Passenger’s Lavatory Nightmare Turning Into One other Headache for Boeing

Hundreds of Boeing 737 planes may have modification after a flight diverted when a passenger obtained caught in a rest room.

The Federal Aviation Administration printed a discover on Friday proposing an airworthiness directive for two,612 Boeing plane registered within the US.

It stated it acquired a report {that a} passenger was trapped in a rest room throughout a flight as a result of a damaged latch meant they could not toggle the lock.

Flight attendants additionally could not open the bifold door, so the pilots needed to make an “unscheduled touchdown,” the FAA added.

As a result of broken lavatory locks can entice passengers, the FAA warned an occupant may very well be susceptible to severe damage in an “in any other case survivable emergency occasion” comparable to extreme turbulence or a medical emergency.

The company recognized door latches with 4 completely different half numbers that it desires to get replaced.

It estimated this might price airways and different operators as much as $3.4 million — together with labor and new latches price as much as $481 every. Some or the entire prices may very well be coated below guarantee.

Boeing didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

The FAA’s discover applies to sure 737-700, 737-800, 737-900, 737-900ER, 737 Max 8, and 737 Max 9 plane.

In keeping with information from Boeing’s web site, 3,461 such planes have been delivered to US prospects, suggesting three-quarters have probably problematic latches.

The FAA has given stakeholders till Might 27 to answer the proposed directive.

Whereas the company did not give particulars concerning the flight which prompted this discover, it would not be the primary time that loo points have induced a diversion.

Final month, Air India passengers endured a nine-hour flight to nowhere. The New Delhi-bound aircraft turned again to Chicago as a result of most of its bogs stopped working after someone flushed luggage, rags, and garments.

And in February 2024, eight of the 9 bogs stopped engaged on a KLM flight from Amsterdam to Los Angeles — forcing the aircraft to U-turn over the Atlantic Ocean.