Federal authorities want to make aircraft bathrooms easier to use for people with disabilities and aging travelers with reduced mobility. But it could be decades before planes with these characteristics dominate the air.
In January, the United States Department of Transportation offered its first update to toilet design rules since 1990, when the Air Carrier Access Act prohibited discrimination against passengers with disabilities. The airline industry is exempt from the Americans with Disabilities Act which establishes accessibility standards for most businesses.
In 2016, airlines, manufacturers and disability advocates negotiated a compromise to modernize bathroom regulations for commercial aircraft. After years of delay and a trial by Paralyzed Veterans of America, the federal agency proposed a first round of changes in January and said it would accept public comments until Monday. A second proposal could expand the restroom, but has not yet been released for public review and will not take effect for at least 20 years. The two proposals would apply only to new aircraft and not to the more than 5,600 aircraft in flight today.
“The fact of not having accessible toilets on planes effectively limits how and where people with disabilities can travel. We don’t expect people to spend several hours on a plane without the need to use a toilet, but that’s basically what we ask people with disabilities when they have to fly, “said Gerald O’Neill , who runs an independent living program. in Virginia. “This change is long overdue.”
Flying while deactivated: No more challenges in the air
Lawyers claim that today’s aircraft bathrooms are an unacceptable form of discrimination that causes emotional, physical and financial damage to passengers with disabilities. Blind travelers try to find the unmarked chase button. People with limited strength or dexterity may not be able to open the faucets or sit safely.
People in wheelchairs say they get dehydrated and risk serious health complications to avoid needing a bathroom that is too small for them to enter. Some travelers wear diapers. Others pay extra for several short flights instead of a nonstop ticket.
Navy veteran James Wheaton, who was on duty when struck by a drunk driver and left paralyzed, said in the USDOT trial that it was “disheartening to be denied access to something.” ‘as fundamental as the ability to relieve oneself when needed.’
“I’m still worried about whether I will have a bladder or bowel accident during the flight,” wrote Wheaton, who flies frequently to work as treasurer for Paralyzed Veterans of America. “I feel most embarrassed by my handicap in flight.”
Many people do not fly at all.
When Paralyzed Veterans of America interviewed 931 people for the USDOT in 2016, about two-thirds of them said they avoid flying because they can’t use the restroom on planes.
Of the country’s eight largest carriers, four would not speak of the USDOT proposals: Alaska, Delta, JetBlue and Spirit. Four others – American, Frontier, Southwest and United – made statements but did not answer questions. Respondents noted that their companies comply with all federal regulations and will continue to work with the USDOT to finalize new rules.
“We are very proud to make the flight accessible to our customers,” wrote a spokesperson. “The Southwest Airlines fleet consists of single-aisle Boeing 737s only, and there is currently no DOT requirement for wheelchair-accessible restrooms on single-aisle aircraft. However, Southwest will comply with any future DOT requirement to install wheelchair accessible restrooms on new single aisle aircraft deliveries. “
The changes to the toilet design are expected to be made in two waves, licensed civil rights groups and the airline industry.
Oregon State University engineer and professor Katharine Hunter-Zaworski, who served on the committee, said talks were initially stalled because airlines said changes would cost too much . Advocates for people with disabilities did not want to lose this opportunity, so they reached an agreement built around two questions: what changes can airlines make now at low cost? And what changes will take longer?
“I think we sold ourselves short, but we got some agreement,” said Hunter-Zaworksi, who first designed standards for accessible aircraft bathrooms in 1991.
The first updates offered by the USDOT in January are what airlines and lawyers agreed to be able to change quickly. The proposal would require the restrooms of new planes of at least 125 seats to have grab bars, call buttons, touch-taps and other accessible features. Airlines would be required to remove handicap signs from non-accessible bathrooms and to inform travelers about the accessibility features of toilets when requested.
The new rules would also set performance standards for flight attendants on wheelchairs used to move passengers with reduced mobility. In the rush to lose weight, use less fuel and conserve space, many airlines have moved from rugged models to lighter ones.
Hunter-Zaworski said that many wheelchairs on board are dangerous. Among other issues, she said that they did not provide adequate support to prevent passengers from falling.
Negotiators agreed that a second wave of changes should require single aisle planes of at least 125 seats to have bathrooms large enough for chair users. They could be similar to the toilets already seen on double-aisle boats, which are about 70% larger than the bathrooms on narrow-body aircraft today.
