Mini-Tour Of A Plane’s Lavatory (a.k.a. What Happens When Boredom Strikes During A Long-Haul Flight)

WARNING: Frequent fliers or people with previous flying experience can skip this post altogether…unless you’re just plain bored and want to read anyway. But if you’ve never flown before, you might find this information useful.

So I was flying from Amsterdam to KL via Singapore and sleep remained elusive. I’ve had my lunch, I’ve nibbled on snacks, I’ve kept myself hydrated with mineral water and apple juice. I’ve watched the movies that I wanted to see. And yet I couldn’t sleep.

At some point, I needed to go to the lavatory. That’s when inspiration suddenly struck — what if I took pics and created a blog post about plane lavatories? You could practically see the light bulb glowing bright on top of my head.

Weird? Yes. Possibility of being useful? Maybe. Afterall, there’s no Dummies’ Guide To Plane Lavatories, to my knowledge. Hence, the idea for this blog post was born at 35,000 feet above sea level.

A plane’s lavatory is arguably a claustrophobe’s biggest nightmare. It’s so cramped that you hardly have room to turn around inside. It’s a wonder how they manage to cram so many things inside. (And how I managed to take these pics haha!)

First things first: lock the door the moment you’re inside by pushing the button (shown by the red arrow) to the direction of the arrow on the door — in this case, to the left. This will turn on the lights and ensure that you can do your business in complete confidence. Francesca In France would appreciate this — she once walked in on someone “sitting on the throne” (to use her words) in a plane to France.

And please take the “No Smoking” sign very seriously. Plane lavatories are equipped with smoke detectors which will emit audible signals to warn the flight crew of any violation.

There’s a coat hook behind the door. Pull it out to hang your coat, jacket or handbag there.

Don’t worry about getting stuck inside the lavatory in case of an emergency. I’ve read that the flight crew have a method of opening the door from outside in such cases. As a matter of fact, there’s a button that you can press in case you need assistance from them anytime (marked ‘Attendant Call’).

Oh, and that compartment underneath stores air sickness bags, spare toilet paper and ladies’ sanitary napkins.

On its right is the drawer that keeps amenities — combs, toothbrush kits, shaving kits (depending on the airline). They’re of very limited quantities so if you need one of these, I suggest you ask one of the stewardesses as early as possible during the flight.

Like I said, the quantities are very limited so please be considerate enough of other passengers and NOT swipe the entire inventory to be given away as souvenirs back home. Thank you for your cooperation!

And now, for the toilet bowl. First, on the right hand size, you can take one of those disposable paper liners for the toilet seat and affix it on the seat for hygiene purposes. (Just make sure you dispose of it afterwards.) They’re very flimsy though. So you might want to wipe the toilet seat with some paper towels before putting these on the seat, in case the seat is wet or — heaven forbid — the previous user left some tell-tale drops of yellow on it (ewww!).

The most important thing of all : once you’re done with your business, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE make sure you flush. That’s the flush button — yes, the blue one — on the left side. In some planes, it’s in the more familiar shape of a flush handle. Again, Francesca In France would know how important this piece of information is — she had to show the girl-caught-sitting-on-the-throne how to flush!

For tech geeks out there who’d like to know how the plane’s flush system works, please click on this link.

You wash your hands in this tiny basin.The red button is for hot water, blue for cold. Press both if you want to mix them. The button on top — the one I’m pressing in the photo — is to drain the water. Please be considerate of your fellow passengers and drain the water after you’re done. Call me anal if you will, but I even wipe the sink clean. My rule with public toilets is to leave it as you’d like to find it. (If only everyone thinks the way I do…)

Oh yeah — the sign clearly says “NOT drinking water”. So don’t attempt drinking any of that stuff.

In addition to soap, there’s usually lotion, cologne for her and cologne for him. Singapore Airlines has mouthwash, as well — a very thoughtful addition IMHO.

That thing jutting out on top is a stack of paper cups. Be careful when you attempt to take out one because you might end up taking several at the same time.

For mothers who wish to change their baby’s diaper, some plane lavatories are equipped with changing tables, situated just about the toilet bowl. See that illustration of a mother and her baby?

Open the latch to release the table…

…And open up the table.

The first time I travelled with the twins was to Bali when they were 6 months old sometime in July 2006. We flew with AirAsia and I distinctly remember having to change one of the twins during the flight. To my consternation, AirAsia didn’t have such changing tables in their lavatories. It was hard enough holding on to a squirming baby, let alone trying to clean him up in a cramped toilet. Sadly, I didn’t even get an offer from any of the stewardesses for any assistance whatsoever. The stewardess whom I asked about changing tables was more concerned about giving me a plastic bag to wrap the dirty diaper in to contain any nasty odours! I sure hope things have improved for them — lavatory amenities and flight crew service — since then.

And last but not the least, here’s the bin for waste disposal. Just push used tissues, paper towels and other whatnot inside. No cigarette butts, please.

And so we conclude our mini-tour for today. My apologies for my having forgotten to take a photo of the mirror. But I suppose the usage of a mirror is already self-explanatory so I assume you all don’t mind my oversight. Thank you and have a pleasant day.

P.S.

1. I did a quick search for images of plane lavatories and you know what? I ended up wishing that I took high quality photos with my DSLR camera rather than my camera phone. Just look at this site that’s selling a 300 MB, 300 dpi, 34.2″ x 34.2″ photograph of a plane lavatory for USD490!

2. My Google image search also showed me that I’m not the first bored person to take such pics. The thought that I’m not alone in my…erm… peculiar pursuits is rather comforting.

Tags: plane lavatory