No working restroom on your plane? FAA allows it, passengers learn
The Federal Aviation Administration regulates the type of coffee pots that can be used on planes, and requires ashtrays in or near lavatories, though smoking is now banned on flights.
But there is no regulation requiring all commercial planes to have at least one working restroom, the Chicago Tribune (reg. req.) reports. The newspaper’s “Getting Around” columnist discovered that fact when investigating a reader’s complaint about an American Eagle Airlines flight from New York’s Westchester County Airport to Chicago.
Before the flight took off late last month, passengers were warned to use the restrooms before boarding because the only lavatory on the 44-seat jet was out of order. The time between the plane’s exit from the departure gate and arrival at its gate at O’Hare International Airport was two hours and 36 minutes, an American Airlines spokeswoman told the Tribune.
The FAA allows airlines to decide whether to fly planes with broken restrooms, though other regulations do require restrooms in some instances.
Consumer rules imposed by the U.S. Department of Transportation require airlines to provide consumers with access to working restrooms during excessive ground delays. Also, the Americans with Disabilities Act requires working restrooms for passengers with disabilities on some planes–generally twin-aisle aircraft delivered to a U.S. carrier since 1992 or to a foreign carrier since 2010, according to the Tribune.
