Airlines’ small loos a big pain for some
SMALLER lavatories are helping airlines to add extra seats to new and existing aircraft for more profit, but some passengers – if they can get into the bathrooms – say they are being shortchanged.
The continuing installation of smaller and reconfigured bathrooms, which began in late 2013, has led to complaints about safety issues, say travellers and flight crew, who are concerned about restricted access for the physically disabled, as well as ease of use for other passengers
Barry Brandes, a retired singer from Somers, New York, travels several times a year on United Airlines. At 193 centimetres, Brandes said that getting into the new lavatories on the Boeing 737-900, a singleaisle plane, is not easy.
“If I don’t duck, I hit my head on the door,” he said. “I can’t stand up completely, so I have to twist myself into a pretzel to use the facility.”
United has a total of 250 Boeing 737-800 and 737-900 aircraft that feature a combination of the new lavatory and the traditional lavatory, according to Erica Benson, a spokeswoman.
She said the aeroplanes are reconfigured for the best use of space. In some aircraft, she noted, lavatories in first class have a new design, but have not decreased in size, while new lavatories between first class and the first row of economy have decreased in size.
The configuration of the toilets can make it especially difficult during medical emergencies to help those incapacitated or unable to move on their own, said Jeffrey Tonjes, a spokesman for United flight attendants in the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, a union that represents 50,000 flight attendants at 18 airlines.
“Both passenger and flight attendant are in harm’s way for injury or slowed response if we have difficulty getting to the passenger,” Tonjes said. “United Airlines is aware of this, and committed to addressing the issue about a year ago, but has been slow in getting the fix done.”
The square footage of the old and new bathrooms varies, depending on their location – whether they are in the back next to the galley, on the sides of the plane in front of the galley, mid-cabin in coach or in first class – and the model of aircraft.
This reporter recently measured the lavatories on a Boeing 757-300, which had the traditional, older bathrooms, and on a 737-800, which had the newer bathrooms.
The traditional toilets in first class and coach on a Boeing 757-300 measured 104 centimetres long by 87 centimetres wide by 190 centimetres high.
Extra row of seats
On a Boeing 737-800, the new bathroom in first class measured 91 by 68 by 195, and in coach measured 100 by 62 by 195. The new lavatories, which have smaller sinks and trash receptacles, are a bit taller than the traditional bathrooms, but narrower and not as deep.
Benson, who declined to give official dimensions, said only that the newer bathrooms shrank 7.6 to 10.16 centimetres from the sink to the opposite wall, and lengthened 5 to 7.6 centimetres from the back of the toilet to the door.
The smaller bathrooms, combined with smaller galleys and trimmer seats with less pitch, allow space for an extra row of seats in the rear.
Doug Alder, a spokesman for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said that airlines choose their own lavatory, galley and seat arrangements from various suppliers to create optimal use of cabin space.
He declined to reveal toilet dimensions and added: “There is currently only one supplier for lavs across all models of 737: B/E Aerospace.”
United is not the only airline to install smaller lavatories on its newer single-aisle aircraft. Bobbie Egan, an Alaska Airlines spokeswoman, said six of its airline’s 153 Boeing 737s have lavatories that were slightly reduced in size, and that no customer complaints have been registered.
“Separately, adjusting [the seat] pitch and removing a mid-cabin lavatory and closet on these six planes enabled us to add one row of seats,” Egan said in an email.
Delta Air Lines flies the Boeing 737-900ER, which all have the smaller lavatories, and Airbus 320, which are undergoing cabin modification.
“A small number of the A320s now have the smaller lavs,” said Morgan Durrant, a spokesman for Delta. He said that in customer surveys there has been no significant feedback or complaints about the size of the lavatories.
Jake Fitzpatrick, who is in the process of introducing a startup that reviews travel accommodation] for the physically challenged, has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, which requires a caregiver’s help to use the restroom.
When he takes Delta and Alaska Airlines, Fitzpatrick said it’s impossible for him to get into their single-aisleaircraft bathrooms, so he uses restrooms at the airport before boarding.
US Department of Transportation rules require at least one accessible lavatory on twin-aisle aircraft, but do not require accessible lavatories on single-aisle aircraft.
Caitlin Harvey, a spokeswoman for the department, said the department has not received a significant number of written complaints from passengers with disabilities about the size of bathrooms on single-aisle aircraft.
However, she said, disability rights advocates have consistently raised the issue, advocating a rule requiring airlines to provide an accessible lavatory on single-aisle aircraft.