Picture the scene: you’re on a small commercial plane, it’s been almost two hours since you boarded, and you really need to relieve yourself. But the only toilet on board is taped shut and has a notice stuck on its door saying “toilet unserviceable”.
You share your dilemma with the cabin crew, and their response is to hand you a bottle. That wasn’t Stuart Berry’s experience, but he witnessed a fellow male passenger being forced to relieve himself into that bottle on a Cemair flight from Johannesburg to Maun in December.
The unfortunate man stood up, faced the window and hunched over in a bid to preserve as much dignity as he could on that 19-seater Beechcraft 1900D. “The pilot apologised,” Berry says, but he and his wife encountered the same issue on their return flight a week later. “I later engaged the airline and was told: ‘Please note that, based on our terms and conditions, this doesn’t constitute a case for any compensation.’
“The flight was advertised with a specific aircraft and a flight time of about one hour and 20 minutes, but on our arrival it had been substituted with a smaller plane with a longer flying time. At no point were we warned about the fact that there was no toilet on board,” Berry said.
Incidentally, water and alcohol was provided on a self-service basis on those flights. My first thought was: “Surely civil aviation regulations require airlines to provide at least one working toilet for passengers on flights of more than an hour or 90 minutes?” Apparently not.
Gate staff remind passengers before they board the bus [that transports them to the plane] that the aircraft is not lavatory-equipped. Crew advise passengers during boarding that the aircraft is not lavatory-equipped. Spot checks are done to ensure passengers are informed at these stages
“This is not regulated,” Cemair CEO Miles van der Molen told me. “We are a full member of IATA [the International Air Transport Association] and adhere to their requirements,” he said. Cemair’s Beechcraft 1900s, operating on routes including Durban-Bloemfontein and Bloemfontein-George, had done about 30,000 flights “without lavatories”, Van der Molen said.
As to why passengers, who would most likely have assumed there was a toilet on board, were not forewarned of this, he said: “Our terms and conditions state that not all aircraft are lavatory-equipped, and the check-in staff inform passengers if their flight is not lavatory-equipped.
“Gate staff remind passengers before they board the bus [that transports them to the plane] that the aircraft is not lavatory-equipped. Crew advise passengers during boarding that the aircraft is not lavatory-equipped. Spot checks are done to ensure passengers are informed at these stages.”
Berry insists that wasn’t their experience. “There was no information on the ticket or at check-in about the lack of a toilet facility,” he said. “Eight other passengers will attest to this.”
So how long are passengers expected to go without a toilet? The Johannesburg-Maun flight is technically one hour and 45 minutes outbound, and one hour and 35 minutes inbound, Van der Molen said. “But due to ongoing congestion, ground-handling and parking bay issues, which were particularly pronounced in December, we increased our flight times.”
Of course, that’s only wheels-up time. The actual time for which passengers are stuck in an aircraft cabin, from the time they board the plane until they emerge at the destination airport, is much more drawn-out. That can be a very long time without access to a toilet for a child, the many adults who have relevant health issues, or anyone who gets a sudden and unexpected need for one. It happens.
So I asked the CEO: “There is a toilet on board those aircraft. For the convenience of your guests, why not make it a functional toilet? That would spare your staff from having to warn your passengers about the lack of lavatory services, and it would be hugely appreciated by your many passengers, no doubt.”
That’s not going to happen, he said. Those toilets will remain non-functional because it’s difficult to contain their odour. “We have in the past had these lavatories designated for emergency use, but even the blue toilet chemical itself has a strong odour, particularly when the aircraft is parked and closed,” he said. “We have found that encouraging passengers to plan their needs [on] either side of the flight is the most successful strategy.”
And what if someone wasn’t forewarned and was caught short on board? Would it still be the case that no compensation was deemed necessary? “We don’t work to passengers’ expectations,” he said. “We work to terms and conditions and information, as each individual holds a personal viewpoint.” Take that!
Someone who did realise, before boarding, there was no working toilet on board and therefore chose to “opt out” would be refunded, Van der Molen said. Having seen a cringeworthy photo (taken from behind) of that man on Berry’s flight relieving himself into a bottle, I had to ask: “Are any special provisions made for women passengers who can’t hold it in? A cup, maybe?”
“No,” the CEO said. “We don’t [differentiate between] passengers’ gender on our flights.” I wish I was making this up.
I found several reviews on the likes of Tripadvisor and HelloPeter posted by Cemair passengers who had spent more than two hours in one of those cabins and were appalled by the lack of a loo. “The discomfort and inconvenience this caused [passengers] was palpable,” one said.
It may not be a legal issue, but it definitely has a lot do with respect for the dignity and comfort of one’s passengers.
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