I found something worrying while perusing the
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...on-thread.html and the A380 seat plan.
The upper deck of the A380 has 53 CW seats and 3 toilets. That's
16.7 passengers per loo (PPL).
Within that, the rear UD cabin on the A380 UD has only 1 toilet for the entire cabin - that's a hefty
28 PPL.
How does this compare with the rest of the fleet, I hear you ask?
I'm having a slow day. Here's a breakdown:
Code:
747 Hi-J
Lower deck forward: 18 seats, 3 loos = 6 PPL
Lower deck rear: 32 seats, 2 loos = 16 PPL
Lower deck combined: 50 seats, 5 loos = 10 PPL
Upper deck: 20 seats, 2 loos = 10 PPL
Overall: 70 seats, 7 loos = 10 PPL
747 Lo-J
Lower deck: 32 seats, 2 loos = 16 PPL
Upper deck: 20 seats, 2 loos = 10 PPL
Overall: 52 seats, 4 loos = 13 PPL
767
Overall: 24 seats, 2 loos = 12 PPL
772 3-class
Overall: 48 seats, 3 loos = 16 PPL
772 2-class
Forward: 32 seats, 2 loos = 16 PPL
Rear: 16 seats, 3 loos = 5.3 PPL
Overall: 48 seats, 5 loos = 9.6 PPL
773
Overall 56 seats, 4 loos = 14 PPL
And the 380:
Code:
A380
Lower deck: 44 seats, 3 loos = 14.7 PPL
Upper deck forward: 25 seats, 2 loos = 12.5 PPL
Upper deck rear: 28 seats, 1 loo = 28 PPL
Upper deck combined: 53 seats, 3 loos = 16.7 PPL
A380 combined: 97 seats, 6 loos = 16.1 PPL
What's the take-home message? For me, it's that CW on the A380 overall has a not-terribly-great ratio compared with the rest of the fleet, but the loos are extremely unevenly distributed.
Bearing in mind that the UD and LD CW cabins are essentially completely separate, the overall ratio on the A380 upper deck is worse than any other cabin, or any other aircraft overall. And the problem is particularly bad in the UD rear cabin.
To me this means long queues at busy times and, in particular, a high chance of disruption for pax choosing the "best" front cabin seats in the upper deck, whose 2 toilets are the major provision for 53 passengers.
The maths changes if the F toilets down the front stairs are expected to be used by CW passengers (which seems unlikely).
For comparison, the Qantas A380 upper deck has 64 seats and 4 loos in J (16 PPL).
Clearly I have spent too much time looking into this, but am I right to be concerned?