Australia's Qantas May Ban Bathroom Lines (US says no lines)

[velocity]

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Austra...

January 7, 2004
Australia's Qantas May Ban Bathroom Lines
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 6:23 a.m. ET

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Australia's Qantas Airways said Wednesday that U.S. authorities are now banning passengers from gathering near restrooms and other places on flights to America -- an order the Australian government thinks might be impractical.

Commercial flights across the Pacific Ocean from Australia to the United States' west coast are among the world's longest.

``The U.S. Transport Security Administration are now requiring that passengers on flights to the U.S. are not to congregate in groups in any areas of the aircraft, especially around the lavatories,'' a Qantas spokeswoman said.

..more of this silly shit at article...

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. It does have some logic

but this will only lead to more and more tourist sayign to heck with travel to the US.

Don't ask where the logic is... and the implementation is just wrong

[izzie]

2. Not only will we have this......

A Republican under every bed to see what you are doing we will also have one watching us in the bath room. What will they think if husbands and wifes get in the bath room at the same time? And if the kids line up at the door? This is great. A safer country for sure.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. As I said from the PoV of the history of terror it does have

some logic, I do not want to go into the logic, but the
implementation is ALL WRONG and will lead to less and less
tourissm... I know I would not want to come to this country these
days... any more

[foreigncorrespondent]

19. Logic? Where?

There is absolutely no logic in this. This is just simply the U.S. government making demands and deeming themselves the leaders of the world, yet again.

Have you done the flight from Australia to the U.S? Well I have mate, more than once. From Melbourne to LAX it is anywhere between a 13 to 15 hour flight. There will quite often be lines to the bathrooms, especially when the plane is full.

Are we meant to take a number (and hope and pray we don't have a bad case of the runs from the rotten food they serve) and just wait for U.S. government permission to use the damned toilet?

[Chovexani]

33. You said it!

Having done NY to LA and then LA to Sydney quite a few times myself (SO is an Aussie), I had to go all the time. Every single time at some point there was a line for the bathroom. I can't imagine what the logic is here. Of course I'm also a little selfish since I'm a woman cursed with a tiny bladder.

Call me crazy but telling people they can't go to the bathroom on a 15 hr flight might just incite some terrorism.

--C.

[SemperEadem]

34. so I guess that Amendment guaranteeing

The Right to Assemble is only for being in US soil... I dont' see how they can force an airline to force passengers not to go to the bathroom, since they feed and "water" everyone at the same time... and it is 12+ hours from the West coast to Australia...

This is stupidity in motion.

[HereSince1628]

17. Well, if you have a US gunslinging air marshall on board

having a line of people between him and the terror suspect sort of complicates things.

[Jivenwail]

3. What?

Will they have to raise their hand and ask permission to go, just like in grade school? How ridiculous this has all become. What a bunch or morons (and that's an insult to morons everywhere)

[alarimer]

28. this is already in place in the US

I flew on Continental on Dec. 31 and they "asked" us not to congregate in the aisles or near the restrooms. What do you do if they are occupied?? I guess they could hand out numbers or something.

[SemperEadem]

35. Quantas should put their foot down

This is overreaching and stupid. Quantas should then refuse to fly to the US if their passengers cannot fly comfortably and with their dignity in tact.

Unless the US is going to pay to install more restrooms on airplanes so that they can protect the president from people who have to use the bathroom on a 12+ hour flight, then they need to get a grip and quit acting like a bunch of silly 3 yr olds.

[ze_dscherman]

5. Ve haff vays uff makink you a fred!

Better bend ovver, bevvor ve vill make you.

On edit: What I really wanted to say - is this totalitarian behaviour or just hilarious?

[Spentastic]

6. Cool

Will the Air Marshall be toilet monitor too?

[TreasonousBastard]

7. Have these assholes...

ever flown in an airplane?

In coach?

I'm in a middle seat of a 747 on a nine hour flight to Paris and I have to pee. Do I make a reservation with the flight attendant, or do I get up, climb over the sleeping person next to me, walk 50 feet back to the restroom and find it locked, so go back to my seat and repeat this dance for the rest of the flight?

Assholes! Just plain assholes!

[velocity]

8. Especially after movies

the lines always forms.

[skippysmom]

13. I would think

it would be even worse with a flight to or from Australia.

Maybe we should just lock everyone in their seats? Yeah, that'll stop 'em.

[Nihil]

9. Not forgetting ...

... that to prevent you from starting a fire in the little room, the
supervisor will hand out the appropriate number of pieces of toilet
paper as you take your turn. He or she will then start the timer to
ensure that you don't cause unrest by over-staying your visit. After
the specified number of minutes, the door will open automatically and
a flash photo taken (to be posted on the door for the rest of the
flight).

