Next On The Airline Chopping Block: Lavatory Sinks?
Disturbing news from Horizon Air: rising costs have apparently forced the airline to replace lavatory sinks with a "lone bottle of hand sanitizer glued to the counter."
The New York Times explains:
...a recent short hop I took on Horizon Air set a new dismal standard for cost efficiency.
The lavatory had no sink.
Ick.
It did have a lone plastic bottle of hand sanitizer glued to the counter.
The proposed passenger bill of rights recently thrown out by the United States appeals court would have provided travelers with “food, water, fresh air, power and working restrooms on any flight that has left the gate and been on the tarmac for more than three hours.” That document didn’t feel the need to expressly define restrooms as including a sink within which to wash one’s hands.
The article then goes on to discuss the impact of airline aesthetics on the customer experience. Yawn! Let's talk about the sink.
We're not ones for extremist speculation, but let's consider a hypothetical.
The Era Of Sinks Has Sunk!: That's right, gone are the days of hand washing in airplanes. It's outdated, unnecessary. Besides, it's not like you need to wash your hands before the meal service.
And with oil cresting $140 per milliliter, it's too expensive to haul all that weighty worthless water when airlines can instead turn hand washing into a money maker. Money maker, you ask? Sure! What if passengers use up the one glued-on bottle of hand sanitizer? What will you do then?! Buy a new personal-size bottle of sanitizer, clearly. $5 per bottle, available alongside snacks and headphones.
-OR-
This Particular Sink Was Broken: This option is boring and consequently wrong. This sink is obviously a flying harbinger of doom.
Plan accordingly.
Fear of Flying [NYT]
(Photo: Bryan Burkhart)
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Comments:
i meant milk crate, neeed coffee baddddd
A hole in the fuselage to take a crap in, rather than spending fuel to transport the crap back...
I encountered something similar on an American Airlines partner flight -- on one of the shabby little Embraer jets: there was a sink but it didn't work, so instead there was a pop-up container of hand sanitizing wipes glued to the counter.
On at least two of the flights I've been on, the seat cushions were in such
dismal shape we had to put the American Way magazine under the cushions to
keep the metal structure from jamming us in the behind the entire flight.
Ugh!
Eeeeewwwww!!! Hand sanitizers aren't as affective as the classic soap and water wash.
Er, I thought they WERE more effective? I'm the crazy one that doesn't trust the soap in airline bathrooms and will wash my hands and then proceed to use my own hand sanitizer. Well, until those are banned too, I guess.
@Sempera: Nope, unfortunately these types of sanitizers are only partially effective when compared to soaf and water.
However, doing both is good too (since you touch handles after washing your hands).
@Sempera: Soap and water actually wash dirt away. Sanitizer just kills some germs, thats it. If you're doing #2 and need to clean your hands afterwards, I think you can understand what I mean.
JESUS CHRIST!
Don't give them any ideas!
Just wipe your hands on the back of the seat in front of you. I've been in planes that smelled like that anyways.
Maybe cut back on executive salaries and perks instead?
@hypnotik_jello: You have to think about how the guy on the street feels about this too. Imagine you are walking your dog, when all of the sudden you get knocked out by a piece of shit. Also, the pilot would have to fill out a TFOP (things falling off plane) report.
There should be a law saying airlines and travel companies MUST provide a working sink and toilet for customers.
A certain Canadian "code-sharer" with Greyhound who shall remain nameless (koff koff Acadian) did something like this a couple of years ago.
If you're LUCKY there'll be a few scraps of toilet paper available and a handful of moist towelette hand sanitized packets in the non-working sink having been pawed through by previous patrons. (Bottle glued to the counter - luxury!)
Of course, with rest stops now and then, lack of "facilities" on a bus is marginally less heinous.
@Sempera: Most hand sanitizers are simply anti-bacterial goo. Sure, they will kill strep and staph (which don't even transmit via oral-fecal route), but they do nothing to common viral strains like influenza, rotovirus, and norovirus.
