Originally Posted by
tikchik
Just to follow up in case any of y'all were curious about more details. I spoke with the FA's and our original plane had 3 lavs out of order, including the handicap lav. This meant our plane could not fly to any USA port, per regulations. ....
If only that were true, in realisty US regulations permit operating any airplane on any length of flight with any number of inoperative lavatories ... it is entirely up to airline discretion. The regulation that does apply is the Air Carrier Access Act which requires twin-aisle planes made after 2010 to have at least one diabled access toilet installed, and twin-aislo planes made after 1992 to refit a disabled access toilet during D checks. It just has to be installed on the plane, not functional. QF probably considered the flight duration in making decision about it, but US DOT regs had nothing to do with it -- I wish they did.