While flight attendant duties have not changed, a new announcement at United Airlines has flight attendants fearing unreasonable expectations from passengers about the cleanliness of lavatories.
United Airlines Flight Attendants Concerned About Implied New Lavatory Cleaning Duties
In a memo to flight attendants reviewed by Live and Let’s Fly, United notes a new in-flight announcement will be added addressing the cleanliness of lavatories onboard:
“We frequently tidy the restrooms, but if you see one that needs attention, please let us know.”
Furthermore, United is now providing a new “tidying kit” onboard that includes:
- metal tongs – to collect trash on floors of lavatory
- dustpan and handheld broom – to sweep up debris, glass or other refuse
United points to clean lavatories as an essential benchmark of customer satisfaction:
“Cabin cleanliness is a key component of customer satisfaction. The work you do to tidy the aircraft during the flight greatly contributes to overall cabin cleanliness, so we want to make sure you have the tools you need.”
Flight attendants are instructed to check lavatories every 30 minutes to ensure supplies are restocked and the lavatories are in a presentable appearance. The memo states:
“To enhance the tidiness of the lavatories for both customers and flight attendants, make sure one of the 30-minute tidying checks is accomplished after the main meal service, in between crew rest breaks and before the pre-arrival service.”
But the new onboard announcement and tidying kit has caused concern and frustration amongst many flight attendants. Contractually, flight attendant lavatory duties are limited to:
- wiping up standing water on the counter
- restocking supplies
- picking up loose paper towels
- ensuring the trash flap is closed
The Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), which represents United flight attendants, told members:
“We do not wipe up liquid on the floor, disinfect flush buttons, door handles, toilets or other commonly touched surfaces; that is cleaning.”
The AFA has resisted the new announcement, expressing fear that it creates unrealistic expectations:
“For example, should a passenger inform a Flight Attendant that a lavatory “needs attention” and that “attention” requires intervention that would extend beyond the scope of our traditional tidying duties, there could be a resultant, unrealistic expectation that Flight Attendants will clean the lavatory. It might even result in an entirely inaccurate perception the Flight Attendants did not address the issue.”
To address this, United has instructed flight attendants to remove a lavatory from service should it reach a state that requires cleaning beyond the scope of flight attendant duties.
The United memo was dated 08 September and although I have flown United several time since then, I have not heard the new onboard announcement once.
CONCLUSION
United Airlines’ flight attendants are not happy about a new cabin announcement that implies they are responsible for keeping the lavatories clean. According to their labor agreement, they are only responsible for limited “tidying” duties. Whether flight attendant should clean the lavatory is a whole different issue.
If you do see a dirty lavatory on a United flight, remember that flight attendants are not necessarily to blame…another reminder that we must all clean up after ourselves.
Let’s face it people are total slobs. You can have sparkling clean lavs and before you even get off the ground the lava can look as if 5 drink Tasmanian got into a brawl.
There is little or no respect. I love it when these rubber holes don’t even bother closing the door after the have pished or pooped!!
Yes, people are slobs, but I think a dirty bathroom begets an even dirtier bathroom. People care about it less. If I walk into a bathroom with liquids splattered all about and wet paper towels draped over the counter, I’m not gonna purposely mess it up worse but I’m probably not going to take a time to wipe up an extra water or soap splatter from the sink, because I don’t want to touch the previous mess. On the other hand, if I walk into a sparkling clean lav, I’m going to keep it that way as best I can.
Closing down lavs just means the other ones are going to get messed up worse, faster.
I hate it when people pee on the floor, seat and part of the wall. However, I have never seen poop on the floor.
I have…unfortunately.
Could be worse, could have to clean up after Raider fans.
https://twitter.com/VitalVegas/status/1441102713824022528
Does anyone know which type of aircraft has the most lavs? Is it the 777 or 787? One of them has a really oversized one up front and also by the 2nd door what aircraft is that?
787 has the large one by Door 2.
United flight attendants have their contract which states what they are responsible for. They’re not worried about this, they will stick with their contract.
Look, United has simply added items that make tidying and necessary clean up (think broken glass) a little easier.
As for the new announcement, just watch how quickly that will be dropped by either the company, or the FAs just not including it.
In the meantime, do the math:
3 flight attendants
200 passengers
3/4 toilets
= Don’t be a pig.
