(USA Today) Airplane bathrooms and some London hotel rooms might be the only places where you can sit on a toilet, touch two walls with your kneecaps and wash your hands at the same time. But those onboard lavatories – which are currently about as spacious as a birdbath – are about to get even smaller.
The engineers at Boeing (who are possibly sadistic but definitely not incontinent) have discovered that by shrinking the size of the lavatories, they can fit as many as 14 additional seats onto the newest 777-300ER. Well, as cramped and uncomfortable as that sounds – in every way – at least Boeing isn't taking the easyJet-and-Airbus route and removing a bathroom entirely.
Boeing is making a number of upgrades, reconfigurations and enhancements to the 777-300ER before delivering the first order to United Airlines next year. And once those 777-300ERs are added to various carriers' fleets, it will begin constructing its upgraded 777X line. In addition to stealing some square footage from the bathrooms, the engineers re-hung the overhead bins in a new way that lightened the plane's overall weight by 1,200 pounds. According to Bloomberg, the interior reconfiguration, along with enhancements to the engines and the wings, could improve the plane's fuel economy by up to 5%.
The 777-300ER currently seats up to 386 passengers, making it the largest member of the 777 family, at least until the 777X is in production (it is predicted to arrive in 2020). So yeah, I'll be getting in line for the bathroom later today.