According to the Government Accountability Office, less than 5% of single-aisle passenger planes flying in the United States have bathrooms large enough to be accessible to people who need to use wheelchairs on board.
Even these “accessible” toilets might not work for everyone. For example, some people may need an assistant and an adult size change station to manage various bodily functions. Or the layout of the bathroom could make it difficult for a wheelchair user to empty the filled urinary thigh bags.
Bathrooms have become a bigger problem as airlines have started using smaller planes to travel longer distances.
Under the current rules, only wide-body aircraft – those with two aisles – must have a bathroom that can be used by people using the wheelchair on board to navigate the narrow aisles. When federal rules were written in 1990, these large planes were used for the majority of long-distance flights, including trips from coast to coast or to distant destinations like Hawaii and Alaska.
The presumption was that people could just “hold it” on shorter flights by narrow-body single-aisle aircraft. But now, narrow-body aircraft are used for almost all domestic flights.
In 1990, narrow-body airplanes flew about a quarter of the domestic routes over 2,000 miles. Today, almost all of them fly, according to a Gannett analysis of federal data on eight major American carriers. Airlines also use narrower airplanes for international flights, which typically last up to 13 hours.
Since passengers with disabilities are the first to board and the last to descend, they are often seated in their seats for an hour longer than other passengers – assuming that their wheelchairs are returned to them in a timely manner.
“These 10-hour flights on narrow-body aircraft can last 12 or 13 hours without access to toilets. It’s just an untenable situation. It’s not something I would be willing to face even as a seasoned traveler, “said John Morris, accessibility writer and travel industry analyst who has used a wheelchair since he became paralyzed in a car accident. “It’s basically 1½ times across the country. It’s very terrifying.”
Airlines don’t buy it
For years, the world’s two largest aircraft manufacturers – Airbus and Boeing – have provided wheelchair-accessible restrooms for narrow-body aircraft.
But most airlines don’t buy them.
No automaker responded to requests for comment, but the Government Accountability Office said in January that no American airline had purchased Boeing’s accessible bathroom offerings. Airbus’ Space-Flex design includes an interior wall that opens to convert two small bathrooms into one larger space. Both models have allowed airlines to add up to six additional passenger seats by replacing the bathrooms in the crew kitchen.
Morris and other travelers who use chairs on board say that the first version of the Space-Flex design can be used by some people with enough upper body strength to transfer from the wheelchair on board to the toilet. Airbus only sold this model briefly before switching to a smaller, less accessible design that took up less kitchen space.
The loss of kitchen space was less of an issue for low-cost airlines, such as Spirit and Frontier, which offer limited food and beverage services. But future purchases by these airlines would relate to version 2, which most wheelchair users cannot access.
“As new options for installed toilets have become available … we’ve incorporated them,” wrote a Frontier spokesperson. “All new aircraft currently in the delivery stream will also have Space-Flex version 2 toilets.”
Airlines told the bargaining committee that adding fully accessible bathrooms – similar to those of twin aisle planes larger than the Space-Flex models – would force them to remove the seats or further reduce the kitchen space for the crew. If they lost three seats, the airlines estimated they would lose $ 33 billion over 25 years, which averages $ 1.3 billion a year. On a 125-seat plane that has lost three seats, that would mean that each passenger pays $ 2.40 more for their ticket, according to a Gannett analysis of the seat value data presented by the airlines.
A separate federal study estimated that the total cost to airlines of implementing the two sets of new rules would be between $ 23 billion and $ 39 billion.
According to the International Air Transport Association, the global airline industry has been profitable for about a decade and generates about $ 30 billion in after-tax profits each year. In 2019, Delta alone declared $ 47 billion in revenue.
Heather Ansley, who represented Paralyzed Veterans of America on the committee, said that DOT rules impose a level playing field so airlines can make costly changes that could be at a financial disadvantage.
“Because air transportation is a private enterprise and very competitive, it is difficult to see how real systemic change would happen unless everyone had to do it,” she said.
Morris, however, is frustrated with this type of financial analysis, noting that the seats that airlines would lose by adding larger bathrooms did not exist five years ago. These seats have been added in recent years as airlines squeezed more people into the same space.
“It seems to me that the focus is more on airline revenues than on the interests of passengers,” he said. “I would like to see greater DOT leadership in creating an air travel experience accessible to all.”
