The Lavs are closed until 16,000 feet.

AggieMike88

AggieMike88

Touchdown! Greaser!
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The original "I don't know it all" of aviation.
A friend flew from DFW to the Colorado skii areas via AAL for Spring Break. When I queried about the flight by text, I got this response:

The flight was good, but before we were called to board, they told us to potty because the plane's facilities could not be used until we were at cruising altitude 16,000'

What? ygtbsm...

No, the pilot told us to wait until we were cruising.​

Is this something new for all commercial flights?
 
Not that I know of. Now some captains don't turn the seat belt sign off until cruise, while others say screw the passengers and never turn it off... :mad:

The only time I won't say anything is if the flight is literally a up, down, and getting off 20 minutes later flight.
 
What I don't like is if I'm in uniform commuting, I need to go, and the belt is still on. If I'm just a passenger I often say f it I got to go. But if I'm in uniform, I have to sit there and act like a 2 year old holding it.
 
ARFlyer said:
What I don't like is if I'm in uniform commuting, I need to go, and the belt is still on. If I'm just a passenger I often say f it I got to go. But if I'm in uniform, I have to sit there and act like a 2 year old holding it.
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So, you shit yourself?
 
AggieMike88 said:
A friend flew from DFW to the Colorado skii areas via AAL for Spring Break. When I queried about the flight by text, I got this response:

The flight was good, but before we were called to board, they told us to potty because the plane's facilities could not be used until we were at cruising altitude 16,000'

What? ygtbsm...

No, the pilot told us to wait until we were cruising.​

Is this something new for all commercial flights?
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Well, no. The new style lav toilets use differential pressure to flush. Below 16,000 feet there isn't enough differential pressure to operate properly so some sort of motorized vacuum system is installed to create the vacuum. In this particular case, that system was inoperative, hence the reason for the restriction below 16,000 feet. It usually isn't an issue because the seat belt signs aren't normally off that low, but I imagine it would be a required passenger briefing item anyway.
 
EdFred said:
So, you **** yourself?
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Knock on wood, I've never needed to **** while flying.

If it gets anywhere close to making my eyes yellow, I'll play ball and ask the FA to inquire about the sign. About 80% of the time I've asked they had just forgotten to turn it off.
 
Greg Bockelman said:
Well, no. The new style lav toilets use differential pressure to flush. Below 16,000 feet there isn't enough differential pressure to operate properly so some sort of motorized vacuum system is installed to create the vacuum. In this particular case, that system was inoperative, hence the reason for the restriction below 16,000 feet. It usually isn't an issue because the seat belt signs aren't normally off that low, but I imagine it would be a required passenger briefing item anyway.
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That's interesting and seems to a lot better then the ours. Half the time I press the button I wonder if the darn thing is even going to flush.

I really wish you were the CA on my commute a few months ago. Some idiot tried to stuff magazines down the toilet while we were boarding. The CA came out and made a adult to child speech about the issue. I was trying so hard not to bust out laughing my ass off the captain must have noticed. When he walked by he whacked the back of my head with a magazine he was holding. We had a good laugh about the idiot at the end of the flight.
 
I've known FA's to ask the capt to keep the sign on until service is done...
 
No one respects the seat belt signs anymore,for a variety of reasons. Maybe the airlines should issue depends to their pax.
 
It's 18000' for my aircraft if the vacuum pump is on MEL, but we make the PA because as you all know, plenty of pax ignore the seatbelt sign. So I tell the FAs to lock the lav doors until I call back to tell them we're through 18K.
 
kayoh190 said:
It's 18000' for my aircraft if the vacuum pump is on MEL, but we make the PA because as you all know, plenty of pax ignore the seatbelt sign. So I tell the FAs to lock the lav doors until I call back to tell them we're through 18K.
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I guess that makes long ground delays even worse...
 
Yep, I'd imagine it does. I've only had to deal with an INOP vacuum generator once (the remote CB would trip anytime anyone tried to flush!) and fortunately we didn't have any delays.
 
frfly172 said:
No one respects the seat belt signs anymore,for a variety of reasons. Maybe the airlines should issue depends to their pax.
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This is mostly the airlines' fault. They need to turn off the sign ASAP after departure and not be so paranoid enroute. They're afraid of liability, but from the passenger perspective, that sign is just crying wolf, hence its ignored, hence if there really IS an issue everyone will ignore it.

Why don't they just say "get out of your seat at your own risk".
 
European carriers are nowhere near as paranoid in their use of the sign.
 
