see that it is free and I am in an aisle seat. If I’m not in an aisle seat, I only use the lavatory if I really really need to and I can see that it is free. This part has become worse as well since you have to squeeze through a smaller space than you used to. A lot of the time the passengers on the inside of you need to get out of the row entirely to let you out. And then if the lavatory isn’t free then you need to go all the way back again.
Then there’s the issue of also squeezing past the refreshment cart when that’s in the equation as well.
The actual lavatory part isn’t unacceptable. The only issue is that I’m paranoid about the lock not working so I manually hold the door shut with my hand while I’m doing my business.
I’ve urinated in airplane lavatories several times. I may have pooped in one once or twice, it isn’t easy using those tiny rooms.
There was a time when I would take Imodium before a trip to ensure that I wouldn’t have to use the toilet.
My thought exactly. I totally see the legit challenges for the seriously big, tall, or obese. Likewise the mobility-challenged. Beyond that I’m bemused at my fellow travelers’ hang-ups.
Whether there’s a water dispenser varies by airplane model and era.
On any/every airplane I’m familiar with the lav sink water is the same water as is dispensed in the galley for drinking and is used for making coffee or tea. Which is of course completely independent of the blue → green → increasingly brown water used for toilet flushing.
IMO … In the modern era where so many folks are used to drinking bottled water, not tap water, the flavor of the airplane water tank & disinfectant would probably be kinda off-putting to most folks if drunk neat. It’s much less obvious hidden in coffee. So the water dispensers & cups have largely, but not entirely, gone away. Certainly so on short-haul.
And ref @reply, yeah, the water isn’t chilled like a ground-based drinking fountain. Or at least I’ve never seen that.
If you’re not sitting in first class, you’re not supposed to be using the lav near the cockpit anyhow. Go aft, where congregating is expected.
Whenever anyone gets out of their middle or window seat these days, everyone in that row is fully expecting to have to get into the aisle to make way for them. Trying to squeeze past a stranger still seated isn’t sensible and is frankly less polite than asking them to stand up so you can get out.
It’s just part of the deal. Everybody inboard expects that small inconvenience to let the outboard people out and back into their seats. I’d consider it impolite for somebody (or me) to be springboarding up every 30 minutes, but every couple hours for however long the flight lasts is 100% normal / typical.
It’s also not a total, go to jail, prohibition against waiting for the near-cockpit lav to open up. They don’t want a crowd there. One person is rarely an issue and if it is, that’s mostly on the fussy FA. On most modern interiors there’s also a lav occupied or free sign up front in the ceiling. So while seated you can see whether it’s occupied or not. If two folks both stand to go forward when the lav opens up, the one further aft can just stand partway forward to reserve their place in the tenuous line.
For the single-panel doors it’s a dirt simple lateral deadbolt. You can see the bolt slide into the hole in the door jamb if you look. In fact, when the bolt sticks into the jamb, it pushes on a lever that turns on the lightswitch. If the brighter lights are on the door is locked, period.
For the bifold doors there’s vertical deadbolts at top and bottom which engage into holes in the floor and ceiling tracks. Again if the lights came on bright, the door is locked.
My bottom line: IMO you’re way overthinking all this to your detriment.
I don’t like to use the airplane lavatory, but I’ve taken many intercontinental flights of 12, 13 hours or even more. It’s impossible to last that long without using the bathroom, at least for me.
Re: pooping, there was that time I took a trip to West Africa (Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania) and came down with severe diarrhea just before the return flight (I blame the seafood restaurant we ate at on our final night in Zanzibar), and I had stupidly packed my Imodium in my checked bag. So I pooped at the airport in Zanzibar. Then I got stuck in a window seat on the flight to Addis Ababa, next to a very broad shouldered German guy. That sucked, but I actually managed to hold it in. I pooped at the airport in Addis Ababa. I don’t recall it I pooped on the flight to Frankfurt (that flight was overnight), nor do I recall if I pooped at the Frankfurt airport, but probably. I know I pooped several times on the 11 hour flight from Frankfurt to San Francisco. And also on the train from there to Sacramento, but at least by that point I had retrieved my checked bag and was able to access my Imodium.
This was from the 90s through early 2000s, I think. Mostly United international to Asia. Or maybe China Airlines or Eva Air. I don’t remember the exact flights or aircraft, sorry, maybe older 747s? They no longer have them on newer aircraft, which still confuses me because I keep looking for them to refill my water bottle.
Just last night I had the opportunity to use the midships lav in a UAL A320Neo and it was quite something to see how minimization of space has progressed. Nobody bringin’ an adult partner in there.
Those tiny lavatories on the A320 have been around for years. I can tell you from experience, Delta has retrofitted the old A320s they got from Northwest with similarly small lavs.
Interesting. The water I remembered was always from the same faucet you used to wash your hands. And it has been marked not potable for easily 20 years (which is odd if it came from the good water supply.) I remember being surprised when I first saw this sign.
That’s definitely not a feature I ever recall seeing on any 747 in the 90s. I spent a lot of time on them from 1996 - 2000, although only with Northwest & KLM airlines. I do have a friend who has been a flight attendant with Cathay Pacific for 20+ years, I will ask her on the chance this was a feature Boeing offered that only Asian carriers really opted for.
For flights over an hour, I usually use the lavatory at least once. Somehow I get constipated and rarely poop while flying, but otherwise I have no hang ups about using the lavatory.
I did get to “rescue” a little girl who went into the lavatory before me. She had managed to go into the lavatory, lock it, and then unlock it when she wanted to go about. But she didn’t understand the bifold door and started panicking as she couldn’t get out. I pressed the door at the right place and she saw that it was opening and was able to get out. Poor thing.
Those bifold doors that open into the compartment are backwards from every bifold door on the ground that open outwards into the larger room.
No matter how large the sign that says “PUSH” with nothing to grab, or the sign that says “PULL” with a fingergrip recess right there, a hefty fraction of passengers will, out of habit, try to use it backwards.
The FA’s that are sitting or standing nearby are very used to wordlessly pushing the big “PUSH” sign while somebody is fumbling around trying to find a fingerhold to pull with. Over. And over. And over. Likewise when they hear increasingly frantic door rattling from someone inside.
Extra scary for a child of course. But she had / has plenty of adult company in being confused.
Thanks for the pic! I’ve never flown on a triple-7, interesting that they had that feature! Like LSLGuy mentioned earlier, it was probably plumbed to the same tank as the lav faucet and galley faucets.
Just heard back from my CX Flight Attendant buddy. She’s never seen those on CX 777s either, and was surprised to hear that they had them on Emirates and Singapore birds. She was mildly shocked at the photo lol.
Maybe because I’ve been flying since i was a babe in arms, and flew a lot as an unaccompanied minor, i just assume that the door is locked when the lights come on, and never gave it any thought at all.
Also, you can usually tell from outside the lab when it’s in use, and the doors are fussy, so you could say, “in a minute” when the door rattles, if it somehow failed to lock and failed to alert folks outside.
And if worst comes to worst, if someone started to open the door, they’d close it again immediately when they saw you filling all the space. And… You wouldn’t melt. You’d finish up and leave and they’d be all apologetic.
But it’s literally never happened to me on an airplane. And i fly a lot.
