Originally Posted by OrlandoFlyer

Southwest are the ones that I have noticed are anal about this, although they indicate that they can be no line outside the front lav and you must sit down until the front lav is free before you can approach it to use. They used to say it was a FAA regulation, but once when I asked a FA for the FAR that this rule pertained to, she could not find it and neither could the captain. They gave me some FARs that were not relevant to this particular announcement, so I guess it is not really a FAA regulation but a WN rule. On a couple of flight a week ago, I noticed that they had dropped this being a FAA regulation in their announcements.

I think that the whole thing is dumb, but don't forget what kind of society we live in this days - paranoia created by our elected officials in Washington.