I was on three flights last week. Two had the seatbelt sign on the whole time and enough turbulence there was no service. The third had the light on for just enough time to give some people time to use the lav. Fortunately, each flight was less than 90 minutes. There were plenty of people that got up, regardless of the sign. When you gotta go,you gotta go.
 
dans2992 said:
This is mostly the airlines' fault. They need to turn off the sign ASAP after departure and not be so paranoid enroute. They're afraid of liability, but from the passenger perspective, that sign is just crying wolf, hence its ignored, hence if there really IS an issue everyone will ignore it.

Why don't they just say "get out of your seat at your own risk".
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Like it or not, ignoring the sign is a crime. Until it's enforced widely, it means nothing.
 
Unbeliever said:
How to unlock those doors is not exactly a secret.
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Perhaps not to you, but it is to most people. It's not like we're guarding a stack of cash in the lav - it's just a reminder to someone who didn't hear my PA that flushing isn't going to work. We're not locking the lav doors to be jerks. Regardless, it's directed by the MEL.
 
KSCessnaDriver said:
Like it or not, ignoring the sign is a crime. Until it's enforced widely, it means nothing.
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So, would they prefer I have explosive diarrhea in seat 23B or just pee in the aisle because "there might be some turbulence ahead"?

I mean, that's the alternative here.
 
Would I get in trouble for using a Gatorade bottle?

It's all about liability. If I get hurt on the way to the lav while the sign is on, their butt is covered. Therefore, just leave it on for the entire flight as "insurance". That's what I see more and more.
 
I am curious what the airline pilots here are taught about the use of the seatbelt sign. I have also noticed that it goes on with any tiny hint of a disturbance in the atmosphere.
 
dans2992 said:
This is mostly the airlines' fault. They need to turn off the sign ASAP after departure and not be so paranoid enroute. They're afraid of liability, but from the passenger perspective, that sign is just crying wolf, hence its ignored, hence if there really IS an issue everyone will ignore it.

Why don't they just say "get out of your seat at your own risk".
Click to expand...

I completely agree with you on this point.

KSCessnaDriver said:
Like it or not, ignoring the sign is a crime. Until it's enforced widely, it means nothing.
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If the alternative is crapping my pants, I think I'll take my chances. And, please tell me of one instance where a passenger was charged with a crime for standing when the seat belt sign was on. I'm not talking about issues where they argued with the flight crew about it, I'm talking about the person who took a **** (without being challenged by a FA) while the seat belt sign was illuminated.

Air carriers are WAY too paranoid about this issue these days. The average passenger knows that, the average pilot knows that, and the flight crews know that fact. If the overweight 50-something flight attendant can safely walk around on the aircraft to serve beverages to passengers, it is certainly safe enough for me to use the restroom.

I try to be respectful of this issue when I fly, and try not to rock the boat. When the captain asks the flight attendants to be seated, that's when I start really paying attention to the issue.
 
Everskyward said:
I am curious what the airline pilots here are taught about the use of the seatbelt sign. I have also noticed that it goes on with any tiny hint of a disturbance in the atmosphere.
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I fly for one of the Legacy Major US carriers. Our published procedure is to have the seatbelt sign on for turbulence or chop of intensity "Light" or greater. If the intensity is "Moderate" or greater then we are to have the flight attendants seated as well.

Even with those guidelines the airline averages nearly one flight attendant injured per day (over 300 per year) due to turbulence.
 
When I started flying in the high altitude sectors I was amazed at how much of the radio talk was about turbulence and changing altitudes to avoid it. So much bandwidth being used on the subject! :p
 
Everskyward said:
I am curious what the airline pilots here are taught about the use of the seatbelt sign. I have also noticed that it goes on with any tiny hint of a disturbance in the atmosphere.
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We're not actually *taught* much at all. Larry's official procedure is a lot like ours, but basically you'll see a lot of variation based on the whims of the captain. For me personally, I'll leave it off for a little light chop, but when it gets to the point of actual turbulence, I'll turn it on. And as Greg said, everyone's definition of turbulence is different.

One thing to remember is that every time we turn it on, *someone* needs to make a PA about it. It can be an FA or us, but a PA must be made. So if we're in and out of chop for a long period of time, there's a tendency to just leave it on since nobody wants to hear us yap on the PA all the time. People are going to get up if they absolutely need the lav, regardless of what I've done with the sign. And I'm cool with that - the sign just protects me against the lawyers. I certainly don't expect someone to crap their pants because we're in some light chop and I have the seatbelt sign on.
 
dans2992 said:
So, would they prefer I have explosive diarrhea in seat 23B or just pee in the aisle because "there might be some turbulence ahead"?

I mean, that's the alternative here.
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HAHAHA:D
 
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