Call of nature vs bottom line; proposal to modify lavatory configuration in planes hits air pocket

Toilets have been elevated to matter of national urgency in India, so it is but natural to examine the lavatorial dilemma reportedly facing Airbus. While pinching pennies would be of concern to both airline operators and passengers, doing so on (and in) urinals simply does not hold water. While installing a bank of stand-up compact urinals may indeed free up more space to accommodate wheelchair-friendly washrooms onboard commercial aircraft as some have averred, the suggestion demonstrates the obvious unconcern of its proponents for the needs of female passengers. The idea also appears to disregard a primary and inescapable facet of air travel: sudden turbulence. The potential consequences of air pockets on, well, jet streams are manifest.

It is unfortunate that airlines regard this normal human function to be a vexatious hindrance to space optimization in aircraft cabins. Indeed, the fact that some airlines once floated the idea of replacing seats with saddle-like perches in order to accommodate more passengers shows that they might consider people to be hurdles as well. While the omission of lavatories altogether for short-haul airplanes may soon be a reality, the next bright toilet-obviating idea could well be the provision of in-situ options such as diapers—no more than one provided free of charge, of course.