Aircraft bathrooms are shrinking as airlines reduce the number of seats

At 5 feet 8 inches, Eddie Santos is of medium height, but during a recent flight between Los Angeles and Washington, a trip to the aircraft restroom left him feeling like Gulliver at the Lilliputian country.

It was a tight fit.

"I had to twist my shoulder to get in," he says. "It was uncomfortable."

Flier Melody Arganda managed to sneak inside, but she said the space was so narrow that her thighs brushed against the walls.

"Absolutely ridiculous," hesitated the retired teacher from Riverside, California. "If I were taller, I would not have done the business."

Flying has become a game of thumb, with airlines trying to coerce as many passengers as possible into planes. They reduced the size of the seats and reduced the legroom. Today, as Santos and Arganda have discovered during a recent cross-country flight, the bathrooms are so small that a person of average size feels squeezed.

• Read more: Attempt: New Air New Zealand Passenger / Toilet Report Revealed by Airbus

On some of the newer American, Delta and United airline aircraft, the coach bathrooms are only 24 inches wide. For comparison, this is roughly the width of the average dishwasher or the size of Kim Kardashian's size.

In comparison, the average size of the port-pot is about 34 inches. Same thing with the booths in women's toilets at Reagan National Airport.

According to the builder, the new bathrooms offer enough space to accommodate six other passengers on board.

Delta was the first to introduce the small bathrooms in 2014, but the shift has been gaining more attention late last year when American began using new jets equipped with tiny washbasins. United debuted in June.

Joseph "Pep" Valdes, a parking manager in Los Angeles, measures 5 feet 10 feet, recounted his experience of trying to use the bathroom during a recent US flight to Washington.

"If you're an inch bigger, I do not know how you'll get there," he says. "I saw some fat guys [on the flight] and I was asking myself. . . "

Travelers and consumer groups lamented the reduction of personal space in aircraft for years, observing the average seat, once 18 inches wide, shrunk by an inch and a half, and the distance between rows ranging from an average of 35 inches to 31 inches – 28 inches on some airlines.

But the bathrooms? Really?

"Given the trend towards shrinking personal space, this is just another example of the fact that airlines treat their customers as profit points, and not as real people, "said John Breyault, vice president of the National Consumers League. "I challenge all airline executives of all airlines to have to change the diaper of a screaming baby in a bathroom two feet wide."

(Note: Tiny bathrooms have retractable changing tables, but installing an adult, a baby, and a diaper bag in the space would require some maneuvering.)

At 6 feet 1, Zach Guimond, a manufacturing engineer from Iowa, is used to being stuck on his travels. But during a recent flight – he no longer remembers the plane model – he ended up in a bathroom so tiny that he had to look at the side to slip inside.

"Not only was there little room to turn around, the ceiling was sloping and I could not even stand up straight," he said. "It was pretty uncomfortable."

He took out his phone and looked for a selfie that he had taken. His head is tilted against one of the walls, a face grimace.

Shirley Sosin, a California retiree, remembers the good old days of flying when "one could put on makeup" in the bathroom of a plane. "Men can shave, things have changed," she said.

Sky is the limit

But the reality is that the country's airspace can only handle so many flights a day. The airlines have therefore made the best choice: they have found a way to hire more passengers on each flight. A few centimeters here and there can make a big difference to the financial results of an airline.

Gary Weissel, managing director of Tronos Aviation Consulting, estimated that airlines like American could generate additional revenue of about 400,000 USD (582,000 NZD) per year. Weissel based his calculation on the typical use of the jets and on the average fare.

Last fall, American announced to investors that it could generate additional revenues of $ 500 million by 2021 by redeveloping its 737-800 jet aircraft to accommodate an additional 12 passengers and its new Airbus SE A321 aircraft. additional passengers.

According to SeatGuru.com, the American 737 MAX 8 has 172 seats, 12 more than the 737-800, which had 160 seats. For those who stay the course, this represents two additional rows. United's 737-700 jet aircraft had 118 seats, but 167 for its new 737-800V3 jet aircraft. Translation: A further 48 people are competing for storage at height.

An engineer does not need to know that all the seating space has to come from somewhere.

On his website, Rockwell Collins, the Iowa-based company that manufactures bathrooms for the Boeing 737, boasts that the installation of its Advanced Spacewell toilet can free up space for six additional passengers.

All of this reduction comes as the waistline of the average American grows.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the average American man weighs 196 pounds, nearly 30 pounds more than he was in the 1960s. The average American woman weighs 166 pounds, or nearly 19 pounds more than it did in the 1960s.

In addition, nearly 79 million Americans are obese, or 35% of the population, and this number is expected to reach 50% by 2030.

But you do not have to be overweight to feel the pressure when traveling.

There is no federal standard for bathroom size in single-aisle planes. The decision therefore largely belongs to the airlines and manufacturers. However, aircraft with 60 seats or more that do not have a bathroom accessible to persons with disabilities must provide an on-board wheelchair to allow access as long as they have received advance notice 48 hours. The seats are designed to help disabled passengers get to the bathroom door – but not necessarily inside the restroom.

Alison McAfee, spokesperson for Airlines for America, which represents some of the largest airlines in the country, said airlines have invested billions of dollars to improve their fleet and offer travelers, at all prices, more money. # 39; option.

