AA 663 PHX-KOA: Passengers Asked to Urinate in Plastic Bags After Toilets Overflow
 

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/AA...492605611.html

I was on this flight last Friday. About midway through the flight the captain made an announcement re lavs overflowing, asking pax to refrain from bathroom use as much as possible prior to landing ("or else we'll have to turn around and go back to Phoenix"). Pretty unpleasant for a 6.5 hour flight and not a great start to a vacation, though I fortunately was not one of the unlucky ones asked to use a bottle or a bag as the article and video show. Received an email today from AA offering 30k miles for the inconvenience. Note I hadn't submitted a complaint yet, though had planned to do so once I had some free time on the weekend.

Anyone experienced something like this before? Definitely a first for me. Wondering what types of compensation have been given in similar situations.

Those 752s are the worst.

So were you able to "hold it" for 61/2 hours?

OP said this happened about halfway. So 3 hours or so is reasonable.

Why does a situation like this happen? Someone flushed something that clogged the system? Circuit breaker went? Flush system failure? Too many people using it so the tanks filled up?

I'm no aerospace engineer, but why not a urinal on a plane ? Does every pee event need to be washed into the hold with a gallon of blue liquid ?

Unfortunately yes, I had to.

The article I linked says it was because someone flushed a diaper down the toilet. FWIW it also says the passenger who recorded the video was given $240 in vouchers + 17k miles, which sounds roughly equivalent to what I got, i.e. ~29k miles at a 2 cpm valuation.

Planes don't use blue liquid anymore. They use a vacuum system that uses barely any water and as a result, the urinal vs toilet is a wash (pun intended). Urinal would take up more space too with no benefit.

On the older planes like 752's etc. they use the blue liquid still. I believe the liquid is recycled though through a filtration system. At this point I speculate it isn't worth the refit and cost of trying to change.

Obviously you havent experienced a no flush urinal before.

Maybe you should seek compensation from the person who flushed the diaper. Do they flush diapers in their home? Why would an airplane be any different. Oh that's right, most people are morons when they are on airplanes.

They should have shamed the person who ignored the placards and inconsiderately tried to flush the diaper. What a crappy (sorry couldn't resist) situation for everyone.

Maybe the passengers could have banded together and fashioned up a "tar and feather" situation with that blue flushing liquid and toilet paper.

Incorrect. 737s, the backbone of many airlines, still use blue juice. They might not use as much as before, but they still use it. I'm a ground handler, just serviced a 737 lav 20 minutes ago.

The problem is people flushing the wrong stuff, and/or many other things including lavs being serviced incorrectly. 757/767s are a pain in the ... to service and have multiple lavs, inexperienced lav guys often miss one. Or people who don't deal with these aircrafts that often will easily miss one. But that usually doesn't result in ALL the lavs failing.

yes I have.

The water savings compared to a vacuum flush are negligible. The space taken up by a urinal is worth more than the weight penalty of a few gallons of water. Heck, the sinks use plenty more.

I agree the issue is people flushing all kinds of stuff.

are you referring to blue juice down in the tank? Or blue juice being swirled in the loo to make stuff go down? The latter, the vast vast majority of AA's 737s do are vacuum flush, so the lav user does not ever see any blue juice. The former (in the tank), sure.

Another reason I carry a Biffy Bag (or two) in my carry-on.

Seriously? You carry a portable toilet in your carry-on for every flight just in case you're on the 1:1,000,000 flight where the bathrooms all overflow and the flight time happens to be so long you can't hold it?

Yes, seriously. I also carry feminine hygiene products too. If you think you can ask about my bladder issues I'm sure you have something to say about that too!

I just read a article about how the airlines made $57 billion in addon fees last year and are looking for ways to make more. Well, here is their opportunity. Watch for the FA's to start hawking TravelJohn Disposable Urinals or Stadium Pals right after the pitch for a credit card! ;)

I find this incredibly greedy that you plan to file a complaint for something that was completely out of AA's control, especially after they preemptively offered you 30k miles as compensation. Would you file a complaint to AA if your flight diverted for a medical emergency? $hit happens, move on and enjoy Hawaii

I SO agree but if the captain blamed a passenger mid-flight a lot could go wrong with the whole thing escalating among passengers. I think the crew did the best they could. But still a Sh*tty situation for sure :D

Have you ever tried this in an earthquake?

with 3 degrees of motion

As great as it may have been to shame the person responsible, it sounds like the cause was unknown until after landing. At the very least we weren't informed of it in flight. My assumption had been it's a maintenance problem, until I saw that news article (after receiving the "proactive" comp).

Does American Airlines cater on-board plastic personal poop bags for every passenger during extended duration flights like KOA-PHX or do they expect passengers to share their poop bag with some other frequent flying littermate?

Can't wait to hear how people would not have had to pee if the FA hadn't forced them into partaking in PDBs.

The 757-200 does not have a vacuum toilet system. Something about this 'diaper' story does not make sense.

I'd agree to pee in the sink on all my flights for a year for 30K miles:)

A urinal would be mounted higher and closer than the toilet seat currently is, so more pee would make it to the urinal, and no unintended pee on the toilet seat. Maybe I'm unusual, but my aim is very good, even in turbulence. It's a gift.

This flight would be my worst nightmare....just knowing I can't go makes me have to go even more....

I think ALL gate announcements 15 minutes before boarding should encourage people to use restrooms in the terminal. I'm sure a few would do so even when they don't have urgent need "to go". This would reduce need to use on flight and shorten lines. Also too often the seat belt sign stays lit longer than it need to be to allow crew more time to pass out drinks. And often during non-bumpy flight time.

After the "super":rolleyes: meals AA serves even in bc/fc pax may be in dire need to do #2 .

I find this incredibly poor reading comprehension since asdf098 said they'd planned to submit a complaint before receiving the proactive compensation from AA, not that they were still planning on doing so after.

The story going around DFW is more like two hours out, not three, so continuing on was the closest airport.

Were the flight attendants dumping out every bag in the galley or is a case of really good freezer bags already on the minimum equipment list just in case?

The people seated in back steerage should get 50,000 points just for being closer to the problem.

So if the diaper clogged a lav, why were all the lavs off limits? Or were they?

Shouldn't there be 4 lavs? Two across in the main cabin, one for F, and one behind MCE or F?

I read that the clog was of the entire vacuum system making all lavs unusable.

the 752 doesnt have a vacuum system... but if they all do feed a common tank, then the point still applies.

for some reason I thought the 75 has 2 tanks? Maybe that was the 76?