Plastic bags are only onboard bathroom, pilots say

The Associated Press ^ | September 3rd 2009 | Travis Reed

[ozguy]

MIAMI — Flying a Boeing 727 around the world might sound like a dream. But pilots for a Florida air cargo company claim their job is a nightmare that includes no sick pay, shrinking wages and no place to use the bathroom on flights but a plastic bag.

Sixty-two pilots and flight engineers for Fort Lauderdale-based Amerijet International Inc. went on strike on Aug. 27. Among their demands is flushable toilets on board. Their union has been trying to negotiate a new contract the past five years.

Its Florida workers say they're suffering. On the picket line in heavy rain Thursday, pilot Dawn Leschinski held up an 18-inch green plastic bag.

"This is actually the bathroom that we're expected to use on Amerijet airplanes," she said.

Because full bags can't be easily discarded, they accumulate on longer flights, leaving a heavy stench.

[wideminded]

I am happy to say that I have never seen the inside of an airplane bathroom, despite 10 years on numerous international flights,

IMHO this sounds somewhat obsessive and you're torturing yourself for nothing. In fact compared with some other sorts of bathrooms, airline toilets usually aren't so bad at all except near the end of a long crowded flight.

BTW I heard there was an episode of "Monk" where he made a trip to Mexico and never ate, drank, or went to the bathroom.

[csense]

"Plastic bags are only onboard bathroom, pilots say"

The Associated Press
Syntactically challenged since 1846

[AlexW]

“IMHO this sounds somewhat obsessive and you’re torturing yourself for nothing.”

Not Obsessive at all, and I never tortured myself, but the Brazil flight was a bit hard.
I just find it fun to see how long I can keep a clean record.
Now that most of my international flights will be slim to none, I will not worry about it.

[ApplegateRanch]

and go to the restroom just before to boarding.

Momma done taught me, "go before you go, 'cause Poppa ain't a-gonna stop 'til we get there or need gas, which ever comes first!"

[Grut]

He'd never be happy in a B-52: the crapper's under the Defense Instructor's seat (it flips up) and the pisser's a tall can in a dark corner downstairs. And if you fill a plastic bag, you are expected to dispose of it.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Amerijet ? Didn’t they used to be the Jolly Fats Weehawken line ?

[SaraJohnson]

You would think it would be illegal to neglect to provide a toilet to workers. This is barbaric...IF true. We are talking about a union here. It could be a toilet was broken on a flight one time and staff had to use plastic bags for that flight.