The AFA hasn’t exactly shrouded itself in glory the last couple of years. Instead of fighting for job security, better wages, and fair treatment for new members the union has spent enormous effort on insipid points that make the members look greedy, inept, lazy, and self-serving. The head of the union is simply toxic, and I say that as someone who sees the need for unions to expand in large companies in the U.S. rather than shrink.
Literally people seem to get off on taking a dump the second they have the chance. Damn, use the toilet in the terminal before you go. Never understood how people just go in there and die.
I just noticed that announcement on the two flights we took today. That did caught my attention. FAs on non-US carriers tidy up the lavatories. Have you seen how much tidying up they do in the first class lavatories? I guess I now know why US FAs won’t tidy up the lavs. It’s a union thing. Lol.
https://twitter.com/halalcoholism/status/1071352495413153793
Excellent twitter thread from 2018 on toilet use.
I’ve never seen supplies restocked in any of my flights to Europe or South America. Never mind cleaning the bathrooms.
Foreign carriers have the FA’s check and spruce up the labs…so why can’t the US carriers do that ? Oh that’s right US FA’s are over entitled.
Turkish Airlines even has a bathroom crew that continuously comes by and cleans the toilets DURING long-haul flights.
I remember flying Lufthansa on the Airbus fleet, they have an interesting rubberized floor mat that seems to suck up liquids spilled on the floor (water, urine, etc)
You answered your own question. Bathroom crew. You gotta be kidding me. Matthew should do an investigation at how some airlines that shall remain nameless don’t even cater certain segments. Add to that how they don’t cater and actually leave dirty carts with dirty trays on board for extra hours and hours. The health department might want to know that.
I hear so much about foreign carriers. How many flight attendants do they have on flights compared to certain us carriers?? You don’t think that makes a difference??
Seriously, this is a US Carriers issue with their entitled FAs and cosy contracts, if its not the FA’s job to clean up on board planes, then whose is it? I feel its an essential service on board no matter what.
Our job is to make sure everyone is SAFE not clean bathrooms each lav is cleaned b4 takeoff and after. KEEP IT THAT WAY..the kids on board are cleaner than adults.
You don’t need to ensure safety. You’re main job is to provide service. If you think differently you’re in the wrong career. The ‘primarily there for your safety’ bit translates to ‘I’m lazy and entitled.’ Do your jobs with a smile and a nod or quit and work at McDonalds.
I can’t believe you flight attendants complain about a gosh damn bathroom clean up you have glorified jobs seriously??? You get paid more than cna that take care of patients brush there teeth wipe them after bowl movements shower them go do CNA and find out what a real job is!!!! Unbelievable to me
Ok so if there is an emergency that happens on board or you need medical attention. Remember don’t turn to a flight attendant for help since apparently they are lazy.
Cannot agree more with Levi. I hope I never encounter a flight attendant like Nicole in my travels.
I retired from United in 2007. I really enjoy using my flight benefits. Passengers do leave the bathrooms quite messy. I don’t have access to supplies to restock, but I do tidy up bathrooms by picking up mess and wiping down the counters and sinks.
That only takes less than a minute of my time. It would be nice if people would clean up after themselves. Unfortunately, some people think someone else should clean up their mess. Others can’t maneuver in the limited space in the bathrooms.
Let’s keep em clean if we are physically able to do so
I guess it’s ok to reduce the number of lavs by taking them out of service instead of cleaning them. They are huge in size and complex to clean after all. Passengers who have young kids, pregnant women and the elderly may have to stand even longer in line on long haul flights but let’s not inconvenience FAs. 🙂 No wonder passengers prefer Asian, European and ME airlines.
I am frequenly discovering that my service experience as a 1K on UA in Polaris pales in comparison to my service experience in coach on European, ME and Asian airlines. Case in point, I was in Polaris on UA recently with my 2 year old daughter. Requested milk for her and was talked down to by the FA who was very reluctant to give us milk (she also refused to heat it), Compare that to my last few experiences with AF, KLM and Qatar in coach where they cheerfully provided milk, provided snacks and one of the FAs even proactively cleaned the bathroom (it took 5 min) before we went to change my daughter’s diaper (she said she would want a clean bathroom for her daughter too).
I have already qualified for 1K for 2022 but next year will be my last year. Not worth being treated like trash (no pun intended).
@Batchcaloupe — “I hear so much about foreign carriers. How many flight attendants do they have on flights compared to certain us carriers?? You don’t think that makes a difference??”
