I recently flew from Chicago to Hong Kong in Business Class. I was seated in the upper deck on the Boeing 747. The flight was very good in all respects - the new seats, excellent entertainment in terms of movie and TV show content, and most importantly a fun-loving cabin crew.

The only negative was access to the toilets on the upper deck. For the majority of the 15 hour flight, they were blocked off to passengers as the flight crew used them. This also involved 1 or 2 flight attendants standing guard in front of the toilets for the same time. And following each toilet break for the crew, a long conversation between them and the flight attendants would follow - prolonging the blocking of the toilets. (The blocking of the bathrooms while flight crews use them is a United "security" measure.)

I don't know what the solution to this is but I find it hard to believe that 3 or 4 flight crew need to monopolize the bathrooms for more the majority of a 15 our flight.

Have others encountered this or did I just have a bad experience in this regard ?