Airline Urges Passengers To Leave Their Urine Behind
In a new and exciting airline cutback effort, an airline is now asking passengers to relieve themselves before getting on the plane in order to decrease passenger weight and save fuel. No, we're not making this up. And no, it's not Ryanair.
Japan's All-Nippon Airways is embarking on this experiment for the month of October. Airline staff will ask passengers to relieve themselves shortly before boarding.
ANA hopes the weight saved will lead to a five-tonne reduction in carbon emissions over the course of 30 days.
Although it is intended as an experiment lasting one month and 42 flights, the trial may be extended if it is well-received by passengers and if results are positive.
Based on an average human bladder capacity of 15oz, if 150 passengers relieved themselves on board an aircraft, this would amount to 63.7kg [140 lbs] of waste.
Interesting idea, but what kind of insane person gets on a plane with a full bladder in the first place?
Airline asks passengers to use the toilet before boarding... so they will weigh less and help cut carbon emissions [Daily Mail]
(Photo: mr_t_77)
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Must weigh like an 1/8th of a pound tops? Next they will be asking us to cut back on fiber.
This sounds like my parents when we used to take road trips "Did everyone go to the bathroom, cause we're not stopping!"
Next thing the Japanese airline will try is to require school girls to hand over their panties to old men in the terminal before boarding.
@frank64: 15 oz. = 15/16ths of a pound.
Agreed though it's not going to be full for most people anyway, etc.
It's a long distance in some airport terminals to the toilets.
There should be a set of toilets next to every pair of gates.
Watch how early people get in line to board & you'll see why some get on with an almost full bladder!
By that logic everyone should be required to shave too. Because all that collective hair adds up to a lot of weight. This whole al gore Carbon Emissions thing is getting way out of hand. Those Eco Green people won't be happy until you are crapping in a pit toilet on your break from pulling a rickshaw for a living after they ban cars.
Oh Japan, I should've known.... Their obsession with bodily waste knows no bounds.
Hopefully this won't be implemented as a boarding-process detour. God knows it's slow enough already...
It makes me want to deliberately hold everything in until I get on a plane. For all of the fees and such that they airlines like to charge, why should I do them a favor?
Now, maybe if they PAID ME to use the bathroom before boarding, I might be persuaded.
Jockeys make weight by using a sweat box (sauna) and/or purging breakfast. The 120 lb jock can lose 5 pounds in a short while. Just mentioning in case it's helpful...
No 'dropping a deuce' before you board quips?
I bet that would be more than 15 oz. per person . . .
@badgeman46: Yes, because a Japanese airline making business decisions about a Japanese airline in Japan is because of Al Gore. Why don't you blame the bailouts on Obama while you're at it?
@YouDidWhatNow?: SO true! If I can make it all the way through a flight without using the closet bathroom, so much the better! The last thing I do about 5-10 minutes before the boarding call is look for a airport restroom to make sure nothing is left...
@squinko - is pretending there's a star: It's not a joke. All those moist schoolgirl panties could save a lot of weight!
@YouDidWhatNow?: The kind of person making a close connection. I'll stop in the airport if I can, but sometimes when you're making that run, you just have to count on facilities on board at the other end.
I want to know how they'll credit the non-peeing passengers.
This will only work if there are toilets at the gates! I'm not going to schlep everything to the restrooms and back just to save the airline the cost of an additional passenger's weight.
Greenwashing indeed.
Let's say that this is a 757, and that it's full, and that everyone empties a full bladder before the flight. That's maybe 2 lbs of urine per passenger.
For a fully-loaded 757-300, that's about 486 pounds.
On an aircraft that weighs about 270,000 pounds at takeoff.
You've shaved a phenominal 0.18% of the vehicle's weight. Wow. Earth is saved.
Clothes and shoes are heavy as well. And as someone pointed out, hair probably weighs a lot en mass too. Consider stripping and shaving your head and body before boarding. And don't forget teeth!
If anyone would like to get rid of any unwanted limbs, that would help out too.
If so, they need to ban the Starbucks from the airport. Even if you went right before the plane boarded, diuretic Starbucks is gonna burn through you within an hour.
