How to Stop Economy Passengers Using the Business Toilet

One of the pet peeves of Business Class passengers, especially on narrow-body aircraft, is passengers waltzing into the cabin from Economy Class to use the Business Class toilet.

Admittedly, this can be very much filed under the “first world problems” column. It’s definitely not the most pressing issue of the day!

Nonetheless, if you’ve paid good money to fly in Business Class – Qantas charges more than $2,000 one-way on some domestic flights – there are a few basic things that you should be able to expect.

This clearly irks some people, as there’s an AFF thread about this issue with more than 700 posts.

When there’s a constant flow of Economy passengers entering the Business cabin, it removes the exclusivity of Business Class. Less privacy is afforded to those who’ve paid to fly up front. It also means Business passengers may have to wait for an extended period to use the toilet.

I recall one domestic flight where Economy passengers were queueing in the Business Class aisle for much of the flight. The cabin manager did not turn anyone away, and as a Business passenger I ended up waiting over 20 minutes (behind Economy passengers) to use the toilet. I’ve had another flight where a passenger took the liberty of doing stretches right in front of my seat in row one – right where my legroom was supposed to be.

Of course, there are exceptions where it makes sense to allow the use of the Business toilet. For example, if a trolley is blocking the aisle, an elderly passenger with limited mobility is sitting near the front of Economy, or if the Economy toilets are out of service.

Maintaining the exclusivity of the Business Class cabin

An obvious way to keep the Business Class cabin exclusively for Business passengers is to have a physical cabin divider like a curtain or a rope.

On Virgin Australia’s Boeing 737s, for example, there’s a simple magnetic rope blocking the aisle. Now, if somebody really wanted to, they could just move the rope – but they generally don’t. The rope sends a signal that you’re not supposed to walk past row 3.

Qantas used to have a curtain between rows 3 and 4 on its Boeing 737s, but this was removed when the fleet was refurbished. There’s now just a small placard requesting that Economy passengers “please do not enter the Business cabin”.

I’ve now become used to Economy passengers using the Business toilet when flying on Qantas. So, I was pleasantly surprised to notice on a Qantas flight last week from Melbourne to Darwin that this did not happen once. This 737 flight was longer than four hours, so there was ample time for passengers to give it a try – but nobody did.

What made this flight different?

The only thing that was noticeably different about this flight, compared to any other Qantas domestic flight, was the Customer Service Manager’s announcement on departure.

On most Qantas Boeing 737 flights, an announcement is made that “there are two toilets at the rear of the aircraft for our customers in the main cabin between rows 4 and 30”. But on this particular flight, the Customer Service Manager continued by very clearly announcing that “our forward Business Class toilet is for the exclusive use of Business Class passengers”.

This Customer Service Manager was excellent, and I’m quite sure that if anyone did try to sneak up to the front of the plane from Economy, she also would have sent them back. But nobody tried it.

So, what’s the secret?

I think there are two key lessons here.

Firstly, a clear announcement specifically stating that the up-front loo is off-limits to Economy passengers is helpful.

Secondly, it often seems to be the case that once one person gets away with sneaking into Business Class, others get the message that it’s OK and then follow. Once multiple people have tried their luck – and not been sent back – trying to police the Business toilet is basically a lost cause for the rest of the flight.

So, making a point of turning around the very first Economy passenger who tries to use the up-front toilet could be key. Stop the first person, and there may not be a second or third as this sets an example for the rest of the flight.

Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: Lack of curtains separating Business and Economy on 737

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 70 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.