All it will take is one norovirus outbreak on a plane, since it spreads via fecal contact, and they'll think differently about not providing a sink.
Well, is sanitizer going to wash away the shit off my hands when I realize there is no toilet paper on flights either? HMMM???
Ultimately, flying will revert back to the days that only the privileged will be able to fly. Few will be able to afford it anymore.
eventually they are just going to slide us into shelved compartments & use knockout gas on us.
Soon they'll just ditch the toliet and make us use those vom bags.
@thesabre: Actually many hand sanitizers can inactivate viruses. It all depends on the anti-microbial agent. I'm not certain that triclosan can do anything but ethyl alcohol has been repeatedly shown to inactive viruses. I work with Influenza and when I spike samples with ethanol I end up with non detectable levels of the virus.
Because hand sanitizer is alcohol, some Muslims will refuse to use it. (Reports from Britain indicate that some Muslims simply bypass the hand sanitizer station visitors are supposed to use before entering the wards to prevent the spread of MRSA. Of course those with an objection should simply clean with soap and water instead, and we can argue for a long time why they would object to hand sanitizer since they are not ingesting it.) If any Muslims with this objection care to object to this airline practice, it should disappear quickly.
It is kind of funny how they get rid of sinks yet still offer free beer and wine during the flight which probably accommodates maybe 25% of the passengers. So I guess if you feel ripped off, have at the free alcohol, because my horizon flight last week, I drank probably 32oz. of beer at no extra cost.
There's a difference between using hand sanitizers and soap. In the hospital I work, you usually use hand sanitizers before and after you see patients. However, some patients have signs outside their rooms indicating you have to use soap and water. Usually this is because you will have to handle fecal matter. In these cases hand sanitizers are useless to kill the associated pathogens (aside from the 'mess' in general).
@bobpence: That's rediculous. Are there seriously people who can't tell the difference between drinking alcohols and medical alcohols, and see how using one externally to disinfect has no relation to the practice of ingesting the other? Completely different stuff, for crying out loud.
THIS is why I had my bowels and bladder removed.
Chinese blackmarket FTW!
People (of all religions) need to get the hell over themselves. Just a couple of weeks ago some guy held up a plane because of his blocking the aisle praying, and then had the gall to be all pissed off when they asked him to get up.
If I have to say "under god" during the pledge of allegiance, and have money that says god all over it (and I don't complain about it), then you can sit the hell down and pray in your seat, and you can use some hand sanitizer like any sane person would do. If you can't use hand sanitizer because of your crazy bizarro religion, then take the bus or freakin walk. Nobody cares.
Considering the number of women I see who either just walk out from the bathroom OR only splash some water on their fingertips and call it a day, will this make a major difference in the cleanliness of many people? Every time I see these gross people I make sure to touch the door handles as little as I can. Ick.
Horizon are a regional carrier. The planes are small. They don't even have snack service because there's no time while in the air - their busiest runs are hops between Northwest towns and cities. There's rarely TIME to use the bathroom during flights, so they're not as well stocked as say, their parent Alaska Air's lavatories.
Also, did I mention the planes are small? Because there's not much room for water.
The NYT writer needs to fly something smaller than a 727 once in a while. Or learn that people really aren't meant to go to the bathroom on the puddle jumper planes.
Remember the poll the other day about avoiding flying? THIS is why I'm avoiding it: cheap (or NO service), cramped seats, separate fees for everything, the x-tra large person next to me overflowing into my seat, rude staff, filth/dirt/bugs/rodents on planes and seats, and now of course no sink in the lav. Gross. You can take your flight and shove it.
This is so nasty. I can totally see this as starting some new kind of avian virus. Not avian because it came from birds, but because it's stems from being jammed on a plane with a bucketload of people for hours on end with no handwashing facilities.
And for the people who use public restrooms without washing their hands- Shame on you. You've just handled your junk, or worse! Now I have to touch the door after you, not to mention everything else you will likely handle in the store.