@floraposte: Well, I can see that, but I flew a few months ago and not 10 mins after the plane was in the air, the bathroom was occupied, and there was a near continuous line of people for the entire duration of the flight. And this was not a flight where many people would have to connect, by far the vast majority of people were sitting around waiting at the gate at least 20 mins before the first boarding call was even announced.
LOL, only the Japanese would come up with something like this.
This is incredibly silly, and will have no measurable effect on carbon emission or fuel costs. Just all around dumb and a waste of effort.
@Greasy Thumb Guzik:
Especially on Southwest. People stake out their place in the boarding line 1-2 hours before boarding, so I can definitely see how someone would really need to go by the time they got on the plane.
@Hoss:
Don't give them any ideas. Next we'll see a discount for tossing your cookies before you board.
@sir_pantsalot: They already do. They put them in the vending machines next to the one that dispenses Sapporo and Asahi.
My gallbladder, uterus and ovaries have all been removed. Oh, and 4 wisdom teeth, too. I weigh less than other people. Discounts????
I always hold it until I get on to the plane, because if there's anything I can't wait to do, it's getting up in the middle of a packed flight and fighting my way to the end of the airplane to use the tiny cramped lavatory.
Because comfy airport terminal bathrooms are for sissies.
@YouDidWhatNow?: I agree. I ALWAYS pee before boarding.
Anyway, I really can't see how 140 lbs, the size of an average woman (smaller, really), would save much fuel.
@temporaryerror: "Especially on Southwest. People stake out their place in the boarding line 1-2 hours before boarding,"
Which is stupid, now that they've assigned letters AND numbers for what order you get to board the plane!
I've flown ANA and, to their credit, they do have pretty awesome customer service. Good FE's, good entertainment, good food, smooth flight.
Being asked to empty my bladder and bowels before boarding is one part public service, the way I look at it. Better now then getting in line later.
I'm not surprised it's a Japanese airline. All I have to say is that in Japan they are very particular about their bathrooms.
@aphex242: Are those fluid ounces or ounces of weight? 16 fluid oz. urine doesn't necessarily weigh a pound. I could probably figure out which one they're talking about in the article by doing the math, but it turns out I'm too lazy.
What they should do is charge people a base fee to fly, then another fee based on body weight plus carryons at the gate. skinny people should fly cheaper, heavier people should pay more. Is this not logical too?
@aphex242: I realise that it is correct that the bladder can probably hold about a pound of liquid -- but who waits until they are totally full before going? Especially when people know their bathroom access could be limited in the near future, I think most people go when they start to feel any amount of discomfort, even though they know they could hold much more than that if they needed to.
@☠Grяrяrяrяrя, portrait of a chickenwolfmoosepig.: Yeah, but the airport lavatories are better if you have a "wide stance".
"Sir. It will be twenty-five dollars for the bag. Here is your diuretic and laxative pill. You will be leaving from gate 17. Have a nice day."
@YouDidWhatNow?: Frankly, I'd rather use a fresh airplane bathroom. More private and cleaner (especially at the start of a flight).
My sister in law got in big big trouble in japan (which in Japan amounts to getting yelled at and then bowed to) for accidentally wearing hotel "toilet slippers" in to the spa area. That and the fact she did not notice a sign declaring Official Man Time in the sauna. We still laugh about it, but I will agree that this is more about Japanese obsession with toilet stuff than anything else. Have you ever been to an asian mall in larger us citiea with entire stores dedicated to deluxe toilets with gigantic control panels on them? Bathroom stuff and the hiding of any sign of bathroom use is almost a national pastime
I don't know about Japanese flights. Having flown to and from Korea several times now, I think it's safe to say that the passengers here love peeing on a plane.
The cue for the toilets on Korean Air flights begin as soon as passengers board the plane. To be honest, once in the air, much of the toilet use consists of brushing teeth, which they are also mad about here.
@frank64: I'd think they'd ask you to increase fiber in hopes of...leaving more of a deposit preboarding.
"Interesting idea, but what kind of insane person gets on a plane with a full bladder in the first place?"
Quoted for truth. I fly all the time, and wouldn't even consider getting on the plane without making a deposit first.