While delighted to see the USDOT require better accessibility to bathrooms, many disability advocates expressed disappointment with the long delay between approval of the rules and their entry into force.
“These airlines will take advantage of all the clauses that will allow them to delay progress on accessible design in aircraft,” said Morris.
Neither of the two proposed rules requires airlines to upgrade aircraft already in flight. Instead, the updated regulations would only apply to new aircraft.
The first proposal requiring new accessibility features applies to aircraft purchased three years after the regulations come into force, which means that the rules would likely not apply to the entire U.S. fleet until in 2048, according to a federal analysis of the age and purchases of aircraft.
The second proposal for a larger, chair-accessible toilet would not be required for new planes for 20 years, which means the rules would not apply to all planes in the air until 2068, according to analysis .
It has been 78 years since the rules of the Air Carrier Access Act came into force.
Airline and manufacturer officials say the extension of the compliance period is necessary.
It takes years to design and build aircraft that meet federal safety standards. In addition, many planes fly 25 years or more before being retired, so it will take decades before existing planes are replaced by those who must comply with the proposed rules.
Morris is concerned about all of the planes with inaccessible bathrooms that airlines will buy before the rules come into force. He has seen it before with planes purchased before the first rules came into effect in 1990, some of which were only recently retired from service.
A few years ago, Morris was somewhere over the Pacific Ocean when he learned that his plane had no bathroom to use.
He knew that the rules of the Air Carrier Access Act required that two-aisle planes have accessible restrooms if the flight started or ended in the United States. But Delta ordered the Boeing 747 to transport it to Japan before the law came into force. It had been renovated recently – new seats added, updated entertainment systems and new carpets installed – but the bathroom had not been changed. And so he was exempt from the law and the toilets did not have enough space for the wheelchair on board.
“Right now, American airlines all have a very large order book for the brand new narrow-body aircraft. … All of these devices will be exempt from any improvements to the design of toilets for decades, ”he said. “I suspect like this Boeing 747, the majority of them will withdraw from commercial service without accessible toilets for passengers like me.
“It is very disconcerting to know that the future of air transport will not really be much more accessible.”
Federal authorities want to make aircraft bathrooms easier to use for people with disabilities and aging travelers with reduced mobility. But it could be decades before planes with these characteristics dominate the air.
In January, the United States Department of Transportation offered its first update to toilet design rules since 1990, when the Air Carrier Access Act prohibited discrimination against passengers with disabilities. The airline industry is exempt from the Americans with Disabilities Act which establishes accessibility standards for most businesses.
In 2016, airlines, manufacturers and disability advocates negotiated a compromise to modernize bathroom regulations for commercial aircraft. After years of delay and a trial by Paralyzed Veterans of America, the federal agency proposed a first round of changes in January and said it would accept public comments until Monday. A second proposal could expand the restroom, but has not yet been released for public review and will not take effect for at least 20 years. The two proposals would apply only to new aircraft and not to the more than 5,600 aircraft in flight today.
“The fact of not having accessible toilets on planes effectively limits how and where people with disabilities can travel. We don’t expect people to spend several hours on a plane without the need to use a toilet, but that’s basically what we ask people with disabilities when they have to fly, “said Gerald O’Neill , who runs an independent living program. in Virginia. “This change is long overdue.”
Flying while deactivated: No more challenges in the air
Lawyers claim that today’s aircraft bathrooms are an unacceptable form of discrimination that causes emotional, physical and financial damage to passengers with disabilities. Blind travelers try to find the unmarked chase button. People with limited strength or dexterity may not be able to open the faucets or sit safely.
People in wheelchairs say they get dehydrated and risk serious health complications to avoid needing a bathroom that is too small for them to enter. Some travelers wear diapers. Others pay extra for several short flights instead of a nonstop ticket.
Navy veteran James Wheaton, who was on duty when struck by a drunk driver and left paralyzed, said in the USDOT trial that it was “disheartening to be denied access to something.” ‘as fundamental as the ability to relieve oneself when needed.’
“I’m still worried about whether I will have a bladder or bowel accident during the flight,” wrote Wheaton, who flies frequently to work as treasurer for Paralyzed Veterans of America. “I feel most embarrassed by my handicap in flight.”
Many people do not fly at all.
