New Study Reveals Most Bathroom Friendly Airlines in the US

TUCSON, Ariz., Jan. 18, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- UponArriving published a new study ranking the most bathroom friendly airlines in the US based on the ratio of seats-to-bathrooms found in their aircraft. JetBlue outperformed all other airlines offering on average one lavatory for every 51 seats.

The most bathroom friendly airlines are ranked below:

1. JetBlue
2. Alaska
3. Allegiant
4. United     
5. Delta
6. American
7. Spirit
8. Frontier
9. Southwest

The study also looked at aircraft types and found that the five best aircraft ratios offered one bathroom for every 36 to 49 seats while the five worst aircraft ratios had one bathroom for every 77 to 83 seats. 

Additional survey data

UponArriving surveyed the general public regarding how they view bathrooms on planes and found that:

• 74% actively avoid using the bathroom during a flight
• 70% found using the bathroom during a flight stressful
• 65% believe planes don't have enough bathrooms

"By knowing which airlines, and more importantly which aircraft, offer the best ratios of passengers to bathrooms, the millions of Americans dealing with overactive bladders can help reduce their odds of having to wait to access the bathroom during a flight," said Daniel Gillaspia, Founder of UponArriving.

"We also hope some of this data sheds light on the need to improve the bathroom situation for some of these aircraft. 80 passengers effectively sharing a single bathroom for several hours is definitely not ideal."

Study methodology

In order to find the most bathroom friendly airlines, UponArriving ranked airlines based on the ratio of economy seats to lavatories found in the economy cabin. They first determined a seat-to-lavatory ratio for each type of aircraft used by an airline and then used a weighted average of the ratios based on the percent that each aircraft made up of the fleet. Data reflects estimated fleet status at the end of 2022.

This study was designed to focus on the typical flying experience when flying within the continental US so the data only includes narrow body aircraft and smaller regional aircraft.

The full study and results can be found here.

Established in 2014, UponArriving provides practical tips and in-depth guides to give travelers confidence to explore the world.

SOURCE UponArriving