It’s true — airplane restrooms are smaller

If the restroom on your next flight seems a bit snug, don’t assume you’ve picked up a few pounds. U.S. airlines increasingly are putting smaller lavatories on their planes — and the economics of the decision means they’re probably here to stay.

As labor costs rise and fuel prices surge, airlines are taking advantage of robust travel demand to squeeze as many passengers as possible into planes. Knee-bashing reductions to legroom and elbow-crunching cuts to seat size are well-known tactics. The latest method is to retrofit old aircraft and order new ones with svelte lavatories that allow for an extra row of seats.

Airlines say the new restrooms are just a few inches smaller than what passengers are used to. But it’s not like the bathrooms were that big to begin with, and the tighter fit is sparking complaints from pilots, concerns from flight attendants and griping from travelers. Consultant Samuel Engel said taking his 4-year-old son to the restroom during a recent four-hour flight was like a yoga exercise.

“We’re both compact people, but I still had to basically straddle him to be able to fit in the lav together,” said Engel, who leads the aviation group at consulting firm ICF. “The sink is so tiny that we did a sort of four-handed ballet to wash each of our hands in turn, splashing water all over in the process.”

The experience could be duplicated on just about any U.S. carrier.

American Airlines is using a smaller lavatory supplied by Airbus on new A321neos and remodeled older A321s to squeeze in more seats. The airline also is putting in diminutive restrooms made by Rockwell Collins on more than 300 Boeing 737 aircraft.

United Continental has the Rockwell lavatories on about 10 percent of

KRISZTIAN BOCSI/BLOOMBERG American Airlines is using a smaller lavatory supplied by Airbus on new A321neos, above, in a bid to squeeze in more seats.