When Paralyzed Veterans of America interviewed 931 people for the USDOT in 2016, about two-thirds of them said they avoid flying because they can’t use the restroom on planes.
Of the country’s eight largest carriers, four would not speak of the USDOT proposals: Alaska, Delta, JetBlue and Spirit. Four others – American, Frontier, Southwest and United – made statements but did not answer questions. Respondents noted that their companies comply with all federal regulations and will continue to work with the USDOT to finalize new rules.
“We are very proud to make the flight accessible to our customers,” wrote a spokesperson. “The Southwest Airlines fleet consists of single-aisle Boeing 737s only, and there is currently no DOT requirement for wheelchair-accessible restrooms on single-aisle aircraft. However, Southwest will comply with any future DOT requirement to install wheelchair accessible restrooms on new single aisle aircraft deliveries. “
The changes to the toilet design are expected to be made in two waves, licensed civil rights groups and the airline industry.
Oregon State University engineer and professor Katharine Hunter-Zaworski, who served on the committee, said talks were initially stalled because airlines said changes would cost too much . Advocates for people with disabilities did not want to lose this opportunity, so they reached an agreement built around two questions: what changes can airlines make now at low cost? And what changes will take longer?
“I think we sold ourselves short, but we got some agreement,” said Hunter-Zaworksi, who first designed standards for accessible aircraft bathrooms in 1991.
The first updates offered by the USDOT in January are what airlines and lawyers agreed to be able to change quickly. The proposal would require the restrooms of new planes of at least 125 seats to have grab bars, call buttons, touch-taps and other accessible features. Airlines would be required to remove handicap signs from non-accessible bathrooms and to inform travelers about the accessibility features of toilets when requested.
The new rules would also set performance standards for flight attendants on wheelchairs used to move passengers with reduced mobility. In the rush to lose weight, use less fuel and conserve space, many airlines have moved from rugged models to lighter ones.
Hunter-Zaworski said that many wheelchairs on board are dangerous. Among other issues, she said that they did not provide adequate support to prevent passengers from falling.
Negotiators agreed that a second wave of changes should require single aisle planes of at least 125 seats to have bathrooms large enough for chair users. They could be similar to the toilets already seen on double-aisle boats, which are about 70% larger than the bathrooms on narrow-body aircraft today.
According to the Government Accountability Office, less than 5% of single-aisle passenger planes flying in the United States have bathrooms large enough to be accessible to people who need to use wheelchairs on board.
Even these “accessible” toilets might not work for everyone. For example, some people may need an assistant and an adult size change station to manage various bodily functions. Or the layout of the bathroom could make it difficult for a wheelchair user to empty the filled urinary thigh bags.
Bathrooms have become a bigger problem as airlines have started using smaller planes to travel longer distances.
Under the current rules, only wide-body aircraft – those with two aisles – must have a bathroom that can be used by people using the wheelchair on board to navigate the narrow aisles. When federal rules were written in 1990, these large planes were used for the majority of long-distance flights, including trips from coast to coast or to distant destinations like Hawaii and Alaska.
The presumption was that people could just “hold it” on shorter flights by narrow-body single-aisle aircraft. But now, narrow-body aircraft are used for almost all domestic flights.
In 1990, narrow-body airplanes flew about a quarter of the domestic routes over 2,000 miles. Today, almost all of them fly, according to a Gannett analysis of federal data on eight major American carriers. Airlines also use narrower airplanes for international flights, which typically last up to 13 hours.
Since passengers with disabilities are the first to board and the last to descend, they are often seated in their seats for an hour longer than other passengers – assuming that their wheelchairs are returned to them in a timely manner.
“These 10-hour flights on narrow-body aircraft can last 12 or 13 hours without access to toilets. It’s just an untenable situation. It’s not something I would be willing to face even as a seasoned traveler, “said John Morris, accessibility writer and travel industry analyst who has used a wheelchair since he became paralyzed in a car accident. “It’s basically 1½ times across the country. It’s very terrifying.”
Airlines don’t buy it
For years, the world’s two largest aircraft manufacturers – Airbus and Boeing – have provided wheelchair-accessible restrooms for narrow-body aircraft.
But most airlines don’t buy them.
No automaker responded to requests for comment, but the Government Accountability Office said in January that no American airline had purchased Boeing’s accessible bathroom offerings. Airbus’ Space-Flex design includes an interior wall that opens to convert two small bathrooms into one larger space. Both models have allowed airlines to add up to six additional passenger seats by replacing the bathrooms in the crew kitchen.