The TSA are said to be "confident" that after initial complaints, the
majority of passengers will soon adapt to the situation and will
accept this as yet another vital stage in the fight against terrorism.

Nihil

[RC]

10. Now don't be given'em any more ideas, ok

The sheeple might start getting restless and questioning the why of it all.

[Alpharetta]

11. oh don't mind me. I'll just stay in my seat and get a blood clot

I won't move at all. I like pulmonary embolisms.

Hey, can you loan me a couple of water bottles? I need to take a leak.

[MaineDem]

12. One word ---- catheters

This is pretty ludicrous.

[blondeatlast]

14. Great. How are they going to handle this; number dispensers

like they have at the deli?

[muriel_volestrangler]

15. Maybe they'd like you to use the barf bags

are they waterproof enough?

[WingNOT]

16. Maybe it's aimed at Dubya doing 'lines' in the bathroom...

After all cocaine is best cut on mirrors after all ! (Allegedly - so I'm told! lol)

[GregW]

18. So if our greatest threat ...

... is a couple of blokes setting off an intestinal dirty bomb after a particularly hot shrimp vindaloo before boarding ... why the fuck do we need a missile defense shield?

[SheilaT]

20. This morning NPR

did a piece on the long lines and at Mexico City's airport for the flights coming into the U.S., and passengers complaining about the idiocy of being photographed, fingerprinted, and questioned again upon arrival even if they're only making a connection out of the country.

Most of those interviewed said they wouldn't go through the U.S. ever again -- one of them said something quite vivid about how this country could remain locked in it's golden cage while the rest of the world carried on as normally -- and more countries should do what Brazil is doing.

I agree. Brazil has the right idea.

[joeunderdog]

36. Why don't we hear quotes from the Tourism Industry?

Air Travel--and life in the US--is still incredibly safe. Big business can't be happy about the longrange impact of this. Airlines, hotels, Disney...they have heavy lobbies. For all of the uninformed knckleheads that feel patriotic every time we ground a French plane for a suspicious looking Alzheimer's passenger, there are big money people who know this doesn't fit a business agenda.

[Buns_of_Fire]

21. Tip: Buy stock in "Depends"

I can hear my parents now: "Why didn't you go before we left?"

[mouse7]

22. If they ban the "Mile High Club," it's time for armed rebellion.

They'll have to pry my "Mile High Club" card out of my cold dead fingers.

[ProfessorGAC]

23. Utterly Ridiculous

This is a solution in search of a problem. Stupid, ineffectual, apropos of nothing.
The Professor

[silverlib]

24. ..and isn't this discriminatory against women?

We all know whose lines are the longest. Public bathrooms have always been a problem for women, as we are not "equipped" to get in and out like men and the facilities are not designed to get the same amount of women through the system as men.

I know,this is a fairly ridiculous argument, but it is real, as well as the absolute stupidity of this whole concept.

[muriel_volestrangler]

26. this is on planes, not in the airport

unless you travel on airlines where they have separate toilets for men and women?

[aquart]

25. Quick solution:

No direct flights to America. Aim for Canada or Mexico and then transfer to other planes.

It's mean, but pointed.

[LibDemAlways]

27. When you gotta go....

Keeping people from lining up to use the bathroom is inviting them to pee
into their seats - particularly kids and those with "incontinence" issues.

Yuck.

[progressivebydesign]

29. Remember the piano bars on 747s?

Am I hallucinating retroactively? I swear, when I was a kid, there were ads for airlines that featured 2 story plane interiors with freakin' PIANO bars!!! Now we have to raise our hands to go the bathroom?? Or do we have to get a hall pass???

Instead of really doing the work they should on the terrorism fight, they come up with this stuff. Far be it from them to take the reports and admonishments from the Clinton administration about Al Quaida, when Bush took over.. better they should try to micro manage everything at potential crime scene. Typical republicans... spend billions to build prisons, cut programs to reduce crime. Same thing.

[tlcandie]

30. More Free Speech errrr Pee Zones?!!??!

Zones..ZONES... ZONES!!!! Enough already! If we pee our pants will we be labeled terraists?

[skippysmom]

31. "the terra-ists hate us for our freedom"

to pee when we want???

[Buns_of_Fire]

32. Soon they'll be able to hate us for our superior sphincter control, too!

Take THAT, al-Qaeda!

[Neshanic]

37. Clear Plexiglass bathrooms. Extra for headphones.