A politician in India is calling on aviation regulators in the country to require airlines to offer gender segregated bathrooms onboard flights. Maybe it’s a hot take, but I don’t actually disagree with where she’s coming from. However, there’s no way this will actually become a reality.
Should airplanes have separate toilets for men & women?
Varsha Eknath Gaikwad, a Member of Parliament for Mumbai North Central, has asked India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation to require airlines to reserve at least one lavatory on each aircraft exclusively for female passengers. The letter frames the request as follows:
I am writing to bring your kind attention to a pressing concern regarding passenger hygiene, privacy, and dignity aboard commercial flights operating in India.
With the rapid expansion of Indian aviation and increasing air travel, passenger comfort and sanitation standards require continuous improvement. Currently, most narrow-body and regional aircraft operated by domestic airlines feature gender-neutral lavatories shared by all passengers.
Due to high passenger turnover, short turnaround times, and heavy inflight usage, maintaining optimal sanitation standards in shared lavatories often poses a challenge. This creates significant discomfort and hygiene concerns, particularly for female passengers, elderly travelers, pregnant women, and mothers traveling with young children.
The ask is that planes offer gender-segregated lavatories, and for regulators to require airlines to introduce hygiene and sanitation guidelines, to ensure that lavatories are maintained and cleaned throughout flights.
This isn’t happening, but I sympathize with the issue
I’ve gotta say, I very much sympathize with anyone who has to actually sit down on an airplane toilet, especially when traveling in economy on a long haul flight, on an airline that isn’t great about cleaning lavatories. They can be absolutely disgusting, to the point that some people may prefer to just “hold it in” until they get on the ground.
I’ve been in some premium cabin lavatories where I was almost too disgusted to use the facilities while standing up, and I can’t even imagine what it’s like for others. Now, I am a little confused about the discussion of “privacy,” since lavatories on planes are all intended for individuals, but the points about hygiene are fair.
That being said, this comes down to two questions:
- Is this really something the government should regulate?
- Is this a policy that airlines can realistically implement?
I think the second topic is the more interesting point. We have to be honest, airlines put a ton of thought into their cabin layouts, and the goal is always to cram in as many seats as possible. For example, IndiGo’s A321neos have 232 seats, and just three lavatories, so that’s an average of one lavatory per 77 passengers. That’s a really bad ratio.
Unless airlines are willing to voluntarily install more lavatories, the concept of gender segregating restrooms would complicate things significantly. It would create an inefficiency in terms of “gap” in lavatory use, when there’s almost always a queue to use them. For that matter, the aisle and galley spaces are so small that managing two separate queues would be challenging.
I get the frustration over how disgusting airplane lavatories are. I do wish airlines would put more effort into that in general. I’m not sure that the government regulating this, or even introducing gender segregated bathrooms, is the solution, though.
Bottom line
A politician in India is demanding that airlines be required to have at least one separate lavatory on each flight for women, in order to preserve the “hygiene, privacy, and dignity” for passengers. I totally get that lavatories are disgusting, and most airlines do a poor job addressing this problem.
At the same time, given the absolute bare minimum number of lavatories installed on so many aircraft, this seems like it will lead to more issues than solutions.
What do you make of this lavatory proposal in India?
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