Morris and other travelers who use chairs on board say that the first version of the Space-Flex design can be used by some people with enough upper body strength to transfer from the wheelchair on board to the toilet. Airbus only sold this model briefly before switching to a smaller, less accessible design that took up less kitchen space.
The loss of kitchen space was less of an issue for low-cost airlines, such as Spirit and Frontier, which offer limited food and beverage services. But future purchases by these airlines would relate to version 2, which most wheelchair users cannot access.
“As new options for installed toilets have become available … we’ve incorporated them,” wrote a Frontier spokesperson. “All new aircraft currently in the delivery stream will also have Space-Flex version 2 toilets.”
Airlines told the bargaining committee that adding fully accessible bathrooms – similar to those of twin aisle planes larger than the Space-Flex models – would force them to remove the seats or further reduce the kitchen space for the crew. If they lost three seats, the airlines estimated they would lose $ 33 billion over 25 years, which averages $ 1.3 billion a year. On a 125-seat plane that has lost three seats, that would mean that each passenger pays $ 2.40 more for their ticket, according to a Gannett analysis of the seat value data presented by the airlines.
A separate federal study estimated that the total cost to airlines of implementing the two sets of new rules would be between $ 23 billion and $ 39 billion.
According to the International Air Transport Association, the global airline industry has been profitable for about a decade and generates about $ 30 billion in after-tax profits each year. In 2019, Delta alone declared $ 47 billion in revenue.
Heather Ansley, who represented Paralyzed Veterans of America on the committee, said that DOT rules impose a level playing field so airlines can make costly changes that could be at a financial disadvantage.
“Because air transportation is a private enterprise and very competitive, it is difficult to see how real systemic change would happen unless everyone had to do it,” she said.
Morris, however, is frustrated with this type of financial analysis, noting that the seats that airlines would lose by adding larger bathrooms did not exist five years ago. These seats have been added in recent years as airlines squeezed more people into the same space.
“It seems to me that the focus is more on airline revenues than on the interests of passengers,” he said. “I would like to see greater DOT leadership in creating an air travel experience accessible to all.”
While delighted to see the USDOT require better accessibility to bathrooms, many disability advocates expressed disappointment with the long delay between approval of the rules and their entry into force.
“These airlines will take advantage of all the clauses that will allow them to delay progress on accessible design in aircraft,” said Morris.
Neither of the two proposed rules requires airlines to upgrade aircraft already in flight. Instead, the updated regulations would only apply to new aircraft.
The first proposal requiring new accessibility features applies to aircraft purchased three years after the regulations come into force, which means that the rules would likely not apply to the entire U.S. fleet until in 2048, according to a federal analysis of the age and purchases of aircraft.
The second proposal for a larger, chair-accessible toilet would not be required for new planes for 20 years, which means the rules would not apply to all planes in the air until 2068, according to analysis .
It has been 78 years since the rules of the Air Carrier Access Act came into force.
Airline and manufacturer officials say the extension of the compliance period is necessary.
It takes years to design and build aircraft that meet federal safety standards. In addition, many planes fly 25 years or more before being retired, so it will take decades before existing planes are replaced by those who must comply with the proposed rules.
Morris is concerned about all of the planes with inaccessible bathrooms that airlines will buy before the rules come into force. He has seen it before with planes purchased before the first rules came into effect in 1990, some of which were only recently retired from service.
A few years ago, Morris was somewhere over the Pacific Ocean when he learned that his plane had no bathroom to use.
He knew that the rules of the Air Carrier Access Act required that two-aisle planes have accessible restrooms if the flight started or ended in the United States. But Delta ordered the Boeing 747 to transport it to Japan before the law came into force. It had been renovated recently – new seats added, updated entertainment systems and new carpets installed – but the bathroom had not been changed. And so he was exempt from the law and the toilets did not have enough space for the wheelchair on board.
“Right now, American airlines all have a very large order book for the brand new narrow-body aircraft. … All of these devices will be exempt from any improvements to the design of toilets for decades, ”he said. “I suspect like this Boeing 747, the majority of them will withdraw from commercial service without accessible toilets for passengers like me.
“It is very disconcerting to know that the future of air transport will not really be much more accessible.”