Indeed, airlines are bragging about the fact that today's planes are lighter and more fuel-efficient, with more spacious luggage bays and so-fast WiFi connections that travelers can forget about. They fly in the air at an altitude of 30,000 feet. Although in many cases, passengers have to pay extra to connect or even use the hanging lockers.

"In 2017 alone, airlines have invested approximately $ 19.9 billion to improve their products and customer experience, including newer and larger aircraft, larger, more spacious compartments and various amenities that customers want to travel. said McAfee.

But what about small bathrooms?

"The idea that airlines would intentionally degrade the flight experience or compromise safety is an imperfect premise," she said.

On a United flight from Houston and Orlando, Zach Honig, editor in chief for ThePointsGuy.com, a travel advice website, watched the passengers exit smaller toilets.

"They all seemed really surprised," he said. Not just by size, he said, but by the sink, which was so small that it was impossible to get out without being soaked. Honig later wrote on his blog that the bathrooms were "terribly bad".

Maddie King, a spokeswoman for United, said the restrooms on the airline's new 737s were "the industry standard". Joshua Freed, spokesman for American Airlines, said the company was "neither unique nor unique" in terms of toilet size. Delta Air Lines declined to say how many of its planes were equipped with smaller bathrooms, but they include jets from National.

All said that they were not aware of passengers' complaints about the bathrooms. However, earlier this year, American Airlines flight attendants expressed concerns about the safety of small bathrooms with General Manager Doug Parker.

"We certainly hear about it from passengers," said Jeffrey Ewing, National Safety and Security Chair of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, who represents American flight attendants. "The bathrooms are very small, the sinks are tiny, they are not very comfortable."

Flight attendants from other unions also expressed concerns.

"These" space-saving "bathrooms have created accessibility issues for larger passengers and passengers with mobility impairments," said Taylor Garland, spokesperson for the Flight Attendant Association. (CWA). "According to the airline's configuration, the back doors of the toilets have caused bodily injury to passengers and crew and we continue to put pressure on airlines to mitigate these problems and ensure Accessibility to all passengers, but this issue deserves attention and needs to be resolved. "

Count your thumbs

So, how many bathrooms have shrunk? Airlines will not comment on specific dimensions, and manufacturers such as Boeing said the information was confidential.

A spokeswoman for Rockwell Collins, the Iowa-based manufacturer of Boeing 737 toilets, said she could not comment on the size of the bathroom either, but directed a reporter on the Company website, detailing the benefits of the proposed toilet options.

His Advanced Spacewell lavatory releases "up to seven inches of extra space in the cabin". Airlines interested in installing toilets on existing aircraft could free up space for "6 extra passengers in certain configurations," the website says.

The company said the trend toward smaller toilets is partly due to the rise of low-cost carriers like Spirit and Allegiant, which offer services to travelers who care more about price than comfort.

"As the industry continues to move toward a multi-level travel model, the need for different toilet options has been felt," said Pam Tvrdy-Cleary, spokesperson for Rockwell Collins.

Consumer groups, however, are fighting back. They say reducing aircraft, whether seats or bathrooms, is not just about comfort, it's about safety.

Last year, the Flyers Rights Education Fund appealed to a federal court of appeal to impose a moratorium that would prevent airlines from reducing the number of seats. Judge Patricia Millett of the US District Circuit Court of Appeals in the United States denied the claim, but she asked the Federal Aviation Administration to explain why smaller seats do not constitute a risk for security. During the summer, the FAA responded that it was up to the airlines to determine the proper size of the seat, pointing out that the issue was one of comfort, not safety.

As part of the FAA Reauthorization Act passed in September, lawmakers directed the FAA to adopt regulations setting standards for the minimum seat size. It is not clear, however, whether this will lead to more comfortable seats. Paul Hudson, president of Flyers Rights, the group that filed the petition, fears that the FAA is just reiterating its previous position.

The Inspector General of the United States Department of Transportation, however, has launched an audit that will examine whether changes to seat design can affect evacuation procedures. The audit comes at the request of Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore, who will likely become the next chair of the House Transportation Committee when Democrats take control of the chamber in January.

Weissel, the aviation consultant, said that complaints about bathrooms would probably not discourage airlines from trying to find new ways to add even more seats. There is too much income involved.

Add to that: The vast majority of people fly so seldom that people do not even realize that bathrooms have become smaller. Even if they do, they may not care, he said.

He may be right. The personal space may be decreasing, but the appetite for traveling remains robust.

Airlines for America said it expects that a record number of people will travel during the holiday season.

Transportation Security Administration officials expect to control more than 25 million passengers in the country by November 26, an increase of 5% over last year.

Breyault, of the National Consumers League, said he thought the demand was related to the economy rather than to a better service.

"We live in a big country and people are forced to fly all the time because they do not really have a lot of good alternatives."

For some, improved and more spacious wireless luggage bins may suffice. Honig said that WiFi on the flight was the best he had ever experienced, although he noted that it was not free. As for the bathroom, he feels that there is not much to give. He looks on the bright side.

After all, he said: "They absolutely can not be smaller unless you reduce the passenger."

– Washington Post