Well … there are Asian airlines that have normal flight attendants clean up bathrooms between uses, and they seem to do so cheerfully. I think that it’s beyond just the number of flight attendants on US airlines — it’s their ingrained attitudes that just do *not* cater to customer service, first and foremost! If US flight attendants treat their jobs as a chore rather than as a customer service opportunity, then we end up with what we currently see.
If foreign carriers can manage this, why is it such an impossible task with US airlines?
If you have flown with EVA Air or ANA before, you would understand it is not luxury but basic human dignity to have clean bathrooms to use on a 13-hour flight with over 300 passengers. As a matter of fact, every time I visited a bathroom on EVA or ANA’s 777 planes, I felt like I was the first person to use it. On the other hand, the bathrooms on United’s planes sometimes already look like war zones even before taking off. IMHO, it is also somehow related to broken window theory, if a bathroom is already trashed, the passengers would least likely to keep it clean. On some occasions, I actually helped to tidy the bathrooms because I didn’t want the subsequent people to think I was the one leave pee or toilet papers on the floor. 🙂
If you are lucky enough, sometimes you could fly with United’s crew teams from Singapore or Taiwan. They are so much nicer in interacting with passengers and maintaining clean environment on board, unlikes most US crews’ indifferent and I-am-a-princess attitude. 🙂
It is okay for United to make the announcement like “we are here for safety”, hinting providing service to customers is not their job. At that moment, I always think, why not just install vending machines, or hire some clean crews on board? 🙂
@Batchcaloupe – Is the lack of politeness and empathy also something that can be blamed on overworked FAs who disappear for hours and are rude and condescending if passengers deign to request something? I would love to continue flying UA as a 1K but the condescension from ticketing agents to FAs and everything in between is getting to me. There are exceptions ofcourse but generally the only human interaction where I’m treated well at UA is with the customer service agents on the phone.
Instead of making a big deal about it in an announcement just get off your jump seat and put down your cell phone and check on the lavs…
Minor cleanups are no big deal and when it looks like the Tasmanian Devil was just in there I actially request a set of gloves and offer to clean it up myself before I use the facilities and dry up the sink after use…
Empty the trash and provide enough paper towels and I am certain more people would do it….
If that’s not in the contract then it needs to be and if the union thinks they are too good then let’s talk about that kind of bullshit publicly!!
And I’ll agree with the need for an attitude adjustment for a good number of crew.
Every so often some F/A takes one for the team and is so exceptional in their service, friendliness, willingness to make people comfy, checking on an elderly guest it makes me forget all the crap I have seen previously.
Let’s make that great experience a more frequent event and let’s also call out the piggies among passengers and ban them if they think it’s their house and their rules and their mess. In most parts of Europe you make a mess like some I have seen in the US, the next passenger will call you out on it and tell you to go clean it up! It’s quite amusing!!
I’d like to see that happen more often 🙂
Just sayin’……
I’m from Las Vegas where all the major hotels-casinos have people hired to keep the restrooms clean & spotless! The airlines should have a special cleaning crew for keeping the restrooms clean during flights! That would not only solve the problem, but create more jobs!
Nothing worse than a pilot coming out to take a UA-NYC and watching the attendants blocking the bathroom with the drink cart talking to each other about how long he has been in there.
Haha!! They’re often in there a long time dontcha think?
People leave stuff ( shit garbage etc) like is someone’s else’s responsibility to clean after them! Also the lav (bathroom) containers are so small after a few hours Flight they are full. Make reasonable bathroom facilities onboard Airplanes. Pay F/a for bathroom duty or hire personnel on long flights to attend the bathrooms
Exactly thank u best response yet. They pay minimum wage (regional airlines) and expect us to do EVERYTHING especially the flights with only ONE flight attendant and 50 passengers. If you want us to clean bathrooms pay us more and provide cleaning material. I once had a lav on a delay that was sooo bad. Thank God I carry lysol wipes. I cleaned it myself. 5 mins later…back filthy
Airlines should add air marshall to deal with unruly passengers and on board cleaning staff to police and clean restrooms. After each use, the restroom checked and if untidy, passenger is brought to account, Either told prior to departure that they will be called out, or when they leave a mess!
I’m not sure I want the person putting ice in my drink to be cleaning the bathrooms…
Exactly
Understandable yet that’s what happens at bats and restaurants all the time and we all know it….
Sad some people have to be piggies, let’s start calling them out on it, elite members included!
DGAF what the reason is, when you make a mess ask for supplies to clean it up and then do so yourself.
