A former flight attendant has claimed airlines refuse to educate passengers about the proper etiquette of using plane toilets out of fear it will offend some of them.
Marcus Daniels left his role in the aviation industry in 2019 after spending more than five years working as a flight attendant in Australia and the Middle East.
While there were plenty of positives and negatives to the job, Mr Daniels highlighted one major issue with international flights: a lack of education about toilets.
He has dozens of horror stories about the messes passengers would leave behind, mostly due to them having never used a Western-style toilet before.
‘As cabin crew, you notice it happens on specific flights to specific destinations. We’ll chat and find other crew picked up on the trend too,’ Mr Daniels said.
‘On those flights, passengers will defecate on the floor and you just do your best to smile and not say anything.
‘You get used to it after a while and can start mentally preparing yourself for those flights.’
In particular, Mr Daniels noted the affected routes were mainly those stopping in developing countries.
Marcus Daniels (pictured) revealed the hardest part of being a flight attendant was dealing with messes left by passengers who didn’t know how to use a Western-style toilet
Mr Daniels claimed the issue mainly affected flights stopping in developing countries
‘It’s not really a problem in first-world countries because we know how to use western toilets,’ he said.
‘Most of the confused passengers don’t speak English as their first language so we can’t really explain how to use the toilet.
‘The issue is education. If they knew how to use the toilets, they would.
‘It would be great if there were visual guides showing how to use the toilet properly, rather than just guides for flushing.’
The issue may come as a shock to those who think of flight attending as a glamorous job, but Mr Daniels claimed the clean-ups were a regular occurrence.
‘On these routes, we’re having to constantly check the toilets to make sure they’re clean and the toilet rolls aren’t stuffed down the bins,’ he said.
‘On one flight I had a passenger who kept peeing on the floor. I tried to show her how to use the toilet, and she would nod and agree, then do it again.
‘It got to the point where it was unsanitary for me as well so I had to lock off the toilet for the rest of the flight.’
Despite education around Western-style toilets being a known issue, Mr Daniels (pictured) explained it is largely ignored by airlines that want to avoid offending customers
Despite the problem being well-known among international cabin crew, it has been largely ignored by airlines.
‘Airlines are very particular about how they communicate with customers because they don’t want to offend anyone,’ Mr Daniels said.
‘All of us are trying to be accepting of all cultures. However, there needs to be some kind of video or visual guide about using and keeping the toilets clean.
‘It would be a dream come true. I have friends who are still working these routes and, nine years later, it’s still an issue.’