I'm not an especially squeamish person, but not washing your hands after using the restroom is just nasty. I was ata Chili's once, and one of the employees walked out of the stall without even looking at the sink. There was none in there either (I checked). I felt like Leonardo DiCaprio in the Aviator.
Next they will screw the bathroom doors shut like they did ashtrays. Then they will sell you a kitchen can sized plastic garbage bag and an individual packet of hand sanitizer for $9.99, but you will have to hang on to your trash bag until the flight is done.
This is revolting. Airlines have now gone too far. I thought I lived in the United States of the America. One of the most developed countries in the world. What are becoming some third world country where we now can't even afford to dispense water?! Have I woken up in the Dark Ages?
If I ever flew on an airline that didn't provide basic hygiene facilities that would be the last time I ever flew with them again. And now that I know Horizon Air doesn't, I would never fly with them and no one I know would either. If they can't even afford water, what else can't they afford? Maintenance, maybe? Cheaper air isn't worth my risking my life or catching some bacterial infection from touching a feces laden handle. I think I need to gag now.
I was on a flight once where the restroom was closed BECAUSE IT WAS OUT OF PAPER TOWELS. Seriously.
Haven't they heard of shaking your hands dry? It's water. It's harmless.
THEY CLOSED THE RESTROOM OVER IT.
How could they have allowed one to be open with no sink!?!?
File a complaint. Now.
@BGB-ATL: Religion is a personal issue. Hygeine can KILL YOU if you do it wrong.
Apples and oranges.
So now when you are on one of those flights that get stuck on the runway for 3+ hours, what the hell are you going to do? You wont have water in the restroom (that you could possibly drink from if times were that bad), you wont have snacks, you wont have drinks. What are you supposed to do?
Try flying a business jet that has a ninth seat that doubles as the toilet.
Worst. Trip. Ever.
@doctor_cos: Are you crazy? Those perks make being the president of a multi-million dollar corporation worthwhile!!! Do you want them to only own ONE home and only ONE reasonably priced car? Do you want them to live like... -gasp-.. commoners?!?!?!
[sarcasm]
@amhenn: Maybe you can use the beer as hand sanitizer.
@ChChChacos: You should sit down, shut up, and praise Jeebus that the owner of that airline will still be getting a hefty performance bonus that allows him to fly on private jets with working lavatories, good food, free drinks, an ample baggage allowance, minimal TSA screening, and plenty of legroom any time he needs to travel.
[/sarcasm]
Damn.... Wrap that entire comment in the sarcasm tag please.
silly passenger. Don't cha know passengers don't have rights?
@jillian: While I would normally agree with you, there are situations where sinks will be needed, like if you spill something on yourself. What if you had a baby that threw up during the flight? You'd be wanting some running water then, that's for sure.
I tried posting the comment before, but it didn't show, so...
@jillian: While I see where you're coming from, I don't agree that the "it's regional! back off" defense applies. Sure, it's a short flight, but there will be situations when you'll want the running water. What if your kid throws up? You accidentally spill something on yourself? Trust me -- you'll want a sink then.
This is a stink about nothing. Horizon flies small planes on short routes. Their smallest plane is a Bombardier Q200 which seats 37 people. There's not much room on a plane like that for a sink. They're short flights. Either don't pee on your hands or hold it.
I saw the same thing on a United flight a few months ago. There was a baggie taped over the faucet, and a bottle of sanitizer glued into a holder on the side of the sink, and no paper towels. I guess if you don't have water, then you don't need paper towels. So before I sanitize my hands, at least one of them has to come into contact with the same bottle plunger thingy that the last 50-100 people came into contact with after they used the bathroom.
Ick!
It doesn't matter that that hand will very soon be "Sanitized," its still disgusting.
If you really do feel strongly about washing your hands in running water, remember that a healthy person's urine is sterile (and warm!) Although your seatmate might complain about that odd odor when you return from the lav...
@Ciao_Bambina: Urine may be sterile, butt fecal matter is not.
I smell a lawsuit...and it smells awful...and oddly wonderful.
what's next? An eggcrate on the floor to sit on instead of those expensive seats we have now?