If flying is a privilege like so many people insist then unsanitary behavior is a public health issue and some of these people need to stay off flights.
Just like restaurant patrons who are misbehaving are banned….. seems too simple to overlook…
Drop a flight attendance and hire a janitor, that also hands out drinks..
As a non rev passenger on United I make it a point to leave the restroom cleaner than when I enter it.
Nasty folks need to leave nasty ways at home and practice common decency in public, at the very least so as not to impose on what fellow passengers have paid for: a problem-free experience.
AS A 22 year Flight Attendant. I’m here to tell you I would make that announcement if necessary but I won’t be doing anything different and that 100% HONESTY. When they pay is more and give us top of the line insurance should we get sick because it is a safety and health hazard I won’t !!!!! Be doing more than re stocking
OK I’m so sorry I have a feeling that a lot of people are going to hate me for this but I also don’t care and I’m going to say straight up maybe stop being lazy. I get paid less than half these flight attendants salaries and still have no issue cleaning bathrooms! Their bathrooms are tiny as hell as well so it’s not a lot of work. At most it might take maybe five minutes. Flight attendants are also in customer service which includes doing things like cleaning bathrooms to keep their customers safe so Instead of complaining and stuff maybe find real things that are actual issues or find a different job.
Your point is very fair and FAs around the world manage. There’s also soap and disinfectant. However, there is some persuasion to the argument that we don’t want FAs serving food and drinks, cleaning restrooms, then serving more food and drinks.
If you hosted a dinner party at your house and discovered that your guest bathroom had been “fouled”. What would you do?
A. Clean the bathroom while your guests wait for you to serve them dinner.
B. Leave the mess as is until the guests leave.
C. Confront the guilty party and suggest they clean up the mess they created.
D. Call out Merry Maids Hazmat cleanup team.
E. Ask your guests to decide who will clean the mess. Dinner will be served only after and if the mess is cleaned up to the Hosts satisfaction.
F.????????? your thoughts.
Grow up people. Slavery is gone.
Dont expect your surgeon to wipe your ass before removing your appendix!
Flight Attendants ARE professional. Treat them as such. Serving you a drink is NOT a significant portion of their extensive and extremely specific training syllabus.
Feel free to investigate the hiring and training process of any 121 carrier. Many apply, few are chosen, not all are able to complete the training.
Do not treat any Professional person as though they should be happy to clean up after anyones careless and unsanitary habits.
Unless you have been living under a rock for the last 2 years, we are still in the middle of a deadly pandemic. Biological waste IS Hazardous Waste.
Clean up after yourself and your family members. Allowing your waste and trash to be cleaned up and removed by others is never going to be acceptable!
Great thread, thank you for adding this one !!
There are some comments above that really make the point: Ric’s comments about Turkish Airlines (never flown them, but I hear great things), or PM1’s comments about Qatar (just flew them 2 weeks ago – what a truly perfect perfect experience), or PeterSimpson’s comments about EVA (they were always one of my all-time favorites, I even made their top-tier status of Diamond for 2 years several years back). In the cases of Qatar and EVA (and others like ANA, and Cathay Pacific, and many others), the lavatories were always SPOTLESS. Perfect. And, as others have noted, it made it much more likely that when I used the lavatories, I cleaned up before I left to ensure that the next passenger found the same experience. And I often saw the FAs going in to the lavatories, gloves and masks on (even in the pre-pandemic days) to clean them between passengers.
The domestic carriers just lack the same level of service on virtually any level. Do they need more FAs? Geez, I don’t know. Or as Ric noted, a “bathroom crew”? Well, maybe that’s a good idea.
Mostly, what is needed is some commitment from senior leadership to provide the paying passenger with an excellent experience. And none of these guys, whether American, or United, or whoever, seem to give a “rat’s behind” of care about the passenger experience. What they are basically running should be renamed “American Flying Bus Transportation”, or “United Bus in the Air Company”. Although, come to think of it, that sort of demeans the bus companies.
Until the U.S. based carriers care about their passengers, my tickets will be on Qatar (just flew them 2 weeks ago, what an incredible experience !!), EVA, Cathay Pacific, ANA, etc.
EdSparks58
I flew united muc sfo on 9/26/21 and they DID make that announcement. And the lavs were surprising cleaner than normal for this flight……
What else do they have to do on a flight. They don’t serve food anymore, They don’t serve drinks 1/2 of the time.
Most of them hang in the galley and talk or read a book.