A Delta passenger flying from Salt Lake city to Minneapolis declared that as a first class passenger, they had paid to use the first class lavatory – and wouldn’t wait for the pilot to finish his turn. And he wouldn’t suffer the indignity of using the bathroom back in coach, either.
Pilot comes out of the cockpit to use the restroom so they block the aisle like they typically do. Guy sitting near me (in first class) in the window seat has his aisle seatmate get up and starts walking toward the bathroom with the aisle clearly blocked.
Flight attendant says “oh I’m sorry, the pilot is using the restroom, would you mind either waiting for them to finish or you can use the bathroom in the back?”. Entitled guy says “absolutely not. I PAID to use that restroom up there”.
The passenger argued with the flight attendant “for another 30 seconds.” But this was not going to work.
[She said] “I understand you want to use that bathroom, but you need to either sit down and wait for the pilot to finish and go back into the cockpit, or you can go use the bathroom in the back”, he says “I already told you that’s not gonna happen. I’m not using that bathroom”, etc. lol.
A passenger watching this unfold from the aisle shares that he was tempted to jump ahead as soon as the bathroom was freed up, beating him to the lavatory and declaring “oh, I PAID to use this restroom.”
“But I’m a Diamond guest!” isn’t going to get a flight attendant to kick the captain out of the bathroom.
One of the security measures put in place after 9/11 was reinforced cockpit doors. That makes it a lot harder for a would-be terrorist to access the cockpit and take control of the aircraft. However there’s a lot less security when a pilot opens the door to go to the bathroom! So airlines generally block access to the galley and lavatory with a cart, and passengers can’t queue for the restroom until the pilot goes in, uses the lav, and returns to the locked cockpit.
That entails and obligation on the pilots, though, to go in and use the facilities in reasonably efficient fashion – which seems to be exactly what was happening here.
Pilots get priority, and everyone waits for them, so it’s just polite not to spend more time out of the cockpit than necessary. That means save any chatting up of flight attendants for later, for instance. In fact, that’s the law! Federal Aviation Regulation 121.543 requires pilots to be in the cockpit at all times except:
- When “necessary for performance of duties” to check something in the aircraft
- “In connection with physiological needs” using the lav
- Crew rest, when another pilot takes their place
A few pleasantries as part of a bathroom trip is fine, but that a pilot shouldn’t be out of the cockpit for 10 – 20 minutes on non-bathroom business while they’re on duty.
Several years ago on an American Airlines flight from Washington National to Dallas-Fort Worth my flight’s captain spent 20 minutes in the galley flirting as part of his lavatory trip.
This came right after the meal service, and passengers up front were visibly squirming in their seats. While coach passengers should use the lavatory in their ticketed cabin, unless unable to do so, first class passengers are usually fine going to the back of the aircraft. At the time, though, there was a service cart in the aisle while flight attendants were serving drinks and snacks so it wasn’t possible for passengers to use the back lavatories either.
When I flew the CRJ-700 that only had one lav in the back and had to do the “walk of shame” on longer legs I’d have to wait in line for pax to finish their trip to the lav. Usually if they’d see me coming they’d stay seated until I was done, but sometimes there was a line. As Earth Wind and Fire said “That’s the way of the world” 🙂
He should be banned by the airline for sheer stupidity, First Class Moron.
No, stupid. You didn’t buy the damned lav. You bought the right to use it when it’s available.
Tell everyone to buckle in and let him open the door to piss. End of problem.
Several times when flying in F a pilot has gone into the bathroom and been in there for well over 5 minutes or else has come out and chit chat with the F/A’s while the aisle remains blocked with a cart. That needs to STOP.
Dude is a Diamond all right, as in he clearly has the ability to a lump of coal into a diamond…
Lighten Up, Francis.
I’d rather the pilots use the bathroom closes to the cockpit in case of an emergency. This particular passenger should be put on Delta’s no fly list if he/she is going to act in this way.
I’ve been on Air France flights in business class where they blocked the front bathroom for the entire flight on a long haul flight for the use of the pilot only. On one flight where the aircraft had three bathrooms in first class one of the bathrooms is out of order and they still blocked the bathroom at the front for the pilot so all of the business class passengers had to use one bathroom which kind of defeats the purpose of paying for business class. Air France pilots seem to be gods.
Some people are such assholes. Nothing else needs to be said.
Good way to get your dumb ass taken away by airport cops upon arriving at the gate and being put on a airline no fly list. Let me tell this moron something, DL is far more concerned about the safety of the cockpit, the crew and the flight than your dumb ass, DL Medallion or not.
The passenger needs to be downgraded to non-medallion status along with no Skyclub access, totally inconsiderate and ignorant.
I’m not sure why 20 minutes (for the pilot to flirt) is too long to wait. Between lining up for boarding and when the seat belts sign goes off is often more than an hour without the ability to go to the lavatory. People can hold it, even after meals. I usually can go five or six hours if I went to the lavatory before boarding. If the airplane is a narrowbody and the lavatories are at the rear, there are usually a few people waiting even if there were open lavatories and no one up when I started to get out. Because of the hassle, I often wait to use the lavatory in the airport.