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Delta Air Lines Toilets: Smaller Lavatories Coming To Economy-Class Flights

How Much Smaller Can Airplane Toilets Get?
Alamy

If your next trip to the airplane bathroom seems a little more cramped than usual, that may be because it is.

Delta Air Lines has announced it will be the first airline to feature a smaller lavatory on board their planes. The shrunken toilets are expected to debut later in 2013 and are part of Delta's redesign of their Boeing 737-900 planes. The smaller toilets will allow for an extra four rows of seats on the plane, according to the Daily Mail.

Despite the downsizing in toilet real-estate, Delta says passengers won't be able to notice the difference since the new design uses the wasted space behind sinks and the back of the washroom wall so seats in front of it will be able to recline, according to the Wall Street Journal.

For now, the minute lavatories will only be for economy-class passengers while the standard 9-square-foot (0.8 square metre) lavatories will be available to all other classes. The smaller toilets come at a time when airlines around the world are trying to cut costs in order to remain competitive.

Back in 2011, Ryanair, one of Europe's budget carriers, announced it would be removing two of the three lavatories on board their Boeing 737-800 planes. While other airlines have left the lavatories untouched, they've sought to charge in other areas, such as blankets, baggage and even human contact, notes Business Insider.

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