Last week an explosion tore a hole in the side of a Qantas 747 over the Pacific. Yesterday a Cathay Pacific flight descending into Vancouver is reported to have lost a fuselage panel. In both cases, the aircraft and passengers are safe. These are high profile cases, but what about the toilet that doesn’t function, the seat that doesn’t recline and reading lights that don’t work. They speak volumes about attention to detail.
Along with the latest incident of fuselage damage only hitting the news this morning, breaking news about the Qantas incident reveals that the “black box” is providing no clues to the cause of the apparent explosion that tore a hole in the airplane’s wing.
A bigger mystery to passengers these days is the state of basic upkeep on everyday aircraft. Reclining seats don’t work, seat cushions are tired, headsets are scratchy, reading lights flicker and the aircraft toilets are failing at an alarming rate. These kinds of “little” maintenance issues are becoming more and more common these days. Airlines are obviously cutting back on taking care of the “little things.”
Reports of malfunctioning, overflowing toilets and noxious fumes are increasing.
The passengers on a recent United Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Sydney probably wish they had. For reasons that are still a little murky, the toilets on the Boeing 747 began to clog up about halfway through the 14-hour flight. By the time the plane landed, only 2 of 15 lavatories were working.
What is noteworthy about the plumbing problem isn’t so much that it happened – although an almost complete failure of an aircraft’s restroom facilities remains rare – but that flying many aircraft with nonworking lavatories is completely legal.
These problems that are more dramatic — holes in the sides of aircraft, fuselage damage and smelly, non-functioning toilets — highlight the lax state of attention to detail that seems epidemic at airlines these days.
Memo to airline executives: Little things count. The state of the “little things” in your aircraft tell passengers more about your airline’s passenger service than an extra bag of peanuts or pretzels.
Now something to smile about —
Of course, sometimes there are simple explanations to malfunctioning airplane toilets as we find out in this amusing story from a couple of years ago. And, those of us who have flown on aircraft with stopped up toilets can appreciate the current state of the International Space Station where the only toilet in the Russian side of the station has been having problems.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Memo to airline executives: Little things count. The state of the “little things” in your aircraft tell passengers more about your airline’s passenger service than an extra bag of peanuts or pretzel
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Memo to Airline passengers: Please try and treat this MULTI MILLION DOLLAR VESSEL with respect. Is there some reason you had to paint your nails inflight and get polish all over the tray table? Let your children color, and do the same?
Pull out power ports from the armrests? Put your dirty feet on the wall? Throw a dirty diaper on the floor? Crack the lavatory mirror? Stain the seats with playdough, ink pens and, yes, I’ve even seen defecation stains. Graffiti, everywhere. After passengers deplane, I look around and cant believe HUMANS were actually onboard.
Found in the Washington Post — at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/03/AR2007080300955_pf.html
Restroom? No Go.
Half an hour before a flight from Raleigh-Durham to Reagan National Airport, an American Airlines gate agent announced that the only restroom on the small plane was out of order and would be unavailable for the duration of the hour-long flight .
Passenger Amy Grulke of Fairfax asked CoGo: Can it be legal for a plane to depart with no working restroom?
“We have no rules regarding restrooms,” said U.S. Department of Transportation spokesman Bill Mosley. He suggested that CoGo contact the Environmental Protection Agency.
The EPA does set water-quality standards for aircraft, spokesman Dale Kemery said. He promised to investigate whether the agency has any further involvement. Soon he called back. “We don’t do toilets,” he said, and suggested contacting the Federal Aviation Administration.
Not us , said FAA spokeswoman Alison Duquette, who said that if there were a rule, it would be an EPA rule.
CoGo’s advice: Hold it.
On July 31st, 2008 at 9:07 am Charlie Leocha said Found in the Washington Post — at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/03/AR2007080300955_pf.html
Restroom? No Go.
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This article is old. Last year…….but you had me thinking and SURFING for over an hour trying to find information on this.
Here’s what I found:
http://www.aa.com/aa/i18nForward.do?p=/customerService/customerCommitment/conditionsOfCarriage.jsp#AircraftInfo
ESSENTIAL NEEDS DURING EXTRAORDINARY DELAYS
In the case of extraordinary events that result in very lengthy onboard delays, American Airlines and American Eagle will make every reasonable effort to ensure that essential needs of food (snack bar such as Nutri-Grain®), water, restroom facilities, and basic medical assistance are met. We are not responsible for any special, incidental or consequential damages if we do not meet this commitment.
The Disability ACT requires:
Accessibility of facilities
New aircraft with 30 or more seats must have movable aisle armrests on half the aisle seats in the aircraft. “New aircraft” requirements apply to planes ordered after April 5, 1990 or delivered after April 5, 1992. No retrofit is required, although compliance with on-board wheelchair requirements (see below) became mandatory on April 5, 1992 regardless of the plane’s age. As older planes are refurbished, required accessibility features (e.g., movable armrests) must be added.
New widebody (twin-aisle) aircraft must have accessible lavatories.
New aircraft with 100 or more seats must have priority space for storing a passenger’s folding wheelchair in the cabin.
Aircraft with more than 60 seats and an accessible lavatory must have an on-board wheelchair, regardless of when the aircraft was ordered or delivered. For flights on aircraft with more than 60 seats that do not have an accessible lavatory, carriers must place an on-board wheelchair on the flight if a passenger with a disability gives the airline 48 hours’ notice that he or she can use an inaccessible lavatory but needs an on-board wheelchair to reach the lavatory
THE AIRCRAFT THAT OPERATES THAT ROUTE IS AN ER3 which HOLDS 37 SEATS and IS A ONE HOUR FLIGHT.
http://www.aa.com/aa/seatmap/viewSeatsSubmit.do?flightNumber=4670&departureMonth=8&departureDay=6&originAirport=RDU&destinationAirport=DCA&cabin=Coach&bookingPathStateId=1217554703323-944&returnUrl=%2Freservation%2FredisplayFlightSearchResults.do
I’ve actually flew on a small aircraft WITHOUT any lavatory. BOS to Cape Code.
I could swear that you HAVE TO HAVE a working lavatory on a MAJOR commercial JET. NO GO ITEM.
was interesting and fun, searching your post. =)