Am I DYKWIA?
 

I bought a CE ticket from gatwick to Rome.. First time for years from gatwick and I was totally impressed by the f lounge.. It was kinda busy when I got there at one.. But cleared by 2 and they had amazing food.. The paté was impressive.. Crayfish salad Ver nice.. Jepeer rose. A good way to start a journey.. On an a319.. Probably pretty old.. Most legroom ever in 1c..very friendly and attentive staff.. But.. Either there was no curtain. Or they didn't close it.
So people from y came up front to use the loo.. People were standing next to me waiting? I didn't like that traffic to much.. I didn't say anything.. But last week on AA had the same and thought it was an American thing..? What do u think?
I thought the front wc is for club?

Going to the washroom is an American thing?
Do you know the condition of the other washroom?
No toilet on an airplane is reserved exclusively for any cabin. Though many in premium wish it were so, it isn't

Well, as recently as this week when I was flying the cabin crew sent someone from J back to their section of the plane to use the toilet in their cabin. I guess the curtain is there for a reason?

if you had said something whilst waving your arms whilst shouting then yes you would have been DYKWIA. But you didn't so you aren't

CC normally monitor the queue so it doesn't disturb CE pax too much though.

The question is.. Should I have said something? I mean it didn't bother the living daylights outa me.. But of course it is annoying when people start queuing next to your seat and other club people had to wait or walk back to their seats. I am usually in 1c and I have never experienced it before.. Until last week on that AA flight.. And now even worse on this one.

I've been on a CE flight twice in recent months where the crew actively kept stopping people in Y using the front toilet so maybe it is exclusive to the CE cabin but some crew can't be bothered to police it?

Yes its annoying , especially after a long haul and I am trying to get some sleep only to be bothered with queues (and kids) for what seems like the entire flight home. I sit in 1c as my wife is in 1a.

I understand people need to pee but Iberia actively send Y passengers away and wont suffer it under any circumstance so it is doable. Y passengers dont come in the lounge to use the lavatories so why is it so much harder to divide things at 30,000 feet?

This may sound overly grumpy but sometimes a man just needs a kip and some peace n quiet. I dont want pepper bleeding pig blearing on a tablet and streams of people informing each other that " this is how the other half live " whilst standing next to me chatting about thier holiday in Marbs.....

And that A319 configuration - one toilet nose and tail - makes for the worst of all worlds.

Alaska asks people to use the lavatory for their assigned cabin and also uses the excuses that a line cannot form at the forward lavatory for security purposes (which doesn't seem too crazy as I wouldn't want a queue hiding activities of someone trying to get into the cockpit).
However, I don't feel like I actually this rule (really a request) enforced. Personally, I wouldn't have said something on the flight, but maybe on some feedback questionnaires/forms. The fact that there is a better loo to person ratio in CE and therefore less queuing is one of the perks.

I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that the CE toilet is fair game if BoB trolley is blocking the one at the back, regardless of the status of the curtain... I have always 'stayed in my lane' myself, but have always kept this in mind for (so far unneeded) genuine emergencies.

A hefty minority of LGW aircraft don't have curtain dividers between CE and ET, some aircraft don't have all 3 curtain components. This is to do with the ceiling layout - and sometimes the row positioning of CE - on the older LGW aircraft. Unless there is a full set of curtains then it's very difficult to prevent people using the forward WC, particularly on 3 crew A319 aircraft when the BoB trolley is in service. The irony is that there are generally more WCs per 100 passengers on the LGW aircraft than on LHR, so in theory less need to use the forward WCs. If the queue is disturbing you in the aisle seats then either consider moving to a window seat or mention it to the CSM, who may be able to position the queue better.

Not saying you should have to, I can see reasons to enforce CE toilet exclusivity and reasons not to, but playing devils advocate, if it bothers you, why not take 3A and 3C?

Seem to remember SAS not segregating the toffs from the minions on short haul flights....especially when it came to using the lav. At least they never bothered on the flights I used to take. Then again, the Scandinavians don't bother about such things anyway.

In BA's config, there is only a single lav for upwards of 120 pax on the A319, as they removed the second rear lav with the reconfigured cabin. I think you need to take this into consideration.

Very true, and it is bloody annoying - often see endless queues of 5+ people waiting constantly throughout the flight. Heck, I have even returned from the lavatory myself only to find someone sitting in my seat (where my meal and drinks were on the table!). That person was turfed out by the crew though...

I don't mind too much. If one needs the bathroom, he/she need the bathroom.

I could have sworn on a few flights recently the crew have said "the toilet in the front is reserved for Club Europe passengers only" during the announcement where they introduce BoB etc. It may not be the service standard though.

In American domestic business/'F' when seemingly the whole cabin come to use the front loo it's pretty annoying, it happens, but seemingly less on BA short haul.

I don't think I've heard the announcement exactly as that, it's more like "there are toilets at the front for those travelling in Club Europe, and also at the rear of the aircraft for our passengers in euro traveller". I don't think the word "only" creeps in to this. Not that everyone listens to these announcements, as I've seen in the EC261 thread. But yes, regardless, some pragmatism is needed, particularly on the longer CE services from LHR with the newer aircraft if they are fully loaded.

That was kinda my feeling.. I guess I know quite a heap of long haul equipment but had never been on this kind of aircraft. I used to never pay attention what it was and still don't really care.. So at least this kind of a319 config I had never been on. It appeared to be old. Not as worn. But the seats weren't the usual modern thin ones but they were bigger, the colors of the material were a bit different and I enjoyed having more leg room in the bulkhead.
So I guess there was no curtains at all to be closed.
And that's why I had never experienced this situation before...
Nevertheless I still have the feeling if people pay for an exclusive ce experience that's what they should get... And myself I remember I would never use the ce toilet but I guess that's how I was brought up.
I remember a nice story from a fellow who was on the old Lh first.. When he got up to use the toilet the fa jumped in front of him and said in a stiff German unlocking the door.. Sorry sir I haaaave to lock it.. The business class tends to come up otherwise. 🔒😂

Yes, that's the 144 seater former BMI set of aircraft which ended up at LGW after a limited refit to something approximating the then BA seating standard. So they are fairly spacious but there probably wasn't a runner on the ceiling for the Club curtain to sit on.

On my last ET flight i started walking back and was told by the crew coming the other way to use the front toilet as it was busy at the back. I don't think it's a huge problem personally, if BA will insist on cutting their service down then something has to give.

They do say that, quoting FAA or TSA, on international flights to/from the US but generally not on domestics.

I went back to visit a friend in economy leaving my unopened drink and snack on my table...when I return the drink was empty and an empty snack wrapper lay on the tray....seated near the lavatory.

This issue is a regular feature on FT.
The main reason for the elite of Y using the front loo where the plebs sit is the BOB cart, and the crew on the BOB cart being, er, how to put this nicely? - not willing to move said cart.
And for some of us, when we need to go, we need to go.

SAS doesn't sell business class on shorthaul. Their highest cabin is "SAS Plus," which on longhaul is Premium Economy. Just a branding thing I guess, but also sets expectations at their appropriate level for the seats/service on their shorthaul product, IMHO.

You'll know better than me as it's been years since I last flew them. That was definitely in J ARN-FCO.

Not sure why the issue is blamed on BoB. When there was 'free' food & drink in economy didn't the 'free' food & beverage cart(s) take up as much aisle space as the BoB trolley?

Doc Copper

Yes, but the service was a lot quicker. No faffing around for card payments etc.

The BoB service can be very slow on longer ET flights given higher uptake. There is no method of doing it quicker however, so no one is at fault for that.

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