No water on BA0008 (4 June 2023)
 

I flew back from HND today, we landed 45 min earlier.

I went to the toilet about 1.5 hours before the landing, the water did not come out. I asked a pilot chatting to other staff members just outside of the toilet, he said it's an issue with the water system. I was not sure if this particular toilet had the issue or not. Then, the announcement on the water issue was made, basically water ran out due to the longer flight time (we flew to the UK via Alaska).

My outbound had no issue, but is this common for ultra long hauls...?

Hi


It is unusual even for ultra long hauks from reports here.
occasionally there are reports but these were mainly due to water not being loaded at the origin

regards

tbs

I've only ever had this once before, flying AUH-LAX on Etihad.

The crew had put bottled water in the lavatory so pax could wash their hands.

At least the flight operated today 😀

I was in a Delta flight a few months ago where all the toilets stopped working - we had to make an emergency landing as according to the FA's, FAA requires at least one working bathroom. If that's true, I'm surprised your flight continued...

It happened to me on BA12 in May 2022, a 787-9, it left Heathrow with empty water tanks.

BA are subject to CAA regulations, not FAA.

Having said that, I've been on a flight from LHR to SFO where there was no water on board apart from bottled water and that was grim in J, so heaven knows how Y was by the end.

Do the toilets need water to be considered operational?

Not being able to properly wash your hands is unpleasant but I reckon these things can still be flushed.

No they do not. Bottled water and hand sanitiser are used whenever there is an issue with the toilet faucets or potable water. The vacuum system will still continue to work, and even if the vacuum blower is unserviceable, above 16,000 ft the laws of physics will ensure the ability to clear the wreckage of one’s constitution.

It isn’t very common at all to run out of potable water, but it is always a possibility. More likely is the odd failure of pumps etc occurring inflight.
Demand must have been high on the OP’s flight.

Thanks for all comments.I have been flying a lot for the last 15 years or so (apart from the Covid time), this was new to me. I think the water tank was not completely empty, but taps did not work at all. Sanitisers, wipes, etc were provided, probably not water bottles (I myself did not use a toilet after the announcement).

This aligns with my experience.

I experienced multi-toilet failures on the 787 on numerous occasions. Seems like a bit a trademark for the Dreamliner :( .

There is no requirement to land because the toilets stop working. It’s simply a matter of common sense and time remaining to the scheduled landing. It’s also not an emergency. Both Boeing and Airbus toilet systems using vacuum flushing can be finicky however the single biggest reason for a failure of all toilets is they were not dumped prior to the flight. Once the holding tanks reach a set level the system shuts down. Airbus toilets due use some water on each flush to help clean the bowl. The toilet will operate without water but what happens now and then is the toilet water flush sticks open and continuously dumps water into the bowl. The result is the aircraft water tanks go empty and the lavs on that circuit shutdown because the holding tank fills up. Boeing and Airbus have two separate lavs circuits on long haul aircraft to insure an issue with one leaves the other half of the toilets operating unless of course as mentioned they were never dumped in the first place!

We had a similar issue flying to Mykonos from London city on an E190 last summer. The combination of 3.5 hour flight to a party destination and free booze on a small plane was too much for the system and we spent the last 50 mins without toilets. I’ve never been so relieved to get on the ground and see a toilet before passport control.

Interesting - that's what the FA's said during the flight... either way, I agree it is common sense.

Happened on the BA8 on the 5th as well about an hour out of London.