# What's up with the toilets in Amsterdam airport? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 17, 2006, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-toilets-in-amsterdam-airport/376779 "2006-10-17T14:32:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-toilets-in-amsterdam-airport/376779/21 "2013-12-05T14:51:07Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > One of the pleasures of travelling by air is the **impeccable rest facilities found in airports.** They’re clean, they’re roomy, **they offer one the space and time for comfort** Hah! Good one, **Ascenray**. Yeah, sure… ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-toilets-in-amsterdam-airport/376779/22 "2013-12-05T20:34:29Z")
I wonder if the fact that Amsterdam is below sea level has anything to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-toilets-in-amsterdam-airport/376779/23 "2013-12-05T22:17:00Z")
Surely the restroom has dried out by now. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-toilets-in-amsterdam-airport/376779/24 "2013-12-05T22:32:58Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > I wonder if the fact that Amsterdam is below sea level has anything to do with it. I’m not an engineer, but I doubt this. The waste (_ **I typed different words there three times before I settled on ‘waste’** _) would likely be in a closed system to a holding system of some sort, from which a completely different system, isolated from the crapper, pumps it above sea level. If you have a basement with a floor drain, you might see something similar (w/o waste), you’d call it your ejector pump. It takes any water that gathers on your basement floor and ends up in the floor drain, and pumps it **up** to the level of your drain pipies which are generally underground, but above the level of your basement floor. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-toilets-in-amsterdam-airport/376779/25 "2013-12-05T23:47:13Z")
zombie or no the dry bowl was invented because too many people were drowning their phones. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2013, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-toilets-in-amsterdam-airport/376779/26 "2013-12-08T17:09:59Z")
Really? That was a concern that long ago? And I’m serious when I say that airport test facilities are generally of the highest quality and are regularly cleaned. At least on my experience. ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2013, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-toilets-in-amsterdam-airport/376779/27 "2013-12-08T18:43:56Z")
It’s not to do with sea level, isn’t a national thing and is not considered normal. If there were wet floors at Schiphol airport seven years ago then it was because there was a malfunction. I fly from Schiphol very regularly and am almost always very relieved to finally find decent, functional, marginally clean loos with all necessary facilities. In the Netherlands we blame the Germans for the shelf toilet, and they are considered old-fashioned here. The norm is the kind attached to the wall. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2013, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-toilets-in-amsterdam-airport/376779/28 "2013-12-08T21:26:29Z")
The “shelf” has to do with the shape of the bowl, not where the whole fixture is attached. ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2013, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-toilets-in-amsterdam-airport/376779/29 "2013-12-08T23:23:03Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > The “shelf” has to do with the shape of the bowl, not where the whole fixture is attached. I know. I live in the land of shelf toilets. But the new toilets that go into the wall and seem to float off the floor are never shelf toilets, IME. It’s only the old kind. ---
**Author:** ![bizzwire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/958977/32.png) [@bizzwire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizzwire)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-toilets-in-amsterdam-airport/376779/30 "2013-12-09T00:53:31Z")
I trust you’ve never been to the toilet in Shinjuku station, then. /wouldn’t recommend it ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-toilets-in-amsterdam-airport/376779/31 "2013-12-09T10:36:19Z")
I have only seen shelf toilets in Germany and Estonia (and thought they were very weird), never in The Netherlands. But there is one toilet feature that I have come across twice in Holland during the last year: A cushioned seat+lid. If they were raised and you wanted to lower them they very softly came to a rest. Very neat indeed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-toilets-in-amsterdam-airport/376779.md?page=1)