F Pax not allowed to use FC lav??
 

I was on a 739 this past week and passengers were not allowed to use the FC lav. Only the crew was using. All passengers were sent back to the economy cabin.

Is the crew allowed to block off the lav for only their use?

Was this for the entire duration of the flight?

Entire duration of the flight. Lav was operable.

What route?

That would be a good one to write in about

It has been my experience that whenever the door to the flight deck is open the FAs block the passage to the forward FC lav. Once the crew has finished with the lav and returned to the flight deck (or getting their meals delivered or whatever) and locked the door the FAs re-open the passage.
But not for the entire flight.

MSY-LAX

Is it possible that the Flight Deck door wasn't locking properly?

You've stated the norm. Please Reread posts 1 & 3. Was able to use it prior to pushback.

Plane wouldn't have flown if that were the case.

For safety and security, including operational reasons, the Captain and via the Captain the rest of the crew may, of course, limit access.

But, this is odd and, if a reason was not provided to you when you asked the FA why access was limited, I would send a note to UA noting that you were seated in F (I presume that you were although you do not say that you were), that this was a long flight and that access was prohibited for the entire flight without any specific announcement.

You won't receive a satisfactory answer, but it may cause an inquiry to be sent through.

I do suspect that there was some decent reason because it is the sort of thing which does generate complaints and the crew know it.

The lavatory may have been inoperative due to items on the MEL. I believe that some items that render the lavatory inoperative for customers do allow for crew member use.

This would be my read, too. It is possible for there to be something mechanically defective in the lav which means pax are not allowed to use it. If crew *are* still allowed, probably better for them to use that one vs. tying up a passenger lav.

There are MEL items on the 737 that make a Lav "crew use only".

The one that I had was the access panel under the sink not latching in place. Everything worked but that panel stayed partially open. That particular airplane had a mid-lav so at least the inconvenience was minor for the FC passengers.

Are you certain?

As I read it, they can fly home (well, 2 days) if the primary lock fails but the secondary works as long as they follow some procedure to secure the cabin in this event.

Per http://fsims.faa.gov/PICDetail.aspx?docId=PL-112
I could certainly see blocking access to be part of such procedures to insure pax are not standing outside as it is opened (I freely admit I do not know how the entire dance works, so am just guessing).

I used the lav pre-pushback. Everything seemed in good order, but then, I'm not a lav mechanic. ;)

Mid-flight, I used the lav at the front of the economy cabin. Boy, that thing is claustrophobic!!